AWKWARD ZOMBIE

"I think the more intriguing question is HOW? The culprit couldn't have stolen your ID while your were passed out at your house, and it doesn't seem possible that someone had the foresight to know that Nook would deliver more medicine to your house and steal your ID card before then."

"Wait a minute..... Perhaps it IS possible for someone to have stolen medicine from Punchy while he was in his house."

Pierce turns to Whitney.

"Hawkeye..... You were the only one I told that I went to the train station yesterday. The same train station where the closets can be accessed."

"You've already admitted to being out last night.....and you have your lock picks with you. I saw you use them to break into Punchy's house during the investigation....but that wasn't the first time, was it?"

"You could have used them to sneak into Punchy's house last night and steal his medicine. And furthermore....that feather Isabelle found on you...."

"You seem to have quite an interest in it. Why is that? Could it be that the feather belongs to me, collected during our meeting last night and intended to be used as 'evidence' against me?"

"Finally....when we investigated your house, you very strictly warned me not to examine the contents of the chest in your house. Was there....an empty bottle in there?"

Pierce looks extremely upset.

"H-hawkeye.... Did you....steal Punchy's medicine...drug yourself....and try to frame me for it?!?"

"Well, one of us is secretly the mayor. They would most likely know that he put the medicine in and are likely to have keys to the lockers and such. So either the mayor murdered or.... They gave someone the materials to do so."

"Ooh, so close! But The Mayor does not have access to these ID cards to get into the locker, nor are they hackable by any reasonable means. The Mayor enjoys a challenge, and what fun would it be if they could slip into your houses through the locker and kill you bastards that way?"

"I alone can access these lockers with the spare IDs."

"However, I can't deny whether The Mayor is involved in this case or not, upupu~"

Pierce is visibly shaking.

"Nook..... W-when....did you deliver that medicine?"

"Hmm... either right before or right after nighttime, I think. What, do you have a theory or something, you bastard?"

Pierce's body is tense. He can barely form words.

"T-testimony....."

The eagle looks at Isabelle.

"I w-want to hear....Whitney's testimony....about last night!"

"R-right..."

Whitney's Testimony

Whitney seemed startled--and offended--at Pierce's sudden round of questioning. "What, you don't trust me?" she snapped. "What was all that malarky earlier today about trust, then?" She stared him angrily in the eyes. "I'll answer your questions. Yes, I've used the lockpicks before, but not to get into Punchy's house. I've been trying to pick open that stupid old book I found our first couple days here."
"I wanted to see the feather because yes, I did want to know who it came from! I didn't even notice it until Isabelle found it herself. Third, I didn't want you to look in the trunk because I have items in there that I would like to keep protected! Including the object Diana gifted me before she..." She shook her head. "...right. My testimony."

"Last night, after I said goodbye to Pierce, I planned on heading to Lucky's house and look around. I'm nosy, okay? I wanted to see if I could find anything interesting around there since I hadn't been there before. After that I planned to try my hand at picking the locks on that old book with Diana's lockpicks. But before I headed out, I was overcome with a dizzy spell and I passed out. Isabelle woke me up and told me that Cranston had been killed, and that I looked like a mess. She helped me pull myself back together a little and pulled a feather from my fur--I didn't get a good look at it before she tucked it away, and I didn't think to ask. My shovel was in the room as well, and covered in blood. When Pierce greeted me, I asked him to help me investigate my house, and found the crumpled up map. My keys and ID card were also missing."

"Then we headed to Cranston's house, where I found Punchy sleeping on the floor near Cranston's body. We investigated the house and found my keys and ID under Cranston's body...then Pierce told me that the Nooklings had given a bottle of medicine to Punchy, medicine that might have been able to knock someone out. I was afraid that Nook would announce the trial soon, so I didn't want to wait to coerce Punchy into letting us into his house, especially if he wound up being the culprit. So I busted in with my lockpicks. Pierce told me to go and question Punchy instead of investigating his house, and I almost did...but then I changed my mind and headed back. That's when I spotted the bottle of unused medicine in Punchy's house."

Whitney shot Pierce a glare. "Is that enough for you?!"

Pierce meets Whitney's glare.

"I'm afraid not. You see, trust is one matter.....BLIND trust is something entirely different."

"Trust is something grounded in reality.....based on evidence."

Pierce hesitates, then looks at the ground.

"Can you...or anyone....account for your movements last night after we parted ways? If not....."

The eagle grits his teeth and clenches his fists, tears welling in his eyes.

".....then I'm afraid my theory still holds water, hawkeye!"

"I was passed out in my own home last night. The only person who can account for that would be the person who planted Cranston's keys and ID in my house, along with that map. And they won't because they wanted me to be in trouble!"