Mafia 59: Eyes of a Stranger

[Ben Kenobi]

Ah glad to see there is some interest here.

I will post the clues later tonight.

[Ben Kenobi]

First Clue:

Just before she hung up the caller asked about her diamond brooch that was on her collar and how it had once come all the way from South Africa.

This was the first clue.

It didn't point out the mafia, but the caller had to know diamonds very well (working in a diamond mine, and had to be from South Africa to be able to tell the diamond from a distance.

[Ben Kenobi]

I was speaking with Sam about her watercolours, since she never said exactly what she enjoyed painting. Sam told me that she loved all kinds of things, but her pride and joy was this painting of Table mountain in South Africa. I thought it was an odd choice for a quiet Southern Lady, but he said, Cape Town is really a place out of time. With some of the largest observatories, it was one of the most beautiful spots in the former British Empire.

I have to suspect that it is more then the beauty that was encouraging Kitty to paint but what else could it possibly be?

Again, the clue is South Africa.

[Ben Kenobi]

He said the best part of his job were all the ladies who were there for a vacation. The only cares they seemed to have were to enjoy themselves.

Why would Baramunde say this of all things? Again, a clue to the killer. Annette fit the profile.

[Ben Kenobi]

To which the chief shouted back, that no tulip chewer was going to boss him around and that this investigation was going to go according to his orders and no one elses

Tulip chewer = Dutch = South African. This was the big clue.

[Ben Kenobi]

Stanley confides in me, what has hurt him for a long time. My father was not a kind man, he was very strict. When he died no one was happier then I was because it meant that he could no longer boss me around. The killer said a few words that I had not heard in a long time. He asked me about my Oma.

Killer had an Oma = Dutch word for Grandmother.

Whoever the killer is he knows so much about all of us that he must have access to the police records and files, or he must have purchased them from elsewhere, perhaps a private investigator. Who among our group would have both?

Tim was a policeman, albeit a harbour policeman.

[Ben Kenobi]

There is a killer out there and the lady still finds time to make out with someone other then her husband? Absolutely inconcievable!

Again a clue, that only the killer could be so confident

[Ben Kenobi]

And then there is Annette Hawkins. Annette is the very wealthy lady who has a rather dull and boring husband who pays most of her bills. I could easily see her cheating, but as one thing I have learned in this business, it is never the one you suspect who is mostly responsible.

A clue since we know that the cheater is likely to be the killer.

[Ben Kenobi]

As I combed the room for clues, I found a small solar cell on the floor. I wondered what a wharfsman would ever need to use such a device?

Jose Baramunde was dead, bludgeoned by a fishing lead and stuffed into a closet. Stuffed with him was a transaction notice.

[Ben Kenobi]

Jane immediately retorts the one that sent her her invitation to this affair. Of course, knowing that she snuck on board by bluffing past Bud.

Annette merely laughs, and says the only way you could ever get on board is if you found a sugar daddy to support you.

Again, exactly what Annette did. She found a sugar daddy. I wondered if anyone would pick up on the use of the word affair, but nobody got it but Mrs. T. She made the connection between the affair and Annette.

[Ben Kenobi]

I had to suspect that mafia must be one of the blighters who voted for her.

As Rubychaser did. Wrote this into the story to give folks a hint as to who was the killer. Narrows down the suspects.

With all of the clues together it should be obvious who was mafia, but no one clue singled out Annette.

[Sparrowhawk]

I see the clues you point out for Dutch and South Africa, but what do they have to do with either of the mafia?

/me

[Ben Kenobi]

To which the chief shouted back, that no tulip chewer was going to boss him around and that this investigation was going to go according to his orders and no one elses

[Sparrowhawk]

Oh, that's what that means, perfectly clear now!! .............

/me

[duke o' york]

Well I'm not in for the next one.

Unless it starts a week after New Year, in which case then I am.

I'll post in the sign-up thread if it takes that long to start a new game.