Name Dee Langley as your culprit

The hall went silent as you pointed at your culprit: your fellow detective, the one who'd been leading all of the proceedings so far... the cold and enigmatic Dee Langley, who'd arrived to the island alone for mysterious reasons.

"Me? Come now. I've been spearheading the effort to find the real criminal," Dee sighed, shaking her head. "Do you have any evidence? Or are you just pinning it on the person you like the least?"

You told her that testimony you'd collected throughout the afternoon leading up to his dinner had made her a culprit worthy of consideration. The other guests had informed you that Dee had a long-standing grudge against the Croft family for their role in abetting a criminal in the past. Apprehending that criminal was supposed to be Dee's big break, lining her up for a promotion at Scotland Yard and strapping the rocket pack on her career.

Instead, the case ended in her humiliating defeat, as the criminal and the Crofts worked together to paint Dee as an incompetent officer who lost the perpetrator, and with him, substantial holdings of the Croft family. Dee was demoted, the case went cold, and she'd been fighting her way up from the bottom of the deck ever since against a **** who saw her as a total fuck-up.

Wanda Croft had most likely invited her here as a challenge. Would Dee run away? Or would she accept this invitation to meet with the new generation of the Croft family and reignite the old rivalry? Then again, it was also possible Wanda hoped to bury the hatchet... less likely, given what you knew about her personality.

Either way, the rest was history. Dee had most likely seized one of Wanda's artifacts, used it to scramble the brains of its owner, and then returned it where she found it. A crime with no clues to follow but a motive.

"Ridiculous!" Brunhilde scoffed, before you even had a chance to gauge Dee's reaction. "Magic and hypnotism are not real. You cannot ask me to accept a conclusion that relies on moronic fantasies like my boss's."

"Hey, now! I can dock your pay for speaking badly of me in front of the other guests!" Yara threatened.

You shook your head. Brunhilde might not believe in mesmerism, but Dee was a firm believer. She'd seen the mischief firsthand in the past. She certainly wouldn't lean on any argument otherwise to prove her innocence.

"That is quite a theory, Malcolm Wolf. But let me ask you, then. Why would I have Wanda Croft humiliate herself? Sucking the dick of some random stranger? Please. If I could control her, she'd be jumping out of her third floor study window. And onto the spiked part of the fence."

Tallula spoke up, to the surprise of all, putting on a serious face. "I know you're not a bad woman, Ms. Langley. Certainly not a killer!"

"Vouching for my character, then. So you realize that I wouldn't do this?" Dee questioned, raising an eyebrow.

You stepped in for Tallula here: the observation was just that she wasn't a killer. On the other hand, eye for an eye was fair game. Wanda's mother ruined Dee's life by humiliating her. Controlling Wanda's mind and ruining her life the same way, by utter degradation, could be seen as just vengeance, especially given the well-documented egotistic and possibly criminal nature of the new generation's Croft. The apple hadn't fallen far from the tree.

Dee pressed two fingers to her fedora cap's brim and rotated it slightly away from her eyes, showing you a rare smile. "Hm. I'm impressed. That's good detective work."

Beside you, Linda leaned forward at the table. "So you confess? You were just horrible to my friend all night and all for the sake of trying to hide your own guilt, making him a scapegoat!" she shouted. You felt a pang of guilt. You were more or less doing the same thing right now, accusing Dee by a convincing theory rather than hard evidence.

"No. I do not confess. I did not do it," Dee responded flatly. "When it comes to detective work... sometimes you can do the math right and still get it wrong."

Tallula whimpered from the corner of the room. "Please don't speak in riddles..."

It seemed everyone but Dee herself had accepted your verdict. She had the only pair of handcuffs, but it shouldn't be too hard to get them from her, you thought. Only...