Chico Careta was a local guide working for Archie O'Logie and co. He was taught English from his fiancée Mariana Etista and gave liquor to O'Logie and Doug Scowers before O'Logie was murdered so he was one of the four suspects of the case.
Plot[]
Careta was a local of a South American village when one day, a young woman named Mariana Etista appeared and started working at a hotel owned by Micah Sasucasa. Unaware of her true nature, Chico quickly fell in love with her, asking her to be his bride and was taught English by her as she was a fluent speaker of English.
When shortly after, an archaeology team led by Archie O'Logie came to his village, Careta volunteered to help the team as their local guide. At an excavation site, Careta saw O'Logie uncover an ancient stone idol, noted to be slightly cracked. Careta thought the idol contained demons and now that the container was broken, the demons were loose so he hoped the idol be put back at the excavation site. Unfortunately for him, the archaeologists refused, and instead stored their finds in Sasucasa's storage hut.
Etista wanted to get rid of Careta and obtain the stone idol, so she manipulated him into killing O'Logie to get the stone idol back, by pretending to be a demon trapped inside the idol; although deep down, Careta had realized who the "demon" truly was, having recognized her camouflaged voice, he refused to see the truth, so he instead agreed to do the deed, as he thought the demons would come at nighttime and bring misfortune to the village. That night, he offered O'Logie and Doug Scowers a bottle of local liquor to celebrate their success. As they got drunk, Doug passed out outside the hut and Careta quickly killed O'Logie with blow to the head using a nearby axe used to chop wood.
To find the stone idol, Careta looked through the notes written by the archaeologists but even though the idol was clearly stated to be in Crate C, Careta couldn't read the english words, and so he had to go through Crates A and B first. After he found the stone idol in Crate C, he set up the body with fishing lines and the ceiling beams to make the body appear to be moving on its own and called the hotel using an old-fashioned intercom. When Etista picked up the call, Careta recognized her voice. Hoping he wasn't recognized, Careta attempted to impersonate O'Logie and claim that a demon was after him but Etista instantly recognized his voice, keeping however the fact hidden from Sasucasa.
Careta moving the corpse.
When Etista had Sasucasa accompany her to investigate the hut, Careta set up one stored tall advertising sign with the coat hook in the wall to hide himself, and when Sasucasa forced the door open, Careta moved the corpse from his hiding spot and had the corpse seemingly walk towards them. The body knocked down a bottle of liquor, which spilled over the floor, inadvertedly leaving traces behind of the presence of the propped up advertising sign, but Careta had the body collapse near the door. After the police was called and had detained the drunk archaeologist, Careta gave Etista the stone idol he killed for and gave his statements to that police. He mostly claimed that the archaeologist was killed because of the "diablos" coming at night and the demon O'Logie supposedly saw was the diablo.
Half a year later, the investigation was planned on being reopened by request from Dustin Scowers. Knowing she could get rid of Careta, Etista suggested to him he should visit England and bring back souvenirs for the village to see. Naively, Careta agreed, and ended up being questioned by Scotland Yard, insisting it was the diablo who killed O'Logie. However, after some pressure from Alfendi Layton and Lucy Baker, Careta admitted to killing O'Logie, as a "demon" made him do so. However, his explanation on how he escaped the locked hut made little sense, as he claimed to having been given by the demon the power to walk through walls, and Inspector Alfendi Layton had no choice but to let him go.
As they investigated, Careta tried to enter Buckingham Palace but was told he couldn't enter at this season. Since he wanted to bring back pictures for the village, he tried to sneak into the palace by climbing the fence but a police officer quickly caught him and brought him back to the Mystery Room.
Careta's method on killing O'Logie was soon exposed, and he also truly found out that the "demon" who tempted him was indeed Etista, who was using him just to get the stone idol, much to his dismay. As Careta was detained for questioning, he refused to give more information about the case so the police had to go find Etista themselves. Unfortunately, Etista had already fled the village along with the stone idol.
After Etista and the stone idol were found and the investigation was over, Careta was surprisingly released from custody, and returning to his village, brought back with him a new stone statue, much to the villagers' and Sasucasa's surprise.
Spoilers end here
Trivia[]
- "Chico" is Spanish for "boy" and "careta" is a Spanish synonym for "mask", referring to his habit of using masks to express his emotions. Hence, Chico Careta translated into English is Mask Guy/Boy.
- It is not known why Chico was released from police custody as, manipulated or not, he was still the physical perpetuator of a murder. However given Careta's highly guillable, superstitious, and naive personality, it is possible that he was deemed "innocent enough" to be released.