The Talking Dead

The Talking Dead is a case featured in Criminal Case as the eighth case of Mysteries of the Past (Season 4) and the one-hundred seventy-ninth case overall. It takes place in the Elysium Fields district of Concordia.

Plot
Previously, the team discovered that possible thief Diego del Lobo had been invited to Mr Alastor's second soirée, a séance at the Concordian Museum of Art. After Evie informed them of a murder there, Maddie and the player went to the museum garden, where they found socialite Philomena Highmore with her throat slashed and staged on a Bernini statue.

Mid-investigation, Lady Highmore, Philomena's aunt, left the crime scene to return to her estate. Later, beat cop George Blanton tried to arrest Diego for art forgery. The team then found enough evidence to arrest medium Ignatius Cottingley for the murder.

After denying the charges, Ignatius said that he killed Philomena. He said that Philomena found out all the tricks he used as a medium to fake conversations with the dead. Fearing that she would expose his fraud during the museum séance, he paused the event, followed her into the garden, and slashed her throat with an obsidian knife. Judge Takakura sentenced him to 25 years in prison for the murder and for conning the public.

Post-trial, Isaac and the player investigated Officer Blanton's claims of del Lobo's forgery. The officer claimed that Diego had already replaced the original Virgin Mary by Sassoferrato in the museum with his forgery. Furthermore, Blanton admitted to ripping the painting apart. After Charlie confirmed through x-ray analysis that the painting was a forgery, the team talked to Officer Blanton again, who said that the original was most likely in a crate waiting to be taken away. Isaac and the player found the original in the museum garden, and then arrested Diego for art forgery.

Meanwhile, Lady Highmore summoned Maddie and the player and asked them to look into Mr Alastor's parties. She said that Philomena was invited to the next party, so the team searched her bedroom and found her diary, which said the third party was taking place in a chocolate factory. The team then informed Lady Highmore of their findings.

After the events, Commissioner Talmadge Baldwin ordered the Squad to leave the parties alone. Determined to go to the third party however, Maddie and the player found Philomena's invitation in her bedroom. Noticing that the diamond ticket had her name however, the cops offered Diego freedom from custody in exchange of him forging the ticket. After the offer was fulfilled, they headed to the chocolate factory party despite discouragement from the Commissioner.

Victim

 * Philomena Highmore (found hanging on a statue with her throat slit)

Murder Weapon

 * Obsidian Knife

Killer

 * Ignatius Cottingley

Killer's Profile

 * The killer takes laudanum.
 * The killer supports the women's vote.
 * The killer uses a spirit board.
 * The killer has a mustache.
 * The killer wears a crow skull.

Trivia

 * The case title is a pun on the American television series The Walking Dead, which is based on the comic book series of the same name.
 * In the "Museum Garden" crime scene, a portrait of Louis XIV of France can be seen.
 * Four Italian artists, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo Caravaggio, Gian Lorenzo Bernini and Giovanni Sassoferrato, are mentioned during the case.