"Alex?"
At the sound of that name, Rhode was first startled, then delighted, before finally shaking his head in defeat.
It couldn't be him.
He was only an apprentice magic user. He didn't have that kind of ability.
Judging by the bodies at the scene and the wounds on the girl Julie, the killer must have used a sharp weapon formed from magic, or a spell like Arcane Blast. Either would require the skill of at least a novice magic user.
Even if he had learned about the magical earrings and necklace from Audric, that didn't mean he could commit such atrocities.
Unless he had an accomplice.
But the problem was that, according to Julie's testimony, the killer had acted alone, without an accomplice.
So... the clues still didn't connect.
Otherwise, Alex knew the benefits of Magic Equipment and had a motive. As Audric's assistant, stealing the Ruby Earrings would have been child's play.
Rhode could almost picture the whole hypothetical sequence of events.
First, Alex had seen the Ruby Earrings in the room, then asked Audric about them and learned what they were.
Audric had spoken casually, but Alex had taken his words to heart. After all, Alex was a mage eager to improve his magic, so he naturally craved equipment like that.
So he had first stolen the Ruby Earrings, only to discover that equipment from a set was only truly useful once he acquired the matching necklace.
He had immediately begun searching for the Ruby Necklace.
But all he had was Audric's vague description of the necklace, without knowing what it actually looked like. So he had cast a wide net, striking whenever he found something that matched the description, and usually killing to silence the witnesses.
During this process, he had been sent to Darrow Hill