[Talk - Salvatore]

Salvatore stalked cat-like around the body, pen at the ready if any inspiration came to him. He stopped in front of me and spoke before I could think of anything to ask.

Salvatore

Tim, humor me for a minute. The movie night started at 9pm and lasted until well after midnight, right?

Timaeus

Um, yeah?

Salvatore

Do you remember what was happening when the nighttime announcement went off?

Timaeus

Y-yeah, it was during the finale of the first movie… You were there too, don’t you remember?

Salvatore

Of course, I just want to see if you come to the same conclusions I did. Now take a look at the time of death…

Timaeus

Um… 23:01, right? That’s… wait, that’s–

Salvatore

Just after the nighttime announcement played, right?

Timaeus

God, that’s so soon after she left…

The last time I saw her alive… It was right at the climax of the first movie, when Gugalanna yawned, stretched her tiny, powerful arms, and loudly declared she was bored and going to bed. We laughed it off at the time, told her good night, see you tomorrow… And just a few minutes later, Riko would grumble as MONO-9000’s grating voice interrupted one of her favorite lines.

Maybe the noise from the TV or the blaring alarm even covered up her screams…

Salvatore

Tim, look at me. We don’t have time to get caught up in what could or should’ve happened. If we want justice for this poor girl, we have to focus on the facts, okay?

Timaeus

Okay… okay. I’ll try.

Salvatore

My point is, that’s less than five minutes after she left. Now what else happens after the nighttime announcement?

I was getting better at tuning out MONO-9000’s announcements by now, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t recall them word-for-word…

MONO-9000

Alright kids, it’s officially 2300 hours! Bedtime for humans! The doors to the kitchen and laundry room will lock for the night…

Timaeus

MONO-9000 locks the doors, which means… even if she hadn’t died, she could’ve gotten stuck in the laundry room all night! A-and that’s against the rules…

Salvatore

Exactly. If Gugalanna was planning this, she sure didn’t give herself a lot of time to do it.

Timaeus

So either she was really confident in her plan, or she didn’t plan it at all…

Timaeus

…Or do you think she’s not the one who did this in the first place?

Salvatore

I won’t be thinking anything until we have all the evidence. Just keep an open mind, Tim.

Salvatore

You know what they say about assuming, after all.

Evidence List Updated!