In her letter to us, Julia Adler suggested the murder weapon may still have been in the attic.

• Could it perchance be included in this list?

The murder weapon cannot be the metal prop sword, as although the gemstone matches, the dimensions do not.

Aha, our murder weapon is Item #22.

• The cane has cabochon gem inserts matching the dimensions of the one found in Viola's skull, and it is missing a solitary gem.

This can be used to decipher a code in the rehearsal notes.

This was found by Julia Adler in the Cadence attic between some floorboards under the trunk in which she found the body of Viola Vane.

It has some kind of insignia on the front.

On the backside is "1:".

• What could this mean?

According to the old article provided by Julia on the shared desktop, Joe and Ira took the cane (murder weapon) from Viola's mother.

• The cufflink could suggest the murderer was a man.
• I don't see a stage manager wearing cufflinks, which leads me to believe this belonged to Ira Adler.

Mendia and Whitlock are homages to our last case - The Moon Summit Mystery.

This report suggests that Viola Vane was struck on the left side of her head shortly before being placed on her left side in the trunk.

3-inch heels?!?

• OUCH!

The killer left her watch, which had emeralds, meaning the killer did not kill her for riches.

The watch face was shattered, suggesting a struggle and self-defense.

• This means the killer approached from the front and must be right-handed, given the killing blow was to the left side of Viola's skull.
• The time read 5:57.

She had a passport under the name of Viktoria Gaina.

• This was her given name, Viola Vane was her stage name.

The killer also left cash in her purse, further suggesting this was not the motive.

Viola had a blade in her purse but did not use it.

• This suggests that she knew, and perhaps trusted, her killer.

She died at age 23, based on the birth date provided on the passport and the date on the newspaper found with her body.

She had previous injuries to her right hand and forearm.

• Was she in an abusive relationship?

The murder weapon is most likely circular and roughly 8 cm in diameter.

A ruby was found lodged in her skull.

• single cabochon-cut
• 3 cm length x 3 cm width x 2 cm height

There is a code in the postscript of this letter.

This is a simple book cipher.

• The first number is the line starting after "Ira".
• The second number is the number of words in that line.

Once deciphered, the message reads:

• "SENDING YOU THE MONEY. ENOUGH TO COVER YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES."

What the hell does that mean?

There is a code in the postscript of this letter.

This is a simple book cipher.

• The first number is the line starting after "Ira".
• The second number is the number of words in that line.

Once deciphered, the message reads:

• "SENDING YOU THE MONEY. ENOUGH TO COVER YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES."

What the hell does that mean?

Michelle introduces us to our new case in this letter.

She advises us to fact-check anything a person says.

She informs us of our new virtual desktop.

• Interesting, we get our own unique username this time...

Evelyn Kittridge, Viola's understudy, was bumped up for the showing on May 4th.

We gain a little background on our suspects from this document.

These notes were written by Joseph Sampson, the stage manager, on the day of the murder.

There is a crapload of code on the backside.

The grid on the front clues that this is a keypad cipher.

• Starting with "ABC", continue the alphabet on the second line left-to-right and wrapping around to the top, with 3 letters per box ending with "YZ" in the last.

Use the stage direction diagram in the Cadence Theatre notebook as the key to decode the messages.

Once deciphered, the messages read:

• "GEORGE, TOO HANDS ON. INTENSE. IN THE WAY."
• "TALK TO HECTOR"

In this letter, Ruth Erikson beseeches Ira Adler to not cast Viola in future projects.

• I wonder why.

Username:

• Your FIRST INITIAL and LAST NAME

Password:

• PORTER

Password:

• COLOSSEUM

HOLY SHIT! IT'S NORMAN BATES'S MOTHER!

This is the photo Julia snapped of Viola Vane's mummified corpse before she realized it wasn't just a prop.

This is a news article dated February 25th, 1934, revealing that Hector and Viola had called off their engagement.

This article reveals that Viola's own mother had allegedly attacked her and crew during a rehearsal the night of Viola's murder.

Cane