Another letter included in the pack was a letter sent from ex-fiance Hector Roland to Ira Adler at Christmas, a month after Viola’s disappearance. The letter is seemingly from a still distraught man to a friend talking of how much he misses and hopes Viola is ok. 

However, noted at the bottom of this letter is a set of numbers which at first glace appear to be a set of dates but I believe are a code. I put this letter aside for now to come back to. The main concern right now is trying to get an overall picture and maybe being able to pinpoint a murder weapon.

The rehearsal notes were interesting in getting an idea of the state of play on that fateful day. I feel these are going to be more useful with more context and further evidence, but things that jump out at me for now are – Viola (Vi) forgetting her lines a total of 7 times. that the writer believes Hector is excellent but that this could be his last play there, getting too big but seemed to be the one to get people back in line. Also notes that the they took 5 at 4:52 due to Ruth stopping in but were ‘back to it’ at 5:00. Lastly a note to get a peace offering for Olga and flowers for Viola – dog roses suggested by George.

Here I pause to  wonder and have made a note regarding George. Firstly, his wife think Viola is an immoral bad influence and now here, his suggestion of dog roses from Once and Floral. Could there be more to this relationship?

Finally we have the police files, the forensic report and the evidence list. 
I started with the forensics. The remains were moved in the trunk to the university where they underwent a series of tests including x-rays, MRI & CAT scans. 
The mummification and preservation of the victim while in the trunk were due to the ramains experiencing low humidity or extreme temperature soon after time of death, spontaneous mummification happening in a matter of weeks and that due to the manipulation of said remains, and the trauma inflicted on the left side of the head she was placed there after death and before rigor mortis set in, not more than a couple of hours. 

From the age, sex and ethnicity of the body and from the various items found in her pockets and bag, there is little doubt this is Viola Vane, 

She was fully dressed including a wool dress and coat. The only thing to note from the clothing is that after all this time it was in poor condition and that the fabric helped absorb some moisture helping in the above mentioned mummification.
She was also wearing a wristwatch on her left wrist. A new watch (manufactured in 1934) of white gold and marquise-cut emerald inlay, not a cheap accessory. The thing to note here is that the face was shattered and the internal mechanisms knocked out of place, presumably through blunt force, and that the face reads 5:57. Though this may not fully indicate a time of death it certainly does suggest the presence of a struggle just before 6. Though there is the question of how much of a struggle as a collapsible knife was also found without any trace evidence of genetic material on the blade and thus she either didn’t have time or the inclination to fight back in full.

An interesting thing to note before getting into the injuries that killed her is the antemortem injuries also cataloged, this was not the first time she sustained injuries with healed breakages on both her right hand and forearm.

Looking at the account of injuries sustained before death, the idea of a brief struggle is enforced. With perimortem trauma on her left wrist and further extensive perimortem damage on the front left portion of the skull it indicates she try to defend herself but with such a small amount of trauma the beating she took didn’t last long before it became fatel.

The fracture in her skull that appears to be the killing blow, measures 8cm in diameter and is circular in shape indicating a weapon of similar size and shape, this blow lodged shards and splinters of bone into the frontal lobe of the cerebrum. To me this sounds like it must have been a hefty swing to cause so much damage.
A single cabochon-cut ruby was extracted from this impact area, where it was found lodged in the frontal bone. The ruby measured 3cm in length, 3cm wide and 2cm high, not an insignificant size.

Final conclusions given on the report – the assailant dealt 2 powerful blows to the victim using a blunt object. One made contact with the left wrist, which is likely held up in defense, the other with her skull lodging a small gemstone into her cranial bone while also lodging shards of bone into her brain. Death, if not instantaneous likely occurred within minutes of this. 

All in all it sounds like quite a traumatic death for poor Viola Vane.

Last but not least I came to the evidence list. This is a well documented catalog of everything found in the attic that appear to have been added to but otherwise left alone over the years. I left this till last to make sure I had more of a picture of what happened before searching to see if a potential weapon could be found among these items. I feel that description given in the autopsy report gave me enough to go on, a blunt weapon with gemstone(s) inlaid, specifically looking for one that has cabochon-cut rubies or had a ruby measuring 3x3x2cm.

There were a few similar looking items, a box inlaid with emerald-cut gems, a severely dented prop crown with briolette gems, what looked to be a promising metal prop sword that contained a cobochon-cut gem inlay with a missing gem – the inlay was the wrong size though being 3x2x4 cm. 
Finally I found an item that seemed so obvious it was almost hard to believe it was left there, so out in the open. A simple cane with a wooden shaft measuring 3ft. It has a circular metal head 3″ in diameter. There are 2 cabochon gem inserts of the right size (3x3x2cm), most notably, one of these gems is missing, no doubt having been lodged in Viola’s head all these years.

I passed my findings on to Julia, who had the police look at the weapon, further analysis show this is very likely the weapon so at least I know I have started strong. 

Though I am happy to have found the murder weapon so easily I have to wonder how it came to be that none of these items, were touched in 80 years. Had the cane been found earlier might it have led to a deeper search of the attic? If the truck had just been looked in, or had the conditions not been so ideal that Viola mummified so quickly no smell of rot drew attention to her. 
I know that there is small comfort to be had in dealing with a cold case so old that the potential of bringing the murder to justice may be far too late, I hope that I can at least solve this mystery so poor Viola can rest in peace.