13 Clues (2)

Back to the ballroom:

Quince scowled indiscreetly when he thought of that bodyguard whom Queen flirted with. He silently marked that name down in his heart.

"So are you saying that one of the engineers are the culprit?" Quince asked in the next moment.

"Hmm...well that's most likely don't you think? After all, who else would kill a normal engineer?" Queen replied.

"While it's true that most murder cases are done by someone the victim personally knows, it doesn't really guarantee that for this case." Quince said matter of factly.

"True~ aww Master Quince is so smart and knowledgeable." Queen couldn't resist teasing him as her eyes lit up in amusement.

The expression on Quince's face became colder than ever. "Strike 2" he said.

"Whatttttt! Master Quince is such a meanie, what a small unforgiving heart." Queen moaned in mock despair.

Quince glared at her so hard, any other person standing in her place would have peed their pants. Anyone apart from Queen of course. That girl merely laughed happily before continuing on with her explanation.

"Alright, alright, I'll tell you. Remember the poison I sniffed from the glass Master Quince?" Queen asked with a mischievous glint in her eyes.

Quince nodded silently waiting for her explanation.

"That's a newly made poison called RM2, it contains various chemicals that if it's not mixed in the right quantity then it would go...'kaboom'" Queen explained with a rare serious expression on her face. Her arms opened wide as she said the word 'kaboom'.

Quince's eyes lit up with slight amusement at that cute action of hers before saying, "This doesn't explain anything."

Queen shook her head and said, "No, it actually explains everything because the chemicals used are highly specialized. Only highly skilled engineers with at least 10 years of experience are taught about it. The poison is deadly and it cannot be stored. It must be mixed and used within 2 hours or it would just turn into normal water."

"So that means, if Mr.Bernard body is sent to the autopsy, they would find no poison in his body?" Quince asked.

Queen clapped her hands before saying, "EXACTLY! The cause of death would most likely be sudden stoppage of the heart or so. We can rule engineers with lesser than 10 years experience out of this case as they won't be able to do it."

"How do you intend on identifying the culprit then?" Quince asked. After all, almost all of the engineers hired by the company have at least 10 years' experience in their profession. So this hardly narrow down the suspects at all.

"Well they know that the poison would turn into water within 2 hours, however, there is another way to identify this poison." Queen said. She kept silent without saying anything more, prompting Quince to open his golden mouth to speak to her.

"And that would be....?" He asked.

"Well~ I would explain but we don't have time to talk anymore." Queen replied.

"What.." before Quince could complete his sentence, the group of engineers walked over to them.