Dr. Penguin and Ms. Parrot made their way to the foyer in search of evidence pertaining to Alouette’s murder. Luckily the dining hall wasn’t too far from the entrance to the manor, so they could go back at any point. Suits of armor lined the walls, all with axes and halberds in their right hands, and an empty bookcase was nestled between two knights to the right.

“Armor,” Ms. Parrot murmured, crossing her arms as she stepped into the hall. “What would our host do with so much armor?”

“They seem to simply be decorative, my dear,” Dr. Penguin said. He examined each one carefully; he wasn’t certain that the armor had anything to do with the murder, but he supposed it wouldn’t hurt to check. 

“Nothing out of the ordinary,” he said after some time. “Be vigilant though, Miss—”

“Parrot,” the green-masked woman said simply. “And you are…?”

“Dr. Penguin,” he replied, adjusting his black and white mask. “Hard to believe I never introduced myself.”

“To be fair, a dead body appeared two minutes into dinner.”

Dr. Penguin went silent and scanned the suits of armor again, muttering to himself as he took note of anything odd about their appearance. Ms. Parrot examined the ones on the opposite wall, soon landing on the pair facing the bookshelf.

“Hold on,” she said, and Dr. Penguin glanced in her direction. “One of the halberds is missing.”

Sure enough, the hollow knight on the left side of the bookshelf was missing its halberd; the right knight’s was still there.

Dr. Penguin whistled and crossed his arms as he approached the shelf, and a wide grin spread across his face. 

“Ms. Parrot? It seems we’ve found our murder weapon.”

Edited by Abby Stetina, astetina@themaneater.com