Recap / Criminal Case: Pacific Bay - Case 23: The Eye of the Storm

Chief Marquez: Don't tell me you really believe that someone is controlling the weather! This is ridiculous!

With Hurricane Zelda almost hitting Jazz Town, Chief Marquez tries to order the Police Department to evacuate the area, but Amy's insistence in that the storm can be stopped prompts her to accept Hannah's advice about following a strange signal emitted from a weather tower. There, they find the body of stormchaser Peggy Pascal tied up to a lightning rod and electrocuted to death.

Tropes:

• Agent Scully: Chief Marquez refuses to believe the hurricane is being controlled by someone until you find definitive proof.
  Chief Marquez: Are you sure this storm can be stopped, <Player's Name>? Are you ready to bet your life on a fairy tale?
• Big "NO!": Veronica lets out this after Amy turns off the Weather-Control Machine, putting an end to her plan.
• Big Storm Episode: The whole case takes place in the middle of a hurricane.
• Call-Back: Colonel Spangler and Veronica Blade reappear as suspects.
• Cliffhanger: The case ends with The Puppeteer writing a letter in the newspaper informing you that they're going to start killing again in the carnival.
• The Climax: For the Weather Machine Story Arc.
• Cool Uncle: You meet Andy Pascal, Peggy's uncle who taught her everything about stormchasing. Even when she got his stormchasing license revoked, he never resented her, and thanks you for finding her killer.
• Do Not Taunt Cthulhu: In the Additional Investigation, we discover that Yann sent a taunting message to The Puppeteer via the newspaper, challenging them to come out and face justice, which gets him a scolding from Hannah for doing such a reckless move. Worse, The Puppeteer responds Yann, informing him that they're going to kill again in the carnival.
• Do Not Touch the Funnel Cloud: Somehow, the team and the suspects avoid being blown away by Hurricane Zelda despite its closeness to Jazz Town.
• Dude, Where's My Respect?: Veronica implies this during her Motive Rant, since her estate is a designated historical site but it has fallen to disrepair from neglect, and she resents Jazz Town's people for dishonoring her ancestor's legacy by refusing to help her maintain it.
  Veronica: My family created Jazz Town, but nobody remembers that! Our ancestral home is in ruins and the city won't even help!
• Faux Affably Evil: In her previous appearances, Veronica has been courteous and even flirtatious towards you a Frank, showing a deal great of hospitality despite her ill-tempered nature. Then, when you find out she's the one who almost destroyed Jazz Town with Hurricane Yves and is now trying to annihilate it with Hurricane Zelda, she puts down her façade very quickly.
• High-Voltage Death: Peggy was killed by being tied to a lighting rod, which got her shocked to death by the storm.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Twice for Veronica. First, she lefts a message for Peggy to see when she wakes up tied to the lightning rod as a taunt, which helps Amy and the player deduce than her killer is also the person controlling the storm. Then, whilst being confronted, the strong winds of her own hurricane blow the weather machine remote out of her hands, allowing Amy to catch it and put an end to Hurricane Zelda before it destroys Jazz Town.
• Insurance Fraud: The reason why Veronica stole the Weather-Control Machine and created Hurricane Yves (then Hurricane Zelda when that failed) was to cause enough damage to her property so she could receive the insurance policy and stop being an Impoverished Patrician.
  Amy: What the?! You created Hurricane Yves just to destroy your home so that you could get the house insurance money?!
  Veronica: Of course! That insurance is the only thing of value I have left! Thanks to Hurricane Yves, I could finally claim that money and escape Jazz Town!
• Mood Whiplash: Just when everyone is celebrating that Jazz Town is saved and the weather machine is being used to bring out the sun just in time for the carnival, the team reads a letter from The Puppeteer informing the player that they're going to strike again.
• My Greatest Failure: For Colonel Spangler, losing the Weather-Control Machine remote is this for him, as it led to Jazz Town being almost destroyed twice.
  Colonel Spangler: I didn't tell you because losing this machine could mean the end of my career! I can't suffer through such humiliation!
• Omnicidal Maniac: When confronting her, Veronica tells you this time she intends to destroy not only her house, but the entirety of Jazz Town as well, which would lead to countless of deaths and irreparable damages.
• The Only One: Spangler says you're the only one capable of saving Jazz Town from the man-made hurricane.
• Revenge: Veronica murdered Peggy because, when Veronica tried to claim an insurance policy for her state after Hurricane Yves partially destroyed it, Peggy told the insurance company that the damages done to her state weren't caused by the storm, leading to Veronica remaining impoverished.
  Veronica: When I said my house was ripped to shreds by Hurricane Yves, I meant it!
  But that child fed her lies to the Insurance Company, saying that Hurricane Yves was too far away from my house to have caused the damage! She LIED!
  My house is coming to pieces! I have no money to fix it, and no money to leave! I'm stuck! I don't know what to do!
• Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: When Hurricane Zelda finally reaches Jazz Town, Chief Marquez orders you to evacuate at once. Cue everyone in the team disobeying her and backing you up.
  Chief Marquez: That's an order, <Player's Name>! You're not staying here alone!
  Amy: No, not alone! I'll stay be <Player's Name>'s side until this case is solved! I know they'll find a way to stop the machine!
  Yann: So will I, Andrea. I'll stay as long as <Player's Name> needs me. I believe in them.
  Roxie: As if I would let you have all the fun, <Player's Name>! I'm staying too!
  Hannah: This machine is one of the greatest mechanical achievements I've ever seen. No one could make me leave! Oh, and, I'm with you, <Player's Name>.
  Amy: It's our choice to stay with <Player's Name>, Chief. Even if it means disobeying you.
• Shout-Out:
  • In the Derelict Bunker scene, there is a picture of Albert Einstein and a bobblehead of Elvis Presley.
  • In the Bunker Floor scene, there is an Elvis Presley record, as well as a bottle of "7pp".
• Sickness Equals Redness: One of the killer's traits is that they have a common cold. As such, many of your suspects have red noses and sneeze when you talk to them.
• Soapbox Sadie: Rose Field, a climate change activist that insists the hurricane is being caused by climate change even with proof that it's being controlled, since proving that a Weather-Control Machine exists would make polluting industries blame machines for climate change.
  Rose: But the worse thing is, she had the nerve to say that the storm was man-made!
  It's all a lie! Storms are the result of mankind's disinterest in the Earth! It's the result of climate change, anything else is just fantasy!
• Weather-Control Machine: You find Spangler's weather machine inside a hidden bunker, sending signals to a weather tower that allows it to control the hurricane. Unfortunately, he tells you that the remote was stolen from him a long time ago, so there's no way for him to stop it.