At least they aren't in a plane.
Roland Vane, the Opera director in charge of the play "Madama Serpent", is eaten by a giant boa inside the opera's dressing room.
Tropes:
- Ambition Is Evil: Annabel killed Roland because she wanted to be the main star of the show and replace his wife, whom she believed was going to stay in the lead role for a long time.
- Animal Lover: Harper Stone, particularly with reptiles. When you talk to her for the first time, she seems to be more worried about her boa being hurt than the fact it killed a man.
- Call-Back: Adam Bentley reappears as a suspect.
- Foreshadowing: When you inform Adam about Roland's death, he looks very shaken up and distraught, something that didn't happen the previous times he was a suspect. You later discover Roland was Adam's foster brother.
- Chewing the Scenery: You meet The Opera Phantom (real name Gerald Riverton) in this case, a masked old man with some grandiose ways of speaking.Opera Phantom: I AM INNOCENT! I, the greatest soul the Opera has ever seen, I tell you! It is the witch, the demon, she's the one who murdered this innocent man!Jones: ...What?Opera Phantom: It's Eve, the diabolical Eve, she sent her serpent to bring fear and destruction upon us ALL![POOF!]
- Continuity Nod: Ramirez uses his ghost hunting uniform from Case 28 while trying to take a photo from the Opera Phantom.
- Foster Kid: We learn that Adam Bentley was this, living with the Vane family for most of his life until he decided to move to Maple Heights.
- Gave Up Too Soon: The killer, Annabel Stewart, had decided to kill Roland because she couldn't get the lead role, only to learn that he did give her the lead role AFTER she committed the deed. Had she been a little bit more patient, or had she just asked the guy who had the lead role in the latest production, she would not have committed murder.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Annabel Stewart has been envious of Beatrice, Roland's wife, for being the star of the show, so she decided to kill him so a new director would come and make her the star instead.
- Literal-Minded: When Ramirez hears one of your suspects is called Opera Phantom, he believes it's an actual ghost.
- My God, What Have I Done?: This is how Adam reacts when he finds out Roland, his foster brother, has died, since Adam turned his back on him as he didn't want the people from Maple Heights to know he came from a foster system.Adam: But now that Roland's dead, I regret turning my back on him. He was the only family I ever had, and I just threw him away like he meant nothing... He deserved a better brother than me.
- Nightmare Fetishist: Nathan after examining the victim's body.Nathan: I must say, <Player's Name>, working with you never brings a dull moment! A man-eating snake, you're better than Santa Claus!Jones: Erm, Nathan, don't you think this is in bad taste...
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Chief King, normally calm and level-headed, really ramps up his paranoiac and distrustful tendencies in this case, telling Adam that he doesn't trust him one bit and he should stop playing dangerous games by involving himself with both political parties.Jones: Damn, Chief King is really on the warpath...
- The Paranoiac: Chief King becomes this during this case, fearing that Adam Bentley is up to something since three of his rich "friends" had died in the past weeks and now he's close to the mayor himself.
- Playing Both Sides: Chief King accuses Adam of this, since he's involved with both the red and blue party.
- Poor Communication Kills: Annabel wanted to be the star of the show, but believed Roland had given his wife the main role and she would be relegated to secondary roles until Roland stopped being the director, so she killed him. However, Jones and you discover that Roland had actually planned to have Annabel replace his wife soon, so she ended up murdering him for nothing.Jones: What you should have done is TALK to the man instead of killing him!Annabel: I know! Why didn't I believe him, why?! He was going to reward all my hard work, and I killed him because I wasn't PATIENT! It's all my FAULT!
- Ship Tease: Nathan and Harper have this at the end of the case due to both of them being Animal Lovers.
- Shout-Out
- The case's title is an obvious reference to Snakes on a Plane.
- The Opera Phantom. Need to say more?
- One of the hidden objects in the Dressing Room scene is a ghostly silhouette of the Evil Queen from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. There is also a poster of Marlon Brando.
- In the Smoking Tables scene, there is a picture of Marilyn Monroe.
- The Opera Entrance scene has Mer-Man's face as a hidden item.
- Smoke Out: The Opera Phantom uses this to appear and disappear. Apparently, he can escape from enclosed police stations with no one noticing how.Jones: He disappeared again?! From a close room? How can he do that, that guy must be a wizard or something!
- Snakes Are Sinister: So much one of them was used as the murder weapon.
- Swallowed Whole: How the victim was killed, courtesy of a giant boa.
- Sympathy for the Devil: Jones starts feeling pity for Adam after he reveals his I Just Want to Be Special motivations for moving to Maple Heights and neglecting his brother, though he still doesn't trust him.Jones: Adam wants so desperately to fit in with the crowd of Maple Heights that he had to sacrifice everything he had... I would almost pity him.You're right, <Player's Name>, the people here will never see him as one of their own. No matter how hard he tries, how wicked his schemes are, he'll always be an outsider.
- Tampering with Food and Drink: The victim was drugged with sleeping pills put on his tea before the killer released the boa near him.
- Tempting Fate: Jones tells you they're luck work in a nice place seconds before someone throws a brick at him.
- There Are No Coincidences: Chief King tells you this after Adam becomes a suspect.Chief King: <Player's Name>, what is this I hear? Adam Bentley is once again a suspect in a criminal investigation?!Jones: Uh, yes, sir. The victim added him to his will, si-Chief King: Now you listen to me closely, both of you. This is the third time a "friend" of Mr. Bentley's has been murdered, and I do not believe in coincidences!
- The Thing That Would Not Leave: The Opera Phantom, an old man who lives in the basement of the Opera and refuses to leave by any means.
