Wild Mass Guessing for Drawtectives
Sorin was poisoned before he was stabbed
Nearly everyone points out how odd it is anyone was able to take down Sorin. In Episode 8, the Drawtectives get a paper that shows Don Jovi's actual reason for being invited was to make sure nothing got slipped into the food.- Unproven, but unlikely, now that we have all the information.
Harper was not just a useless witness.
Harper gave quite a sum of information for someone so seemingly useless- she tells the team that her father left the dining room to show off some expensive alcohol, she never mentions Avis and Ogalvy once as leaving the dining room even though she was supposedly there the entire time and Avis claiming they left during dinner (in fact apart from Lotta, Harper is the ONLY suspect to never mention Avis and/or Ogalvy even though she definitely should have seen them), she tells them that Mr Llarm Alosa is a robotics engineer and family friend which seemingly directly contradicts information given in the next episode, which says he's a security expert who owes the family a favour. It's Tina who is the family friend. Llarm's name does sound like "Alarm" as well. Emery is a robot
Emery seems oddly disconnected even compared to everyone else, and refers to his parents as "the Lotta Justice" and "the Sorin Justice" when introducing himself. He was also supposedly hired as security for an event where he is a possible victim. Considering what Harper says about Alosa, it's possible Emery, or the one we meet at any rate, is a robot built by Alosa, and Lotta is aware of it, and Emery was there as a decoy and for security. He's also notably NOT on the list of people to call for security. Emery is also incredibly vague about his entire family, but in a way like he's giving a book report for a book he didn't actually read. He's also very vague about his job. Emery is either a robot, or he's not who he says he is.- Jossed; his behavior is due to a combination of being the killer, a glory-hound, and possible sociopath.
"The Shadow Vault" is not, in fact, the name of Lotta's information network.
- When directly asked if her organization had a name in the season finale, Lotta declined to answer, claiming it was a need-to-know secret, and the Drawtectives didn't need to know. When York guessed "Shadow Vault" and she "confirmed" it, it could simply have been a tact to get them to drop the subject, as well as facilitate discussion without having to say "my information network" over and over again.
Avis is the killer
Before we meet Emery, Jancy (who knows who the culprit is) stops just short of outright saying the Drawtectives already met the culprit-York: "I hope the killer's in one of [the three remaining rooms]."
Jancy: "Uh... what... says you haven't met them already?"
York: "Have we?"
Jancy: "Ho ho!"
So this could well mean the culprit is Lotta, Buzz, Don Jovi, Avis, Ogalvy, Faucon, Harper, or Sam. However, the murder supposedly occured around 9pm according to Jancy (this is likely when Lotta found the body, not the actual time of death, based on the competency of the B-squad), and a social media post by Faucon shows that Buzz, Don Jovi, Ogalvy, Sam, and Faucon herself all were in the kitchen along with the non-suspect Tina Crusher at 8:47pm. This leave Avis, Lotta, and Harper as the only suspects if Jancy's comment was a sincere clue. Only Harper has an alibi but it can't be proven (supposedly she was in the dining room, but she only hung around Sam and Faucon). Lotta simply wasn't questioned enough to have an alibi. Avis however was self-admittedly not in the dining room and isn't in the photo Faucon posted. This means that Avis, despite his claims, has no alibi whatsoever. Not only this, but there's a number of other problems with Avis:- Avis is one of precious few not on the guest list (the only people besides Avis and Ogalvy not on the list are Sorin's children).
- Avis's alibi doesn't totally make any sense. He says the following: "Ogalvy ran into the master bedroom because he wanted to see the rich people room. The rich people bedroom. He ran. We had to leave because we heard someone coming, and then I, I think he went to, uh, another room where we picked up these masks". He THINKS they went to another room? Either Avis doesn't even know if the masks came out of a room or not, or he's deliberately avoiding talking about the parlor. Yet he knows for sure they went to the master bedroom even though he can't recall the parlor. Furthermore, Avis says this happened right before the murder. Except through Don Jovi's testimony and the photo Faucon posted, we know Avis's story doesn't track. Ogalvy was in the kitchen or the pantry right before the murder, eating dessert. He couldn't have been with Avis.
- Furthermore, with Susan Fontaine's testimony, we learn that the fancy whiskey Sorin was wanting to show off was actually being given to the kitchen staff, and that he went to get it at 8:45. Ogalvy was in the kitchen at 8:47, which is roughly when the murder took place. Faucon also didn't just post the picture late, unless she took it just before Sorin came into the kitchen, because dessert was just being served when Sorin died, and Ogalvy is eating dessert in the picture. This gives everyone in the photo an alibi- Sam, Faucon, Buzz, Don Jovi, and Ogalvy. It's also notable how Faucon said "little dude wanted in the picture"- possibly to create an alibi for himself and his dad? According to Avis himself, he heard footsteps coming upstairs, and then he and Ogalvy ran downstairs into the parlor, after which the panic over Sorin's murder kicked up.
- There's also how evidence proves Ogalvy may never have actually gone to the master bedroom- the fire in the master bedroom is ablaze when it's encountered. This makes it supremely unlikely Ogalvy took the three burnt paper scraps from this room. However, there's a fireplace in the parlor as well, whose fire is out. This would make it easy to get to burnt paper from a fire that was once there. Ogalvy was at least possibly in the parlor as well, because it's the room where the masks were taken from. Somehow, neither of them ran past Sorin, even though he was close enough they heard his footsteps and there is only one inside door to the room. So something about them being in the master bedroom is a lie.
- Going back to an earlier point, Avis's aversion to talking about the parlor is interesting- it could well be there's more evidence and clues in the parlor and that Sorin may even have actually died there instead. Seeing as it's repeatedly noted Sorin was a powerful Paladin captain and it's very weird he was stabbed, especially in the chest, it seems likely that the stab wound didn't kill him (or if it did, he was unable to fight back). Instead, it makes more sense that he was poisoned. This tracks with the repeated mentions of the expensive whiskey (which we may be able to see in both the parlor and the master bedroom). It also could releate to what Avis and Ogalvy were doing while they were totally unaccounted for. Interestingly, Emery says "they kinda disappeared for a little bit", implying they returned. But we also know they were gone from the room again around the time of the murder and didn't return. Notably, too, Don Jovi was at the party specifically because he would ensure nothing was slipped into the food. It's very, very possible the whiskey was poisoned and either was the true cause of death or made Sorin easier to kill. Avis, being unaccounted for during most of the party, has the opportunity. He, again, is also not a listed guest.
- It is odd how Avis took a mask when he says he tries to return the things Ogalvy takes (plus Avis's mask is big enough for Ogalvy to bathe in so it's more likely that Avis took the masks). The mask would make it so Sorin couldn't identify his attacker and provide protection. If Sorin was poisoned, this would make it easy for anyone to kill him. Especially if the poison did him in and the stabbing was a distraction. The only people we know left the dining room before Sorin went to show off the whiskey were, of course, Avis and Ogalvy, as they left before dinner even began.
- It's worth pointing out that the three components for the knife we have so far- the key, the sheath, and the box- were found in rooms Avis or even Ogalvy were known to be in or near- the kitchen (which we know Ogalvy was in), the pantry (which is right next to the kitchen and a second possible place the photo was taken), and the parlor (where the masks came from).
- While Avis is explaining what happened that night, that is the quietest Ogalvy is during the entire conversation. This is very peculiar, as Ogalvy does most of the talking. This might mean Ogalvy was told to keep quiet so he doesn't spill the beans, as this was when his father was giving his alibi.
- Avis says he and Ogalvy "left dinner around 8", but this also doesn't make any sense. Dinner started at 7 according to Harper. Unless she's lying, this means Avis is. We know they didn't actually attend dinner because Avis and Ogalvy's dishes were sent back to the kitchen because they weren't there. While Harper never mentions them, Emery does clarify they "disappeared" from the dining room, likely soon after ordering their food based on the information taken from Don Jovi. This also tracks with what Harper said- she "arrived at 7ish cuz that's when dinner started and I didn't wanna be too late". Since Emery doesn't note his sister was late, and Harper doesn't mention Avis and Ogalvy even though everyone else does and she was very attuned to people leaving dinner, that means she likely never saw them at dinner (and they're hard to miss). If true, they didn't leave around 8, they left around 7 and before Harper arrived. 7 also makes sense for dinner to begin in relation to the rest of the events that night. Though, it could be that dinner technically began at 7, but food wasn't served until 8 which would make Avis's statement tecnically true, but contrast with the fact that Harper never saw them.
- Avis and Ogalvy's movements are hard to pin down, as it would appear they were largely unaccounted for during the entire party. This begs the question, however, of what Avis and Ogalvy were doing the entire night. All we know is at least one of them went into the parlor, and that Ogalvy was in the kitchen around the time the murder was committed. We know both of them supposedly went upstairs, and that Ogalvy obtained evidence he said that was from the master bedroom, although it's worth noting that there's a fire burning in the fireplace but the one in the parlor is out. There's also liquor in the parlor (and a bottle in the master bedroom), and Sorin supposedly left the party to show off some "expensive liquor".
- Also, not super concrete, but "Avis Smythe" and "Ogalvy Eggman Smythe" sound like fake names? I mean "Smythe" is another version of "Smith" and "Avis" is surprisingly on the nose for a guy in a bird mask. And his son, who is very egg-shaped, just happens to have the middle name "Eggman"?
- As of Part 9, we now know that Avis was on the way to losing his job as the company he works for went bankrupt. Attention was also drawn to how bird-centric several people are- not only Avis, Ogalvy, and Faucon, but Avis' bosses Jorgan and Borgan have prey bird motifs, just like the other three. So this likely means they're connected somehow, possibly marking all of them innocent or all together in committing the murder.
- Jossed, it's Emery. The reason he wasn't on the guest list is because he wasn't officially invited, having been asked by Emery to come so that Emery could use him due to how obviously suspicious he is. Also, in a series where the main victim is named Sorin Justice I'm not sure how Ogalvy and Avis Smythe sound fake.
- They sound fake in the sense that it sounded like Avis made them up on the spot, due to his nervous attitude.
- Jossed, it's Emery. The reason he wasn't on the guest list is because he wasn't officially invited, having been asked by Emery to come so that Emery could use him due to how obviously suspicious he is. Also, in a series where the main victim is named Sorin Justice I'm not sure how Ogalvy and Avis Smythe sound fake.
