MuSR / Who is the most likely murderer?

question

Who is the most likely murderer?

narrative

In the hushed sanctity of a mosque, Kent falls victim to a deadly snake venom, leaving Detective Winston with two prime suspects: Ronald and Julia.

Winston parked outside the museum, wiping a sweat off his brow as he observed the row of windows facing the parking lot. The mystery of Kent's death was still lingering, and it had become clear that he had to delve further into the details than anticipated.

Walking into the complex building, the detective stopped outside the Herpetarium where Julia currently worked. Julia once mentioned offhandedly, "I trained as a herpetologist, that's my background." He stared at the array of snakes - some small, some dangerously large, but all housed carefully in glass terrariums. Julia was in the midst of handling one of the sizeable serpents, its scales reflecting the light in an almost hypnotic way.

"Julia?" He questioned, gaining her attention.

"That's me," she affirmed, gently placing the snake back into its tank.

"Mind if we talk a moment?"

"I've got nothing to hide," the woman replied as she led him back behind her desk, scattered with numerous manuals and books about programming and tech innovations. A receptionist's post-it came from nowhere and stuck to her palm, "Remember: Staff Meeting. Introduce Julia – New Software Engineer." She rolled her eyes and said, "I'm now working as a software engineer." An out-of-place office notification chimed and she shrugged.

"Did you know about the info posted on the company's Facebook page yesterday?" He asked. She shook her head, adding, "I never keep up with that. Too busy with my work, you see. Truthfully, I don't even have a Facebook account of my own."

"Do you visit the mosque nearby?" He questioned. She nodded. 

"Why, yes, I do. I was there with my cousin Kent the same day before..." her voice wavered. "We had a disagreement. People saw us arguing," she added.

She escorted Winston to her home soon after, where a vial of snake venom sat on her coffee table.

"Why do you have that?" He asked, looking at the vial but careful not to touch.

"I work with venomous snakes, detective," she said, a matter of factly tone threading her voice. "Research." 

They had coffee in silence after that. Interesting, he thought as he left her house. He had a lot more work to do.

As Winston tied his shoe, a fellow cop whistled. He didn’t need to look up to know what was coming up next.

"Did you know snake venom can be lethal?" said the officer as he stepped aside to let a group of zookeepers from the local zoo, renowned for its variety of venomous snakes, carry a large reticulated python past.

"Yeah, interesting creatures, snakes," replied Winston without breaking stride. He continued toward the office door where a zoo security guard profile was awaiting him, the guard whose shift happened to line up with the time of the Kent's death at the mosque.

As he was flipping through the guard’s file, he noticed the man’s name, Ronald. He was a unique type of security, it seems - besides patrolling the mosque during prayer hours, he also worked at the zoo, and one of his main duties involved handling the zoo's assortment of dangerous animals, including venomous snakes. God knows there were too many types of them at that zoo.

His phone rang. It was the Imam.

"Detective Winston, Kent was here for prayers daily, he was very religious," he said when Winston picked up.

Winston thanked the Imam and hung up, then got up and headed to the mosque. Ronald worked during prayer hours which meant he could've seen Kent arriving or leaving.

Kent was there pretty much every day. There was no way for Ronald to miss seeing Kent on his death day.

After arriving at the mosque, Winston saw Ronald standing guard. He prepared himself for the hard part of his job - accusations and denials.

"Ronald, we found these," Winston showed Ronald the documents found in Kent's possession. The paperwork portrayed previous indictments, some acquittals, some convictions. Ronald's entire criminal record laid bare on papers.

"What the hell do you want?" Ronald's face turned red, and he grunted vehemently. "I have nothing to do with those papers!"

Knowing better, Winston didn't continue this line of questioning and instead took a more amiable approach. "So, you are also a snake keeper at the zoo, Ronald?"

Ronald's red face softened, and he seemed slightly less tense. "Yes, I do. I have the keys to all the enclosures, from the common rattlesnakes to the deadly cobras." Maybe it was the change of topic, maybe it was the sense of the authority that these keys brought him, but Ronald was less defensive now.

Winston nodded, thanked Ronald for his time, then turned his back towards him, leaving Ronald alone with the darkening facade of the mosque and a bag of anxiety.

choices

• Ronald
• Julia