User blog comment:Wildoneshelper/Candy Crush Whodunnit Episode 2/@comment-4189499-20140803113037/@comment-4189499-20140804074634

"I've just got the lab results back from my autopsy on the victim's body," said Scully, walking up to her partner. "I also questioned the suspects. Seems we can narrow down the list."

"And I've just seen the results of the dredging of the lake," Mulder replied.

"What did you find?" asked Scully.

"You first," insisted Mulder smugly.

"The neck of the victim had been strangled with great force, enough to crush the vertebrae around his spine and break the spinal column itself. The crushing pattern suggests equal force on all sides of the neck, which matches with what the bruising shows us.  However, the blood reports shows the victim died of lack of oxygen rather than carbon dioxide poisoning, which suggests drowning was the actual cause of death, as opposed to the strangulation. This is confirmed by the haemorrhaging in the lungs, which was caused by the rapid expansion of air bubbles after filling with the effervescent liquid, but before death occurred, due to the amount of blood suggesting that his heart was still beating. No other signs of a struggle were found on the body, and the toxicology report has come back clean." Scully looked up from her notes to see Mulder's reaction to her results. Mulder's smile suggested that he already suspected everything that Scully just told him.

"And what about your suspects?" Mulder asked, an amused glean in his eyes.

"Mulder, why don't you just tell me what you think instead of dragging on like this," Scully replied in a tired voice.

"No no. I want to hear your theory first," Mulder replied without losing the smile.

Scully had worked with Mulder for long enough now to realise that it was best to just go along with Mulder's ways. She looked back at her notes. "Lefty7788, known to most simply as Lefty, was on patrol last night. He's the police officer who found the body, his job explaining his possession of a gun.  He claims he was holding it out when he was found in case whoever committed the crime returned to the scene.  When asked about his meme, he said it was done as a joke, one he now realises was in poor taste, and that he took the job as a police officer to stop harm coming to others.  No past criminal record or hints of mental instability.  Also, the presence of the gun makes him a less likely suspect.  Why would he go to the trouble of drowning the victim when he could have just shot him and had done with it?"

Scully turned to the next page of her notes. "Suspect two, Wildoneshelper, drove past the swamp on the way to Rainbow Runway after stopping in at a restaurant nearby. Was last seen in this town 3 hours before time of victim's death, and was brought in for questioning from the Runway 2 hours after the body was found.  His potential motive was a known frustration with the creator because of the level he made, yet claims that he has long since moved on and would gain nothing from the death of the creator.  The suspects doesn't have a strong motive, and apart from proximity doesn't have much linking him to this case.  Criminal record almost clean except for a short period of blocking over a year ago, but the charges against him in that instance were dropped soon after."

Scully brought up her analysis of the next victim. "Mr. Rockstar was said to have been seen drinking from the swamp earlier that night, and seemed to have difficulty responding to the questioning. This difficulty can probably be attributed to the cannabis found in his possession, which would explain the compulsion to drink the swamp.  While he did not seem to be in the right state of mind for the murder, cannabis not being a violent drug, unlike alcohol, and he himself acting very, well, 'out of it', the size of his hands and strength from guitar playing seems to make him physically the most likely suspect.  Either way, he's under arrest for possession of illegal drugs, which seems to be a repeat offence judging by his criminal record.  Which brings us to our next suspect."

She brought up the next report. "Tiffi. Little girl seen around the crime scene.  Claims to be a friend of the victim, and has no clear motive or means to have performed the crime, given her age and strength.  However, has been known to show abilities beyond her age.  It's been said that she's been able to repair a whole palace by herself, fly a spaceship by remote control, and, apparently, drive a car as she was doing the night of the incident.  I can't find any explanation of how she's done any of this, but I suspect there is somebody else helping her, or something else she's not telling us about.  She's currently the prime suspect in this case due to these strange and numerous acts in the past."

Scully shut her notebook. "That only leaves the victim's fellow creators. The creators of 425 and 421 didn't have a bad relationship with the victim, according to co-workers, and neither of them seem to benefit from his death.  While both were with the victim earlier that night, it was confirmed that they were both checked in to a motel at the time the victim was murdered, as somebody else staying at the motel had complained about the loudness of the TV from the creators' room about half an hour before the victim's time of death, shortly after which the owner of the motel went to their room to tell them to turn it down and saw them both there.   Their alibi is secure."

Mulder still wore the same smile as before. "Very good, Scully," he said.

"Ok, what's wrong this time Mulder." Scully was getting fed up.

"Just that none of those suspects actually lived in the area, which means it doesn't explain all the other bodies found in the swamp."

"Bodies? What bodies?" Scully looked confused.

"Oh, y'know, the ten or so full skeletons we just dredged up this morning, completely stripped of all soft tissue."

"Mulder, when were you going to tell me about this?"

"About... now."

"Ok," Scully said. "Your turn to talk."

Mulder took out a folder of photos. "See here Scully. About 10 full skeletons' worth of bones, the oldest seeming to be from about 5 years ago.  The team are still trying to match the pieces to each person, but a rough count suggests all the bones are present.  The acidity of the lake was too high for bacteria to grow, suggesting some sort of creature is the cause of these people's condition.  Look here; you can see several broken vertebrae in this image here, each from different skeletons, matching your findings in the autopsy room.  This suggests it was the same killer who got the creator as the one who got the rest of these people.  There is very little sign of bone damage elsewhere, except for a few scrapings which was probably caused by teeth in an attempt to get off all the meat, suggesting not much of a struggle apart from the strangulation, which again fits the case with our current victim.  All victims seem to be adult, but gender and race are so far unknowable. This definitely reflects the idea of the killer being a creature who kills for food, and location of the victims suggests that it must be located somewhere in or around the lake. It first disables its victims by crushing their necks, and then drags them under the soda where they are preserved until it needs to feed."

"But Mulder, if there is this monster, how come it wasn't found in the dredging? Why has nobody found it yet?"

"The swamp itself is very large. It's not implausible that the creature just moved to avoid the dredging."

Scully sighed. "Well, if this monster does exist, then it must be very hungry right now since we've just stolen it's last meal from it. That means we should be able to stake out the swamp overnight and see if it comes up to the surface to find a meal.  If it does come up, we can catch it.  If nothing shows after a week, we'll go back to the more likely suspects.  In the mean time, I would like to have a closer look at the actions of that little girl."

"Sounds like a plan," said Mulder. "Speaking of hungry, how about some pizza?"