The Real Murderer

"Okay, let's hear what you have to say then. Who else was rejected by Olympia and also has reason to kill the previous constable and Patrick." Cherry figured she'd just humor the fool whilst the others searched for physical evidence.

"She must have rejected half the village! I'm not the only one who has run afoul of the old constable either! As for Patrick, he was always writin' in those girly diaries of his, you should read 'em! Maybe you'll find your killer in there!" Jerick exclaimed.

Robin stepped into the room holding a dagger. There wasn't anything in particular that stood out about it, but it was clearly made as a weapon rather than a tool.

"What do we have here? The murder weapon perhaps?" Robin said.

"I got it to protect myself! You can ask the blacksmith, I only bought it after Olympia died!" Jerick pleaded his innocence.

"We'll have Doc Gidall have a look and tell us if it could have been the murder weapon, and the blacksmith to corroborate that claim. You'll be coming with us, though. Can't have you run off while we're building a case against you." Cherry said.

After Robin and Perona concluded that there wasn't anything more to find in Jerick's home, they tied him up and set off into the village to ask about the dagger.

The blacksmith did indeed testify that he had sold the dagger to Jerick only after Olympia was murdered, and Doc Gidall stated that the blade responsible should be single edged, unlike the dagger they found at Jerick's home.

"Do you believe me now?" Jerick asked incredulously, still bound around the torso.

"This one could just be a diversion whilst you hid the real murder weapon. So no, I don't believe you. We'll look into Patrick's diaries to see what we can find, though. Perhaps you'll be exonerated then, hm?" Cherry said.

Cherry was only about 30% sure that Jerick was the culprit at this point, but even if he was exonerated she wouldn't feel bad about his broken door and broken face.

What's the point in being a world infamous pirate if you couldn't bash a guy's face in for petty reasons every now and then?

Jerick had half a mind to grumble, but fortunately for him the other half of his mind had the sense to keep his mouth shut.

Asking around, they found out that Patrick's mother was in possession of his belongings. Cabernet and Perona stayed outside with Jerick whilst Cherry and Robin went to speak with the woman.

After knocking, the door was answered in short order by an older woman.

"Hello?" She asked in greeting.

"Yes, ma'am. I'm Cherry and this is Robin. We're helping with the investigation into the deaths. We hope that we could impose on you to look for any clues among Patrick's possessions." Cherry politely explained.

"Of course, I haven't gotten up the strength to look through them myself. You can find them in his old room." She agreed unquestioningly.

Upon looking through Patrick's things, they found a couple dozen fairly thick books that turned out to be diaries. He apparently wrote an entry every single day of his life since he had learned to write.

"Let's get started then…" Cherry resigned herself to reading through them, having little doubt she'd know Patrick very well by the end.

…

Outside of the Fungwood near the shore of the island.

Two marine battleships anchored just off shore and the marines on board rowed to land.

"After we finish up here, how about we go get a bite to eat together, Gion?" A middle aged marine in Vice Admirals' coat and a fedora, asked.

"No, and we're on a mission so stay focused, Tokikake. We don't know when we might be attacked." Gion, a woman in a Vice Admirals' coat and a spider tattoo on her exposed thighs, rebuffed.

"How likely is it that Harpin D. Cherry is here? Is the tip we received even credible in the first place?" Tokikake said relaxedly.

"It doesn't matter, we'll search either way. Marines! Put on your gas masks and prepare to enter the mushroom forest!" Gion commanded.

"Well, just keep in mind what Fleet Admiral Kuzan said. The main thing is to just confirm her presence here because she'll probably get away from us no matter what we do. We can always try and lay a trap further down this path of the Grand Line for her." Tokikake reminded her.

"If she's here, then we'll catch her and bring her in." Gion stated confidently.

"She got away from Sengoku, you know?" Tokikake said incredulously.

Gion ignored him and pointed towards the Fungwood.

"Look, that should be our point of contact." Gion said.

The man who exited the Fungwood ran over to the marines who in turn approached him as well. The marines kept their weapons ready in case anything unexpected occurred.

"You're the one who called in the tip?" Gion asked.

"Yes, that's right. I'm the one who called you. Thank goodness you're here, too. Our village has been harassed for an entire week!" The man exclaimed, greatly relieved to see the marines finally arrive to deal with those troublesome pirates. "Is there a reward, by the way?"

"If the tip is accurate then you'll receive 10% of the bounty provided it leads to an arrest." Tokikake assured.

"Thank you! I'll lead you to the village, the spores in the air are toxic so be careful not to breathe them in." The man said.

"What should we call you then?" Gion asked.

"Most folks in the village just call me Constable Ricky." He said.

…

After a few hours of reading, the diaries of Patrick turned out to be very illuminating for Cherry and Robin. In fact they're enough to serve as pretty solid evidence against the killer.

"Today I went hunting with Ricky. We went a lot deeper into the Fungwood than normal and stumbled upon some old ruins. We hadn't heard about them before and decided to explore a bit. Ricky found a strange black dagger. It gave me the creeps so I told him to put it back. Ricky shouted at me, angrier than I had ever seen him. I dropped the subject." Cherry read.

"Ricky's Father was murdered today, 'stabbed to death' is what Doc Gidall said. My mind went back to that day that Ricky found that dagger, but I cast out the thought. Ricky wouldn't do such a thing, even if his father was a bastard to him." Cherry continued.

"Olympia was killed today, in the same way too. Ricky had been devastated when she told him he wasn't rich enough for her years ago, then the rumors about an affair with the mayor started up recently. I can't ignore my suspicions any longer, but I can't just tell the whole village Ricky is a killer before I'm sure. I'll steel my nerves and invite him over to my home to confront him." Cherry continued.

"Today is the day. He thinks I invited him for drinks to mourn for his father and Olympia. I don't know whether this is that dagger's fault or not, and I'm not sure which I would prefer to be honest. I'll try to reason with him, get that evil thing away from him." Cherry finished.

"That was the last entry, he died that very night." Cherry added.

"It's almost annoying that it's all laid out nice and neat like that." Robin said, feeling their efforts had become rather pointless now.

"*sniff* You silly boy, why didn't you tell someone…" Patrick's mother cried.

He really was rather stupid not to have included anyone else, especially since he suspected a cursed blade was involved, even if he didn't exactly know what those were.

Ricky on the other hand never really seemed as incompetent as the villagers said he was. He instantly recognised Cherry and made the correct choice of ignoring that fact.

He assigned DePonte to the case despite him being a recluse and quite busy with his research already. His father's files led them straight to Jerick who had a motive against each of the victims.

'His overgrown garden also seemed recently disturbed now that I've thought of it. Did he bury something there?' Cherry wondered.

Cherry scanned the island with Life Sense. She found Constable Ricky leading about a hundred people towards the village, two of which were on the upper end of Vice Admiral level at least judging from their vital energy.

"Sneaky bugger…" Cherry complained.