The unsung tragic hero of raining knives

You know it's going to be a bad day when you start it unsure if you're a serial killer or just losing your grip on reality ;)

I think Dylan had plenty of motive or at least lied to himself he does. If I am correct then he found Jerry to be quite annoying but it is true we still do not know the exact reason. Only that Dylan killed him (maybe), he is sure he did and that he had some beef with Jerry to go that length to kill his own brother.

This is a mindblast though. If Dylan killed Rob by accident because it was night and he thought it is Jerry then he would also need to kill Jerry unless Jerry was already dead but then.... Hm. Does not fit Dylan's act.

Oh, I didn’t mean he didn’t have enough motive to kill Jeremy. That’s been festering for quite a while. What I meant was Dylan doesn’t have a motive to murder Rob, as far as I know, he never met him.

I think the sequence of events was Dylan killed Jeremy. After that was more or less squared away, Dylan’s conscience started eating at him. Robin entered the scene, he attempted to murder Dylan, thinking Dylan was Jeremy. They fight but Dylan gets the upper hand and kills Rob.

The big hole in this scenario is that we have Jeremy’s body, complete with autopsy report, but Rob is MIA.

Maybe Corrie disposed of the body… that might explain some of his oddness, and why he couldn’t attend the party maybe?

Ah! I misread then!
Yeah. I can agree with everything you said.
We will see :D

A well reasoned theory, but I think a more likely scenario is that Dylan really did kill Jerry (Robin would have used his knife, right?), Robin either found out and left town/is in hiding thinking that he will be the prime suspect, or is missing for a completely unrelated reason, or Corey assumed that Jerry was killed by Robin, killed Robin in retribution and then did a good job hiding the evidence, which could explain his sudden interest in Dylan after years of ignoring him. Perhaps he has an unhealthy obsession with Jerry and will try to imprint Jerry's evident traits on his twin brother to serve as a replacement? Furthermore, I suspect that the manifestation of Prom Suit Jerry is, as someone else posited, Dylan's guilty conscience trying to trick him into believing that he did more than just kill Jerry, as that would fit all of the pieces of the puzzle into a tidy explanation. The mind can play very real seeming tricks on a person who has suffered severe trauma, and it's not unrealistic to think that Dylan, who might already be a depressive and/or have low self-esteem due to Jerry's perceived popularity, is willing to sub-consciously believe that he is a worse person than is actually true.

If this were an Agatha Christie murder mystery (e.g. Poirot, Miss Marple, etc.) I would expect that if I sifted through every tiny detail available so far that it would be possible to solve the mystery now, because she was just THAT GOOD at hiding things in plain sight, but I suspect that we won't be able to solve this until we've learned more about everyone involved. That isn't a knock on the writing of this story at all, just my anecdotal comparison to illustrate my interest in mysteries, particularly ones in visual format, which is a critical part of this story since the details are as much in the art as in the writing. I, for one, plan to enjoy every page of the ride and find out where it takes us. :)

Huh… I really like the idea that Corey murdered Rob after learning of Jeremy's death. Though I'm uncertain how Corey's and Jeremy's fall out fits into the bigger picture. Not too keen on Rob just being out of town—seems anticlimactic.

And yeah, we certainly don't have all the pieces yet. The biggest POI I'm wondering about is the undertaker's daughter. She seems to be a very important character, despite not being significantly tied any single character or event. I can't even guess what her deal is.

I rather agree with you, Wooster, on both points. We don't really know anything about Robin that isn't hearsay at this point, but what we have heard seems to indicate that he wouldn't skip town, particularly since the focus of the story so far is always -in town-, which, from a narrative standpoint, usually means that everything you need to know will be found and resolved within the confines of that focus. I also had forgotten about Corey and Jerry no longer being friends, so that could swing either for or against my theory about him killing Robin.

As for the undertaker's daughter, I have the same opinion as you, and now that you've reminded me of her, the theory I mentioned regarding Corey could also apply to her with only minor modifications. I suspect though, based on nothing but guesswork, that she is not involved except for perhaps thinking that Dylan is cute.

I think she's involved more than being cute, though being involved could simply be as a professional witness, rather than being involved in the shenanigans.

After thinking on it, the only thing I can think of is that either Jeremy had something on him, like a keepsake, that she recovered. Or perhaps there's some doubt into how Jeremy died, like presence of wounds in addition to the one that Dylan inflicted.

It’s conceivable, but you’d have to answer why Rob’s murder was suppressed, but Jeremy’s was remembered. If I were Dylan I’d suppress Jeremy but remember Rob.

Yeah, it doesn't really seem plausible given what we know.

It's a salient point though, and likely you are correct, because what better reason can you think of for a teenage boy with a serious narcissistic streak to dismiss a long-term friendship? Not sure how it would effect Corey, but it's possible that he's the type who wouldn't let go easily and would try to win back Jerry's friendship.

This actually brings up a compelling theory that Corey killed Robin BEFORE he knew about Jerry's death, because he witnessed their argument and Robin's threat at Beth's party that he supposedly wasn't invited to, decided to neutralize the apparent threat to Jerry and is now off-balance and feeling the heat of the police investigation looming over him.

I'm not convinced that the mystery is so easily solved, but you certainly brought a valuable insight to the discussion. Thank you!

But was Beth really into Corey? The context of her saying that she loved him, at least from my perspective, was the sort that you say about your dumb dog or cat. You 'love' them, but not necessarily romantically. That said, I could totally be misinterpreting the exchange. Any insight, Moth?

Okay, but that aside—assuming for a moment that a love triangle of murder was involved—Corey was trying hard(-ish?) to get a word in with Dylan at the bus stop. It doesn't make too much sense to me, Dylan wasn't connected to the love triangle or the party. But… what if we assume that Robin was murdered at the same time Jeremy was? Robin was out to get Jeremy, so it makes sense that the two deaths occurred in geographically the same place. What if Corey is a witness to Jeremy's murder? That would introduce an uncontrollable element from Dylan's perspective and add tension for when the detectives and Corey cross paths.

Semi-off topic, but you mentioned you read Agatha Christie's novels. I'm curious how you enjoyed them. I only attempted to read the Orient Express, but despite the fact that it was a short novel, I had to put it down after the first couple of chapters due to how much small talk was involved. Like, I could 'tell' that this sentence here contains a clue, but it was wrapped in so much drivel that I couldn't progress.

I've actually never read an Agatha Christie novel, only watched & enjoyed the BBC Poirot television series, some Miss Marple, and other assorted stories of hers that have been made into shows/movies; 'Ten Little Indians' was by far the darkest I've seen, but still well done. I might get around to it one day though, as both my mother and my younger sister have collectively read pretty much everything she ever published.

I guess for now it comes down to what kind of person you think Dylan is ;)