Up in Flames

Up in Flames is a case in Criminal Case featured as the thirty-sixth case of The Conspiracy (Season 5) and the two-hundred sixty-seventh case overall. It is the final case to take place in Misty Grove district of Grimsborough.

Plot
Gloria and the player headed to the dome to arrest Rozetta Pierre, who was shocked to find out that they discovered her plans to ship out Protozane to make the public unemotional and suggestible. Rozetta justified herself, citing the VR game her team developed as a case of people liking being told what to do. After the arrest, the team searched Rozetta's office and found a map to the drug production chamber. The team headed there, only to find Tony Marconi burned to death.

Soon after, the team arrested head geologist Philip Hoover for authorizing the shipment of Protozane to Fornax. Cathy then discovered Fornax to be an empty warehouse, meaning that DreamLife had not shipped the drugs yet. Shortly after, Mia Loukas informed the team of a break-in at Marconi's house, which turned out to be a part of Jones's attempt to investigate the murder on his own, forcing the team to flag him as a suspect. Afterwards, Rozetta admitted she got Marconi out of jail and blackmailed him with his son, lab technician Emilio Fuller, to hire some ex-convicts and dispose of the bodies of their dead test subjects. Hawk Eye Security employee Keith Vaughan then admitted that they smuggled the bodies to an industrial incinerator and burned them to ashes, prompting the team to arrest him. Later, Martine found out that Hoover had injected Amir with Protozane. After Amir admitted that he had opened Hoover's cell door per his request, Cathy told the team that Hoover had checked in the Glitz Hotel under a fake name. After the team arrested Hoover for a second time, the team found out from Jones that Zoe Kusama remembered Marconi as she saw him hauling dead bodies past her cell under the dome. The team finally found enough evidence to arrest Emilio for the murder.

Admitting to the crime, Emilio said that Marconi had been trying to contact him for weeks to convince him to get out of the dome as DreamLife was operating a shady business. However, Emilio disagreed, stating that Protozane was a scientific breakthrough. After finding out the cops were going to raid the dome, Marconi went to Emilio as he was packing the Protozane shipments and tried to get him to leave. Knowing that he could not overpower his father, Emilio agreed, even suggesting to blow up the drug packages. Marconi agreed so Emilio made a Molotov cocktail and threw it at his father. Judge Powell then sentenced Emilio to life in prison for the murder.

Post-trial, Mayor Joe Warren tasked the team to retrieve all data of DreamLife's activities under the dome to help in the transfer of control over their facility to the Space and Aeronautics Research Agency. The team then found Rozetta's laptop and gave it to Cathy for retrieval, but Cathy said that as soon as she started transferring the files to an external drive, the files began self-destructing. After informing S.A.R.A. head Denise Daniels of the situation, she accompanied the player to Rozetta's office, where they found the override device. They then went to Rozetta to force her to unlock the device before sending it to Cathy, who was able to retrieve enough files to build a case against DreamLife and aid S.A.R.A. in their administration over the dome.

Meanwhile, Jones told the team that he was planning to resign from the force, saying that he was unfit to be an officer. With the help of Alex, Ramirez and the player compiled a video of Jones's time in the GPD to convince him to stay in the force. After all the events and wanting to know why DreamLife wanted to unleash Protozane to the public, Chief Parker told the team to investigate Rozetta's past, starting with her alma mater, Grimsborough University.

Victim

 * Tony Marconi (found burned in the production chamber)

Murder Weapon

 * Molotov Cocktail

Killer

 * Emilio Fuller

Killer's Profile

 * The killer knows chemistry.
 * The killer eats dark chocolate.
 * The killer reads Game of Flames.
 * The killer has O+ blood.
 * The killer has freckles.

Chapter 1

 * Investigate Rozetta's Office. (Clue: White Pieces)
 * Examine White Pieces. (Result: Whiteboard; New Crime Scene Unlocked: Production Chamber)
 * Investigate Production Chamber. (Prerequisite: Whiteboard restored; Clues: Crate of Vials [Signature on Label], Box of Mechanical Pieces, Victim's Body; Victim identified: Tony Marconi)
 * Examine Signature on Label. (Result: Philip Hoover's Signature; New Suspect: Philip Hoover)
 * Arrest Philip Hoover. (Prerequisite: Philip Hoover's Signature identified)
 * Investigate Rozetta's Office again. (Prerequisite: Philip interrogated; Clues: Locked Answering Machine, Faded Prison File)
 * Examine Locked Answering Machine. (Result:
 * Examine Faded Prison File. (Result: Rozetta's Notes; New Suspect: Rozetta Pierre)
 * Examine Box of Mechanical Pieces. (Result: Marconi's Necklace)
 * Analyze Marconi's Necklace. (03:00:00; Attribute: The killer eats dark chocolate)
 * Autopsy Victim's Body. (18:00:00; Murder Weapon registered: Molotov Cocktail; Attribute: The killer knows chemistry)
 * Autopsy Victim's Body. (18:00:00; Murder Weapon registered: Molotov Cocktail; Attribute: The killer knows chemistry)

Trivia

 * The case title refers to the idiom "up in flames," which means to finish or fail something spectacularly.
 * This case will be released on a Wednesday instead of the usual Thursday.
 * This is one of the cases where all suspects have appeared previously.
 * This is one of the cases in which a main character is flagged as a suspect for plausible reasons.
 * Due to the case's canon, the victim's body is not found in the first crime scene.
 * This is one of the cases in which the player has to investigate the same crime scene twice during the main leg.
 * In the "Production Chamber" crime scene, a portrait of Albert Einstein can be seen.
 * Game of Flames is a parody of Game of Thrones.
 * This is one of six cases in The Conspiracy thus far in which the victim and the killer are relatives, along with Gone Pear-Shaped, Game Over, I Lost My Heart in Xerda, Behind These Walls and Blood in the Water.