Natsuhi had the good instinct to pretend that Grampa had confiscated Genji's second key to the study ; with Grampa not responding, there's no way to enter it and the conference resumes in the dining room. Even the narration is bored to tears of the relatives' arguments, and the first actual line of dialogue spoken is Hideyoshi complaining that the conversation is running in circles and asking for a break.
Since Krauss has been weaseling out of his statements he'd made earlier, the relatives decide to start taking minutes. And since a written document is easily tampered with, they'll use Grampa's tape recorder (ah, 80s tech !). After that, Krauss & Natsuhi leave for a discreet planning session, and Genji is sent to have some tea prepared.
By the way, I said earlier that "everyone but the 3 children" was led to the gold. It appears that's not true, and only the parents, Genji, Battler and Erika went there. At the very least, Shannon and Kanon aren't in the secret, and everyone keeps quiet when they bring the tea. Which doesn't prevent Hideyoshi from trying to break the ice by being chummy with them (to their obvious discomfort).
Before Hideyoshi can extort the secret of Kanon's favourite TV show, there is a mysterious knock on the door. It sounds like a servant's knock, but Gohda and Kumawasa should be in the guesthouse, and Genji doesn't knock like that. Who is it ? It's now exactly midnight...
But before resolving this slightly lame cliffhanger, let's backtrack a bit to Krauss and Natsuhi's conversation. Natsuhi is now in tears, and advocates for staging Grampa's disappearance in the morning ; Krauss tries to convince her to keep it as a trump card until the last moment. He'll take full responsibility if it goes south, and has even prepared divorce files and special funds so that she and Jessica can go unscathed when the Ushiromiya family collapses. (And I notice that he's using when instead of if now : has he resigned himself ?) Anyway, she's tired and should go and have some sleep, he'll finish the night alone.
Genji interrupts, and tactfully takes Natsuhi aside. The prank caller is calling again ! (The clock ominously rings midnight right then.) Natsuhi pretexts to her husband that she's calling it a day, and locks herself in her room after having Genji transfer the call there. The guy (?) is as rude as before, and demands to know what Natsuhi's favourite season is (no, not summer ; it's fall). He then has her look under the clock in her room... where she finds a card with "fall" written on it.
Wait, is this guy on the island right now ? So he says : after all, he could have gotten there before the storm. Heck, even that Erika girl arrived during the storm. (Oh, nice way to prove he's aware of the island's latest happenings.) Anyway, she doesn't want him to meet her husband or her daughter (or anyone else), right ? So she'll obey his orders : keep herself locked inside her room, and don't answer to anybody. Got that ?
Back to the dining room with the mysterious knock. After some bewilderment, Kanon asks for permission to open the door... and finds nobody there. There's just one of the darned envelopes... (Wait a second : who put it there and knocked ? We know Krauss, Natsuhi and Genji's whereabouts at that exact moment, all the others are in the guesthouse, and the doors are locked.) Anyway, Rudolf opens it. Inside : Grampa's ring, and a letter from Beatrice congratulating Battler for reaching the Golden Land and acknowledging him as both the gold's owner and the new head. All the parents urge Battler to pass the ring to his finger, which he reluctantly does. Krauss and Genji chose this moment to come back and announce that Natsuhi has retired to her room. Krauss is obviously shocked by this latest development...
Okay, this is getting very intriguing. If the scene with Krauss, Natsuhi & Genji is genuine, who knocked and put that letter there ? Who's that calling Natsuhi (if she's not stark raving mad) ? The mysteries start piling up...
Just for giggles, my current theories about the caller :
- Krauss and Genji are out, as their voices don't fit (though Genji may be an accomplice and lying about the first call coming from outside the island)
- We get a big bunch of suspects eliminated by having an iron-clad alibi at the time of the call : Battler, Rudolf, Kyrie, Eva, Hideyoshi, Maria, and especially Shannon and Kanon, my go-to suspects for hidden children of dubious origin. (By the way, the heavy implication so far is that Natsuhi had an illegitimate child around 1967, and "got rid of it".)
- Erika would just be a cheat, so she's out.
- Dr Nanjo and Gohda are too old for the voice to fit. Also, Kumasawa is a great actress, but this may be getting a bit far-fetched.
- Jessica would be hilarious, but I kinda doubt it.
- Maria is far too young. Seriously.
- George would be interesting... But I struggle to reconcile this with the backstory.
So, er, I don't have any real suspect. (Damn you, show, for ruling out Kanon and Shannon immediately !) George, Jessica, or maybe Kumasawa are barely in the lead.
If it does end up being Erika, I'll be quite disappointed. Especially since the voice is doing their best to frame Natsuhi for the upcoming murders, which is what the culprit would do. And Erika is not the culprit. (Though neither are Jessica and George in this iteration, from the look of it. Darn, my brain hurts.)
Actually, maybe Natsuhi is the culprit, and killed the caller in a twisted sort of self-defense. No ruling out Jessica and George, then.
