The Sting of Death

The Sting of Death is a case featured in Criminal Case, appearing as the one-hundred fourteenth case of the game and the fifty-eighth case of Pacific Bay. It is the second case to take place in Pacific Bay's Wastelands (also called The Wastes), the final district of Season 2.

Plot
Previously, Karen Knight hijacked the player and Amy Young (by simply threatening the junior officer to draw her gun), in which she threatened Amy not to use her gun as she wanted to take the player as a prisoner for Meteor Systems. Since then both the player and Amy had their worlds turned upside down as they were being held prisoner inside a high-tech base. The player managed to pick the chain's lock, setting themselves alongside Amy free.

First, Amy and the player had to escape from a secret Meteor Systems facility by cracking the code. Once outside and free, they found Karen dead outside the secret facility of Meteor Systems. The player and Amy didn't know as to why Karen would die moments after breaking free, but Agent Z urged the team to go back inside (much to Amy's distaste) the secret base to find clues that may prove to be useful in catching Karen's killer.

In a shocking turn of events, Karen left a holographic message to the player that she had to kidnap both Amy and the player to protect them from harm, and to allow them time for error to prevent Meteor Systems from achieving a hidden agenda, whatever it may be, thus sealing Karen's fate as an anti-hero. The case left Amy and the player with more questions than answers since the holographic message. Even worse, Alden Greene (in which the player admitted to Amy that they've arrested twice at Grimsborough) was bailed by Meteor Systems to obey a secret master in promise of achieving something immoral to the human eye. Yet Trevor Finn was mysteriously bailed out by Meteor Systems for unknown reasons.

In fact, the killer turned out to be the embattered businessperson Alden himself. Alden felt that the player did a good job making him a sloppy killer as usual, yet thinking Karen had no foresight of the future whatsoever. Amy didn't care about Alden's feelings--all she wanted from Alden was as to why he wanted to destroy Pacific Bay, in which he was given a promise in return for destroying Pacific Bay. Amy hated Alden's vagueness, so she demanded straight answers from Alden once and for all, in which Alden didn't care at all since he believed the entire city will die sooner or later. Frank Knight shot Alden down with a gunshot at the skill, killing him. Amy hated what Frank did as with Alden dead she would not know as to why Alden killed Karen at all.

Fed up with Frank's "loose cannon" personality, Amy demanded answers regarding the dirty copy's betrayal. Frank told Amy and the player that since the loss of Laura Knight (Frank's oldest daughter) due to a car accident, Frank gave into drinking, and due to the grief too great for the disgraced cop to handle, Karen opted to divorce him. After the player set things straight for Frank, Karen opted to reunite with Frank, but wanted him to steal the plutonium from the Mennagio Casino since the super computer required plutonium to function properly. The "master" Alden mentioned was a super computer that's actually Albert Tesla's conscience. The super computer promised Karen that the Knights' remaining daughter, Daisy Knight, would be brought back from a comatose state if she seized the plutonium from the Mennagio Casino, forcing Frank to cooperate with Louis De Rico in the process. The super computer lied to Karen, as all the super computer wanted to do was to destroy Pacific Bay once and for all.

Frank couldn't allow this to happen, so he budged out of jail to reason with the super computer to stop the madness, but the super computer refused to cooperate, as he built Pacific Bay to be a digital utopia without crime. Anyone who disobeys him will be disintegrated into dust. Frank blitzed to the super computer's source place near the airport in the Wastes. With only a short amount of time before Pacific Bay is destroyed, Amy and the player had to find a way to stop the nuclear apocalypse without bloodshed, and ultimately bring Frank back into solitary confinement.

Victim

 * Karen Knight (found murdered outside Meteor Systems' secret base.)

Murder Weapon

 * Scorpions

Killer

 * Alden Greene

Killer's Profile

 * The killer owns a cat.
 * The killer takes anti-radiation pills.
 * The killer drinks martinis.
 * The killer was stung by a scorpion.
 * The killer wears an earpiece.

Trivia

 * All Additional Investigation legs of The Wastes, this case included, are named differently to ensure continuity with the district's plot. Hence, The End: Part 2.
 * The Computer Interface is the only suspect that made no previous appearances prior to the events of this case.
 * Moreso, a killer from Grimsborough made a surprise return in this case as a suspect, yet later incriminated to be a killer.
 * In addition, a previously arrested killer from Pacific Bay makes a post-indictment appearance.
 * Due to the story's canon, Judge Dante doesn't make an appearance in this case.