The Final Suspect

Grim Tales: The Final Suspect is the eighth installment in the Grim Tales series by Elephant Games.

Anna is found unconscious in her own home with a dead body of a man she doesn't know. The police think she killed him but without a memory of that night, she can't prove herself. Anna decides to find the truth, no matter how painful it is.

Plot
"Sergeant? It's Miss Gray. I've just discovered a dead man in my house. Can you send a squad car? I feel..."

Anna awakes in the hospital with no memories of the preceding night. Jackie informs her that she was found unconscious in her house with the dead body of a man named Howard Kelly. The police believe that she killed him. Getting a case file from her niece, Anna travels back in time to a few hours after the murder to recover the security tape. Looking around the crime scene, Anna remembers that she had an appointment with Howard, but she doesn't know why he attacked her. She also finds her bracelet, the one she gave Jackie, covered in what may be Howard's blood. Anna watches footage from her security camera and realizes that Jackie is the one who stabbed Howard and tried to kill her before she ran away.

Back in the hospital, Anna asks Jackie about what happened last night. Jackie says she can't remember and gives Anna a bag of evidence she gets from the police. Anna uses it to go into Howard's past to find out why he attacked her. At Howard's apartment, Anna finds a dead body and a wall full of her information. Searching his room, she learns that Howard found a book of dark magic with an amulet at the library. What he doesn't know is the amulet contains the spirit of a dark mage. The mage wants Anna's ability to return to the past and take revenge on William Light, the inquisitor who caught him. Jackie is possessed by the mage and tries to attack Anna, who grabs the soul amulet and goes back to day the mage was executed.

Anna learns the history of the town: The mage used people and souls for his experiments. After the mage killed the former inquisitor, he was caught by William Light, the new lead inquisitor. The mage was burned at the stake, but his soul was still alive hiding in the soul amulet he created. Anna discovers the mage's secret lair where he hid his book and soul amulet. She learns that a special ritual is needed to destroy the mage's soul, so she collects the ingredients and performs the ritual to destroy the amulet. Back in the present day, Howard is alive. Neither he nor Jackie are ever possessed by the dark mage, and only Anna is aware of those horrible events.

Bonus Chapter
After the incident, Anna sells the house to the Foster family. She comes back to pick up her stuff when she senses something is wrong. Clair and Samuel are sitting still, not talking to her, and their daughter, Nicole, is nowhere to be seen. Searching their house, Anna learns that the family have just returned from an excavation, and Nicole brought back an ancient doll she had found. The doll's original owner, a girl named Sofie, got lost and died in the woods after her stepmother sent her out to gather snowdrops. Anna sneaks up to the second floor and finds Nicole possessed by Sofie's ghost. Before she can attack her, Anna grabs the doll and travels to the day Sofie was lost in the woods. Walking through the woods, she discovers Sofie is trapped in a well near the witch's house. Since the witch feeds on Sofie's life force, Anna has to destroy the witch's heart in order to save Sofie. The witch curses Sofie's stepmother before she dies. Anna helps Sofie collect some snowdrops to lift the curse. Sofie comes back home safely and the Fosters are back to normal.

Characters

 * Anna Gray: private detective who is found unconscious in her own house with a dead body.
 * Jackie Gray: Anna's niece who looks after her in the hospital.
 * Howard Kelly: a mystery man who is found dead in Anna's house.
 * The mage: an unnamed dark mage from the medieval period who creates the soul amulet to be immortal.
 * William Light: new lead inquisitor whose intention is to fight evil and darkness.
 * The Foster family (bonus chapter): a family that buys Anna's house. The family consists of parents, Clair and Samuel, and daughter, Nicole.
 * Sofie (bonus chapter): the ghost of a girl who died after she got lost in the woods.
 * The witch (bonus chapter): a witch in the woods who feeds on Sofie's energy.

Trivia

 * In this game, Anna's first name is mentioned for the first time. In previous games, she was called Miss Gray or Aunt Gray.
 * Sofie's name is spelled as Sophie in all cutscenes.