Murder Riddle III (Solved!)

[Mewtaph]

Ransu

: "First an impossible theft, then an impossible murder, and then an impossible disappearance... Just what is going on here?!"

I'm going to start with my theory on the theft.

Theft

Vangel had put on something he would probably just dump in his storage, but it was worth it. So he thought. For he would later pay not only with the loss of his prized spear, but also his own life.

When he received the spear, he was the happiest man on earth. He decided to invite two dungeons and dragons friends, Ransu and Lacey, who said they wanted to check out the spear.

Ransu's motive was to steal the spear for himself.

Only one key exists for every room, and all of them were carefully hidden in Vangel's office. As soon as Vangel was out of earshot, Ransu was left alone in Vangel's office - Lacey was still in the bathroom and everyone else was downstairs while Vangel was heading to the stairs. It didn't take long to find the key to the power room. Knowing he had his secret weapon at hand, he made his call. It would be too obvious of a theft otherwise, and knowing his former friend well, he hoped that Vangel would enter a paranoid frenzy sending all of his guards to protect the spear; not knowing that he would insist on remaining in the white room with the other visitor, Lacey. He planned to pickpocket the only key to the padlock which was with Vangel at all times in the confusion of the darkness.

Ransu lied when he said he didn't ruin the backup generator. At 11:01, Ransu triggered his remote detonator while Lacey and Vangel were too distracted to focus on him in anticipation. Ransu ran straight towards Vangel, and stole the key. He was at the case now, Vangel hopelessly telling him and Lacey to stop the person from reaching the spear. Little did he know.

Ransu fired his gun at the padlock, while making sure not to break it. Near the glass case's door some small pieces of metal and stone were found, to avoid implicating himself, Lacey or Vangel who were the only ones in the white room when the lights turned off. However, Ransu was the only person that had access to the power room key. Without the power room key, the only other person that could have performed the theft was George, but no secret passages exist.

Ransu unlocked the padlock with his stolen key, pocketed the spear, and while Vangel was still in a dazed state trying to adjust to the dark, he placed the key back on Vangel's person right where he found it. Ransu then ran away from the area of theft to ensure that it was plausible that one of the guards did it, and successfully maintained his appearance that he and Lacey, were still in their positions, trying to feel their way in the dark.

[Mewtaph]

Hmm, ok. So again the person that killed is the only person that can lie.

Given that Ransu and Lacey couldn't hide it on their person, that means they couldn't have done the theft because:

No gaps under doors.

So even if they somehow managed to turn off the lights remotely, they would not be able to hide the spear in another room because (Music Room, Lounge, Storage, Entrance) were all guarded and Ransu or Lacey couldn't have hidden the spear in storage, for example without an accomplice.

I definitely don't think they would have had enough time to run upstairs.

Every guard in starting guard position would have had to enter the white room to go upstairs to the power room to switch off the lights, but Vangel/Lacey/Ransu definitely would have seen that? So maybe there is a 9th person at play. Maybe a guard is lying and actually started upstairs?

For the murder, it seems that they unlocked the window somehow and performed the murder that way because Lacey says in purple:

Lacey: "No one has walked out the door since we got in."

Unless Lacey is lying and she actually commited the murder.

But Westy's purple statement indicates that the murderer did not escape through the window.

Westy: "And from what I can see there are no footprints outside in the snow. The blizzard stopped long ago, so it is impossible for more snow to have covered possible footprints."

So I think our murderer is either Lacey or Westy?

For the disappearance, Lacey herself obviously couldn't take a part in the disappearance without an accomplice so that can be ruled out. I agree that the timing seems to eliminate Westy, Easty and Ransu (not enough time). George and Northy are also accounted for and couldn't have done the disappearance.

[Mewtaph]

Theft

The thing I am stuck on with the theft is the lights. How did the thief turn off the lights?

Murder

Vangel started out in the storage at the end of the theft then made it locked inside of his office for the murder scene. So him running to his office and locking himself in seems like a plausible explanation while everyone was occupied with searching for this ninth person. But then I think they would have noticed blood leading up from the white room to the office.

Dejected, he walked into the white room and was then told something of interest, which made him immediately run to a certain room.

This is pretty interesting and suggests Vangel was manipulated in some way that allowed the murder to take place. Maybe he was instructed to do things like the phone call at the beginning of the narration.

Disappearance

Westy was in the games room. Lacey was already in the guest room. When Westy heard the door open, he saw someone he couldn't recognize because of the mask, hat and cape they were wearing carrying Lacey.

Lacey and the figure ran back into the guest room upon being seen. Easty ran out of the Power Room when he heard his friend scream.

Easty: "What happened?!"
Westy: "No time to explain! Someone suspicious is in the Guest Room!"

Seconds after, the two were trying to enter the Guest Room. The door had been locked, however, and the two took their time to break down the door

So then, the unknown person in the Guest Room may have found a way to escape. So Ransu is not cleared, only Easty/Westy are - Easty came immediately after the initial scream.

Note how the window is unlocked. The window can only be unlocked from the inside. It is likely our culprit convinced Lacey to open the door which is why Westy only heard the door open with the person holding Lacey, and didn't hear the door open when this mysterious person opened the door to enter the guest room in the first place.

Ransu lying about the footprints would allow this window deduction to make sense, but by necessity this would mean that Ransu also needed to have committed the murder (so he can lie in purple statements).

[Mewtaph]

Sorry for kind of ignoring this. I'll get to this soonish.