(Grill) Call Yara out on her scheme

You weren't sure if you were impressed or baffled by how brazen Yara Ashour was being, trying to pull off a scheme like this in the presence of not one, but two detectives. You also weren't certain if this maneuver of hers out on the balcony was related to the entire hypnosis plot at play here, but it was easy to imagine it might be. You asked Yara if she wanted to confess to what she was doing out here, or if you wanted her to bring Eric here so she could tell it to him instead.

"What? What should I confess to that senile old fogey, that I like the evening view? That I appreciate the trim of the hedges lining the manor's perimeter? What is it you're accusing me of?" she laughed, wearing a a suspicious smile and placing one arm around yours. "Come, come. Let's head back inside! All I was doing was waiting out here for you to show up, you know? Now that you're here, I can really enjoy myself!"

You sighed, shrugged your arm free, then pointed out the obvious: Yara was trying to lead you away from the balcony for some reason. Furthermore, she wouldn't let Brunhilde guard the entrance to stop you from entering if she wanted to see you.

"Th-That was her own prerogative! Is it so hard to believe I'm fond of your company?! A big, strapping man like yourself, what woman wouldn't feel safer with you around, hm?"

On the contrary, she had a pretty good reason not to want a detective around right now. You walked over to the balcony and finally spilled the beans, pointing downward towards the row of bushes. There was something sparkling inside of the neatly trimmed foliage.

"Hmmmmm? Yes, yes, the garden is very pretty, but what is it you're trying to do here?"

You asked her if she really wanted you to spell it out. When she averted her eyes and put on a crooked version of her usual grin, her words caught in her throat, you spelled out her scheme: she'd already swiped a few artifacts from the collection before you arrived and had brought them here to the balcony to stash them in a safe place for later retrieval. In short, she was pilfering Wanda's exhibits, perhaps thinking that without the lady herself around, nobody would notice.

Extrapolating a bit further, if she really wanted to get away with it, using some artifact to keep her and her closest helper in a state like this would make it even easier. What appeared to be simple thievery could actually point towards a larger pattern, making her the culprit in all of this.

"A-Are you joking?! You must be! I didn't drop anything off the balcony!"

You reminded her that verifying that would be as simple as you going down to search the bushes.

Yara grit her teeth together, backing towards the balcony like she herself intended to jump off into the bushes as a way of fleeing. The bells on her ridiculous clown costume jingled as her feet shuffled across the tiles. "... Okay! Fine. What do you want, hm? A cut? You're going to **** me now, is that it? Oh, it's sexual favors, is it? Very well, just not in sight of the others, I-"

You chuckled and cut her off. This wasn't about blackmailing her at all. You just wanted to give her a chance to confess right now if she was behind all this mind control business, before you called her out on it in front of the whole roundtable at night.

"I-I'll confess nothing! You know good and well that I'm not behind all of this, I'm too... too-"

"Stupid," you thought to yourself.

"Affable!" she continued, her cheeks flushing with indignation. "I would never **** people like that! And why would I make them all into your drooling servants? I am very pansexual, if you haven't noticed, I'd make them slobber over me, not you!"

There were all kinds of retorts you could make-- that she might be directing their affection towards you in order to make you a more effective scapegoat was the easiest. However, you weren't going to verbally spar with her. Even you weren't sure if you actually believed Yara was behind this yet. You just needed to be armed with as much convincing evidence as possible to make it through the roundtable.

"Wait! It'll be your word against mine a-and Brunhilde will be on my side, you won't be able to win! I'm very persuasive, people love me!" Yara protested, making a grab for your arm again that you evaded with a quick step, causing her to tumble against the glass and smush her squishy, soft body against it. You left her like that, returning to the others at the party.

You definitely hadn't made a friend out there, but you didn't just need friends here-- you needed convincing evidence. The rest of the tour passed uneventfully, with Yara doing her best to avoid you and you keeping your mouth shut about her scheme, having decided that it might be a better trump card to hold for later.

--You've obtained a new clue!--

--Someone's suspicion of you rises...--

--Check the game tab for more details--