Motive: Remains to Be Seen

SYNOPSIS

The victim: Dave Briggs, Jr., a brilliant but temperamental and poor video game designer, whose control over the crowd-source funded current video game project on which he is working, that control which has drawn out the process for two years, irks his colleagues on the project. The killer: James Lennathan, an antiques hunter, who owns an antique shop with his personal and professional partner, Heather, and who is an alcoholic who apparently has control over his drinking. The detectives are called in on a case without a body when there is a massive pool of human blood found in the studio where much of the work on the game is happening, with a small human bone chip among the blood. The detectives know that a murder did occur as the victim, who is assumed to be Dave, was wearing a motion capture body suit with the resulting screen capture showing whoever was wearing the suit being decapitated at the site where the blood is located. Betty is able to determine that the blood and bone do belong to Dave. Dave's colleagues mention that Dave was becoming paranoid, believing that someone was following him. The detectives find, in searching Dave's sparse apartment, that he was preoccupied by his father, Dave Briggs, Sr., a former local investigative reporter, having abandoned the family years earlier. The detectives are able to confirm by a former colleague of Sr.'s that Jr. was convinced that Sr. did not desert them but was murdered probably for a story on which he was working, and Jr. was trying to find evidence of such. That evidence may provide the detectives with the identity and motive for Jr.'s murder. A person assisting on this case is Stoker, whose return to England is delayed as he has been made temporary Interpol liaison until a permanent person is appointed. His stay in Vancouver makes he and Angie examine the state of their relationship. And Betty is preparing her testimony for the Tim Kelly case. Brian learns from Oscar that the prosecutor has decided not to use the testimony of the criminal that Brian provided, basically letting Brian off the hook for what was his illegal action in helping Betty. What Oscar does not tell Brian is that he was the one who made the decision, not the prosecutor. They will all soon find out if Betty's testimony alone is enough for a conviction.