Recap / Criminal Case: Pacific Bay - Case 10: Smoke and Mirrors

Harvey: The eyes... LOOK INTO THE EYES!

Frank and the player went to the cemetery to meet with Vanessa as she requested in the previous case, only to find her strangled to death and converted into a giant voodoo doll.

Tropes:

• Abusive Offspring: Vanessa treated her mother Sharon like crap since she couldn't give her a better life in the Bayou, up to smashing a bottle on her face when she saw her with another man. Which of course led to...
• Abusive Parents: ...Sharon reciprocating by giving Vanessa a fair share of abuse herself, such as kicking her out of her house which ended up with Vanessa working under Erikah.
• Back for the Finale: Alec Howard, Harvey Fitchner, Erikah Mabayo, and Betty-Lou Logan all reappear as suspects in this case, which is the last one set in the Bayou Bleu.
• The Climax: For the Bayou Bleu district.
• Delicious Distraction: During Erikah's trial, Judge Dante can't stop getting distracted by some biscuits.
• Disposable Sex Worker: Vanessa was a prostitute working under Erikah Mabayo in a secret brothel hidden deep in the swamp. When Vanessa ended up getting pregnant with Alec's child and attempted to escape the Bayou, Erikah murdered her just like she had done with all of the previous prostitutes who tried to do the same.
• Drowning My Sorrows: Harvey has been doing this ever since he failed to crack a case involving multiple disappearing girls across the Bayou.
  Harvey: What happened to them girls was a nightmare... and the drink keeps those memories at bay! Now leave me alone!
• Eye Scream: Vanessa had her eyes gouged out before the cavities were sewn shut with buttons. Even Frank looks extremely disturbed by this.
  Frank: So that means our killer fishes! Huh, it's meant to be a calming activity, not a "let's go and rip some poor girl's eyes out" kind of thing.
• Fake Wizardry: Erikah is not actually a voodoo priestess, but rather the owner of a brothel who uses supposed voodoo magic to scare people and let her do whatever she wants, basically giving her control of the entire Bayou.
  Erikah: People in Bayou Bleu will believe anything! They are so easy to control!
• Fiery Cover-Up: Erikah burned down the brothel where Vanessa and the rest of the prostitutes under her control worked so the police wouldn't find about it, but you manage to recover some clues from the flames.
• He Knows Too Much: Vanessa was killed by Erikah both because she wanted to escape the Bayou and because she knew Erikah had murdered all of her previous workers when they tried to escape too.
  Frank: Hm, first Vanessa starts investigating the disappearance of these girls... and then she turns up dead!
• Imperiled in Pregnancy: We discover that Vanessa wanted to leave the Bayou because she was pregnant and wished to give a better life to her baby. Unfortunately, this led to her death.
• Last Episode, New Character: Sharon Kimmel, Vanessa's mother, is introduced in this case as one of the suspects.
• Meaningful Name: The title of this case serves as a note about Erikah; her "voodoo" is an act. Just smoke and mirrors to keep the people of Bayou Bleu under her control.
• Mouth Stitched Shut: Vanessa's corpse is found with her lips sewn shut to assimilate the mouth of a voodoo doll.
• My Greatest Failure: We learn in this case that the reason why Harvey became a Broken Ace and The Alcoholic is because he could never solve the disappearances of multiple prostitutes across the Bayou, which still haunts him to this day.
  Harvey: That case haunts me day and night, alright? It was my first assignment on reaching the bayou. I tried my best, but my best wasn't enough and the case was never solved.
  Frank: So you turned to drinking instead?!
  Harvey: You'd do the same, Frank! I know you too well. What happened to them girls was a nightmare... and the drink keeps those memories at bay! Now leave me alone!
• Not the First Victim: Turns out, Vanessa wasn't the first person Erikah ever murdered, as she's revealed to be a Serial Killer who's been disposing of the prostitutes working under her.
• Parting-Words Regret: During the Additional Investigation, Sharon laments that she and her daughter never made amends with each other.
  Sharon: But what good are memories now? We wasted so much time hating each other, and now she's dead! I will never get to make... to make amends! I'm better off forgetting!
• Refuge in Audacity: Betty says she couldn't kill Vanessa because of how complicated her murder was, claiming that if she wanted to kill someone, a shotgun blast and feeding them to the alligators would be enough, just like what happened to her ex-husband.
• Serial Killer: Erikah is revealed to be behind a series of murders that have been afflicting the Bayou for years, killing her own sex workers whenever they tried to quit the job.
• Shout-Out:
  • In the Tombstones scene, the Eye of Providence can be seen, as well as a drawing of Pope Francis and the Ghostbusters logo.
  • In the Tree House scene, there is a top hat resembling the one worn by Dr. Facilier.
• Snark-to-Snark Combat: Frank and Roxie get into a mild one after she examines the body.
  Roxie: That's quite a body you sent over, <Player's Name>: a human made to look like a voodoo doll, that's pretty cool!
  Frank: I think the victim would disagree, Roxie.
  Roxie: Well, she's got her lips sewn shut so she can't say much anyway.
• Throw the Dog a Bone: After Erikah is arrested, you and Frank help Harvey find the bodies of the missing girls and also give him permission to inform their families, giving him closure about the case that has been giving him nightmares for years.
• Voodoo Doll: Vanessa was converted into one, getting her eyelids and lips sewn shut by her killer.