A Rose at the Scene of the Crime

Matt Eastland-Jones Hello and welcome to Awaiting Prompt: the AI podcast, hosted by me, Matt Eastland-Jones...

Nick Short ...and me, Nick Short.

Matt Eastland-Jones Each week we give an AI a series of story prompts. These could be genres, characters, plot points, and see what kind of story it comes up with.

Nick Short We're not writers, and we're certainly not authors.

Matt Eastland-Jones We may need to give the AI a bit of direction on the way but every single word is going to be entirely generated by an AI.

Nick Short We're just really interested in the technology, seeing what it can do and having a laugh at the stuff that it can't.

Matt Eastland-Jones So if that sounds good, then tune in every Friday to Awaiting Prompt.

Nick Short Hello, this week on episode four of Awaiting Prompt, we are exploring murder mysteries. Matt, you're up first!

Matt Eastland-Jones Okay, a murder mystery. Let's go. So it's... because of my phrasing in my prompt, I said introduce a cast of characters and so I think it's structured as a play and the very start it is, it says cast of characters and has their names and then descriptions about them.

Nick Short That's really cool.

Matt Eastland-Jones Okay. So, cast of characters. Nancy, detective investigating the crime. Samantha, the victim's best friend. John... oh no. The janitor who discovers the body. Jake, neighbour of the victim. Interestingly, haven't introduced who the victim is. Scene one, discovering the body. John is pushing his mop bucket through the empty hallways of an office building. Suddenly, he notices something strange to his left. He peers closer and notices a lifeless body on the floor covered in blood. John gasps and yells out in shock. Oh no, someone call 911! So it's in America. Scene two, at the scene of the crime. Nancy arrives at the scene of a crime with a team of detectives behind her. She takes one look at the victim's body and says gruffly "let's get this investigation started".

Nick Short "It's me Nancy, nice to meet ya!".

She's been smoking 20 a day since she was four.

Is Nancy played by Ray Winston?

Matt Eastland-Jones Nancy begins looking around for any clues or evidence that may lead to solving this murder mystery. As Nancy gets more absorbed into her search for clues. She slowly backs away from Samantha, who had arrived just moments after Nancy had found out about what happened to her best friend. Samantha, shaking/ crying, "What happened here? Who killed my poor friend? What kind of animal would do something cruel?" As I read that, I was literally imagining like wait, is this... is the murderer just an animal? It's just a raccoon. Nancy calmly, "I'm so sorry"... "I'm so sorry for your loss".

Nick Short Thank you.

Matt Eastland-Jones But we need some answers if you want to figure out what really happened here tonight. Suddenly, Jake appears across the hall wearing torn clothes and shaking nervously.

Nick Short It was a raccoon!

Matt Eastland-Jones Scene three, clue to the murderer. Jake whispers under his breath as he approaches them. "I heard some shouting coming from his apartment earlier". Who's apartment?

Nick Short He's three miles away.

Matt Eastland-Jones Oh no. Sorry. They introduced a new character that's not in the cast of characters. He looks up cautiously towards Nelson, before adding in a low voice, "I saw someone running away after that too"... wait low voice just means deep right, not quiet?

Nick Short No quiet.

Matt Eastland-Jones Okay.

Nick Short It's not going to be Nelson, *deep voice* "Well I saw someone running away".

Matt Eastland-Jones Samantha stares incredulously while Nancy peers back with intense interest in response, as they tried putting together pieces to solve this puzzle. Between both their testimonies, perhaps they have stumbled upon a clue leading them finally discover who... it doesn't, this actually doesn't make grammatical sense. This is the first time I've come across a sentence that doesn't make grammatical sense. Between both their testimonies, perhaps they have stumbled upon clue leading them.

Nick Short Do you think, because for this episode, we've upped the temperature and we've also upped the frequency and presence penalties?

Oh, it's introducing errors.

It's taking more risks and making more errors because of that.

Matt Eastland-Jones Potentially.

Nick Short That's interesting.

Matt Eastland-Jones Between both their testimonies, perhaps they've stumbled upon clue, leading them finally discover who murdered Samantha's best friend. All these questions will soon be answered. If they keep searching.

Nick Short Ooh, I like that.

Matt Eastland-Jones It's good right? I like how it's so funny actually, like a cast of characters, but then introduce a character that wasn't included. Okay, that's good. So that... so my prompt for that whole thing was deliberately... Ok, so it was 'write a murder mystery with dialogue introduced a cast of characters. One character finds the body. One character finds a clue. End on a cliffhanger.'

Nick Short And it did!

Matt Eastland-Jones Well, it did. Although it didn't actually find a clue. It just says...

Nick Short No, someone was running.

Matt Eastland-Jones Oh, yes, someone running away.

Nick Short I mean, that's not much of a clue because they're not going to kill him and then stand there.

Matt Eastland-Jones Jake whispers under his breath as he approached them, "I heard some shouting coming from his apartment". But who is his?

Nick Short The victim?

Matt Eastland-Jones He looked cautiously towards Nelson before adding in a low voice. Oh, Nelson. I saw someone running away after that too.

Nick Short So he heard shouting from Nelson's apartment.

Matt Eastland-Jones He looked up cautiously towards Nelson, before adding in a low voice. I saw someone running away after that, too.

Nick Short So he thinks it's Nelson.

Matt Eastland-Jones He thinks it's Nelson!

Nick Short But that... I'm really impressed because not only is it saying, Hey, here's this clue. But it's also inferring that he thinks that it's Nelson and not only does he think it's Nelson, he's whispering so that Nelson doesn't hear. That's really good!

Matt Eastland-Jones Okay. Ooh. In classic case, it has just jumped to the end. Okay, Scene four... wait, wait, wait. So scene three was clue to the murderer. Scene four, arresting the murderer.

Nick Short Hang on. What?

Matt Eastland-Jones It's an open-and-shut case. After further investigation, Nancy and her team of detectives have managed to track down everything they need to prove that Nelson was the murderer.

Nick Short That's so clever.

Matt Eastland-Jones They arrive at his house where he is desperately trying to escape as soon as he sees them. Nancy angry, holds up her badge, stage direction. "Stop right there. You're under arrest for the murder..."

Nick Short Oh, no.

Matt Eastland-Jones "Stop right there. You're under arrest for the murder of (victim)".

Nick Short The best friend was like, oh no, I miss... victim... so much! Wow. Oh my god.

Matt Eastland-Jones I love how it introduced a new character totally out of the blue with zero prompt. But it couldn't give a name to the victim.

Nick Short But also do you think Nelson didn't appear on the cast of characters because he's the killer?He's not a real person.

Matt Eastland-Jones Nelson panicked. I didn't do it. I swear. I didn't do anything wrong. Samantha, crying, "you lying monster, how could you?". Nancy firmly, "we have all the evidence we need to put away this killer. Now get in the car, or else things are gonna get ugly".

Nick Short What is the evidence?

Matt Eastland-Jones With firm words and zero tolerance for any resistance, Nelson eventually complies with Nancy's instructions and quietly gets into handcuffs. Yeah, it's making more mistakes. With firm words and zero tolerance for any resistance, Nelson eventually complies with Nancy's instructions and quietly gets into handcuffed back of police car taking him away from this place. I think Nancy's making assumptions.

Nick Short I mean, it's literally going off, was it John who went... he just looked at him and then went, I heard shouting, that's it.

Matt Eastland-Jones I did say continue looking for clues. In classic...

It can't.

It's just like, they look for clues, they found the killer. Okay, well, I think this has set up a third act quite nicely though. So it's jumped ahead, it hasn't given... I gave it a prompt and it sort of like accepted the prompt and was like, okay, but I'm not going to talk about that. So I said continue the story with dialogue, Nelson is found not guilty in court, end on the reveal of the real killer, and the clue that found them out. Okay, scene five, uncovering the real killer. Nancy and her team of detectives are now left wondering what went wrong. They were sure they had the right guy, until finally, during a second investigation at Nelson's residence, then cover an old family photo tucked into the back of his dining room drawers that points to a completely different suspect. Nancy excitedly, "What is this? Let's take a look". The photo depicts the victim surrounded by their relatives on holiday some years ago. She suddenly notices someone familiar in the corner. It was one of Samantha's closest friends.

Nick Short That wasn't in the cast of characters.

Matt Eastland-Jones So we have the victim, still nameless, Samantha now, and another of Samantha's friends.

Nick Short Another one of Samantha's friends who shall remain nameless.

Matt Eastland-Jones Nancy immediately realised why things weren't adding up earlier. This friend had been lying all along about not knowing anything related to the murder case, out of fear of being caught as the killer. Realising her mistake, she quickly rushes off with her team, but not before calling for backup. Scene six, reveal of clue that led to the discovery of the real killer. After much interrogation and detective work the police finally figured out how the real killer got away from the crime scene so easily, it's...

Nick Short He what?

Matt Eastland-Jones He'd switched clothes...

Nick Short Sorry, what?

Matt Eastland-Jones He'd switched clothes with Nelson. Was Nelson aware of this?

Nick Short Was he dressed as a plumber by any chance?

Matt Eastland-Jones That explained why witnesses saw him running away from the scene in torn clothing. Hang on, Jake was wearing torn clothing?

So was it Jake that did the crime?

With this newfound evidence the murderer was soon arrested and brought to justice and thus our story ends here. A thread that finally unravelled the truth behind murderous web woven by criminal mastermind.

Nick Short The end.

Matt Eastland-Jones The end. I think we need to backtrack. That explains why the witness saw him running away from the scene in torn clothing.

Nick Short But who did the crime? Maybe literally just put 'finish the story reveal who actually committed the crime'? Because it hasn't actually said.

Matt Eastland-Jones Yeah, I know. Think it's I say name the murderer is just gonna say a name.

'Name the murderer'. The murderer is Samantha's friend. What is Samantha's... holy shit.

Nick Short What is the name?

Matt Eastland-Jones Holy shit. Samantha's friend is called Jake! It was Jake, he was the murderer!

Nick Short She's in the interrogation room. Do you know who did it? Yes. Who did it? My friend. What's his name? My friend. Jake did it all along.

Matt Eastland-Jones So even the AI was keeping secrets from us. It was holding back information.

Nick Short I think the AI did it. I'm really impressed with parts of that and really ashamed of others.

Matt Eastland-Jones It's fascinating. So it's little things like it's mistaking the use of commas and it's not structuring sentences particularly well.

Nick Short But that only seems to be a problem since we've been...

Matt Eastland-Jones Yes. since we increased the frequency and presence penalty. So I'd be interested to see how your story plays out by having those slightly further down. But that was a lot of fun. I want to find out what's the name... The Case of the Cunning Criminal: Uncovering the Killer Behind the Cover-Up. That's a lot. Write a simpler title. Murder Unmasked. That's like a series, it's a Netflix series.

Nick Short Yeah. Murder Unmasked. That's brilliant.

Matt Eastland-Jones Very good.

Nick Short Right.

Matt Eastland-Jones Okay, I'm ready for yours.

Nick Short Are you sitting comfortably? Well, I will begin. My dearest friends. It has been some time since we've all been together, and I cannot think of a better way to make amends than through the tenor of a murder mystery. Shall we begin? The group nodded and settled into their seats wondering what was in store. Suddenly, someone screamed out from the back. The guests had no idea who it was, but assumed something terrible had happened. They rushed to investigate. When they opened the room, they found the body of Lady Bishop lying on the floor. It appeared she had been stabbed in the heart with an ornate letter opener. Everyone was immediately overwhelmed with shock. The detective on scene began her... the detective on scene?!

Matt Eastland-Jones Were they already there?

Nick Short They were already there, they were having dinner.

Matt Eastland-Jones They were just waiting. They were just like something's gonna happen.

Nick Short Do you not have a detective to go? Just in a cupboard, you just open it up. The detective on scene began her investigation by carefully examining the body for any clues as to who might have committed this heinous crime. She noticed that a rose in Lady Bishop's hand was still moist with dew, indicating that her attacker had been close to her. Just minutes before her death. Does it show that? She was in the back room

Matt Eastland-Jones And gave her the flower?

Nick Short I got this gift.

Matt Eastland-Jones I got you this flower, *stabbing noises*.

Nick Short As she searched further, the detective noticed a yellow envelope near one of Lady Bishop's hands that seemed out of place among the other items in the room. When she opened it, she discovered several papers with notes written on them in a strange code that at first... it stops there.

Matt Eastland-Jones Oh, okay.

Nick Short The mystery continues. I'm just gonna press it again. When she opened it, she discovered several papers with notes written on them in a strange code that at first glance, made no sense. However, the detective had a hunch that this code could be the key to unlocking the mystery of Lady Bishop's murderer. Okay, I'm literally going 'continue the story with dialogue, interviewing the guests and uncovering one more clue. What is the clue?' And I just want to see if that gives it enough.

Matt Eastland-Jones A second rose.

Nick Short She had the envelope in one hand, the rose in another. The detective suspected that someone had been quite close to Lady Bishop just moments before her murder. Probably because she had a knife in her chest and decided to talk to the guests. After a few questioning each, she received one more clue. One of the guests recalled seeing a woman with red hair leaving the room in a hurry shortly before the scream was heard. Armed with this new information the detective went on to investigate further. Using surveillance footage she eventually narrowed down her suspect list and tracked down the woman with red hair. When interrogated further, the woman revealed that she was actually Lady Bishop's daughter, who had recently had a disagreement with her about money and it stops there.

Matt Eastland-Jones Ooh, that's good.

Nick Short That's good. But obviously she left before the scream. Either that or Lady Bishop just had a really delayed reaction just stab, run out, scream.

Matt Eastland-Jones I also just assumed this story was set in like the 1800s. Up until the surveillance footage.

Nick Short Also it goes, it's a woman with red hair and she goes 'I need to watch the footage', sees a woman with red hair and then has to narrow it down. The detective was still not able to determine who committed the murder, so she decided to return to the crime scene and take another look around. This time though, she noticed a strange device on the wall that had a timer connected to it. She recognised it as a bomb and concluded that it must have been set by the killer in order to frame Lady Bishop's daughter and make her seem guilty.

Matt Eastland-Jones Wait.

Nick Short Yep. So the killer sees her running out goes that's not enough evidence and plants a bomb, not hidden, on a wall. The detective was finally able to put together all of the clues and realised that someone else must have been responsible for killing Lady Bishop. Having now collected all of their pieces of evidence, the detective called for a gathering of all the suspects in order to solve this mystery once and for all.

Matt Eastland-Jones Very Poirot-esque.

Nick Short In a dramatic climax, the detective announced that the real murderer of Lady Bishop was her husband's business partner. He had planted the bomb and set it off at the time of Lady Bishop's death in order to frame her daughter for her murder. He set the bomb off, but the only clue was a knife in her chest, a letter on the side, which we still haven't worked out what it meant and a rose petal which meant it must have happened soon. They didn't notice the charring around the room. The evidence showed that he had been trying to extort money from Lady Bishop and her husband by threatening to expose their tax evasion scheme. Lady Bishop refused his demands and so he killed her in order to gain control of the company. All of the clues came together to reveal his guilt. The strange coded notes led to his financial records, the rising rose petal indicated he had just been there when the murder happened and the timer on the bomb was connected to his bank account transactions. Everyone present was astounded and breathed a sigh of relief as justice was served.

Matt Eastland-Jones It managed to link everything together!

Nick Short I'm really impressed. A bit of a tenuous link, but a link.

Matt Eastland-Jones But a link nonetheless.

Nick Short I'm really pleased with that.

Matt Eastland-Jones And maybe it's like a Schrodinger's bomb situation. The bomb was both undetonated and detonated at the same time.

Nick Short If a bomb goes off in a living room and nobody's there to hear it, did it really explode?

Matt Eastland-Jones Well they heard a scream but they didn't hear an explosion.

Nick Short Also, who at the start was like 'my dearest friends'?

Matt Eastland-Jones Yes.

Nick Short Oh no! He knew, the tenure of a murder mystery. Shall we begin?

Matt Eastland-Jones I assumed it was going to be like, like that film Date Night, where they think it's a game. But it's not. That's where I thought that narrator was going.

Nick Short Like, why didn't they just arrest the narrator halfway through the story?

Matt Eastland-Jones Unless it was all just a story, because why else would the detective have just been there and waiting?

Nick Short Oh, yeah. Yeah, I think that was the plan. Right. The title. Okay, I'm gonna read a couple of these. So first, we have The Mystery of Lady Bishop.

Matt Eastland-Jones Lukewarm.

Nick Short A Clue to Extortion... A Rose at the Scene of a Crime

Ooh, that's pretty good. That's everything for this episode of Awaiting Prompt.

Matt Eastland-Jones If you enjoyed it, and please leave us a review and make sure to subscribe so you can stay up to date with all future episodes.