Jacinta Linares is the villainess of "In Vino Veritas", case #47 of Criminal Case: The Conspiracy, the 5th season of the crime solving game Criminal Case (release date December 6, 2018). She was a socialite and the best friend of Cora Bateman, a fellow socialite and the mother of Christian Bateman.
The player and David Jones went to Cora's villa to question Christian, who had recently received an early release from prison for the savage murder of Meera Kat and was discovered to be a member of the notorious and hegemonic group known as Ad Astra. Upon arrival, however, the detectives found Cora had been drowned in a barrel of wine, with Jacinta being questioned after her friendship with Cora was uncovered via a commemorative box in Cora's possession.
Jacinta arrived at the Bateman villa shortly after the box was found, telling the detectives how she and Cora had been close friends for forty years and expressing dismay at her murder. Later on, though, it was revealed that Cora and Jacinta were in conflict over Jacinta's mansion being displayed on the cover of House & Castle magazine rather than her villa, leaving a harsh message for Jacinta on the magazine cover. When asked about this by the detectives, Jacinta referred to her and Cora as being "frenemies" as much as they were friends and stated that Cora had a strong competitive streak, while claiming she and Cora had reconciled before her death.
The case's events, however, reveal a surprising secret about Jacinta's family: most of her family's wealth had been lost in bad investments, leading Jacinta to resort to taking multiple loans from Cora. While Cora initially had no problem with loaning Jacinta money, her intense jealousy over Jacinta's house being featured in House & Castle resulted in her demanding Jacinta to pay back all the money she'd borrowed from her. This led to an intense argument between the two women, which ended with the evil Jacinta knocking Cora out with an ashtray before drowning her in the wine barrel. Jacinta left strands of fabric from her red scarf on the lid of the wine barrel, serving as a piece of evidence among others to Jacinta's status as her former friend's killer.
When confronted by the player and David, Jacinta initially denied everything before confessing to killing Cora, revealing how she began borrowing money from her to keep up the pretense of having a rich and lavish lifestyle and claiming that Cora was (in her mind) only helping her to feel superior and that she was stronger than Cora in every aspect of life. During her trial, Jacinta responded to judge Judith Powell's inquiry regarding her method of killing Cora by stating that since Cora was so proud of her vineyard and wine (which Jacinta degraded), she deserved to die in it. After taking note of Jacinta's lack of remorse, Powell sentenced Jacinta to thirty-seven years in prison, with Jacinta bemoaning that being sent to prison would be "social suicide".
Quotes[]
- "Fine, I have the grace and manners to know when to accept defeat. I murdered Cora Bateman! (David: "So you admit it! Seriously though, how could you do something like this just because you quarreled over whose house was better?") Do you really think me that petty, [player's rank and name]? Of course it wasn't over something so insignificant! The fact is, the Linares family may look wealthy, but all our money disappeared after a spate of bad investments! As you can understand, I still had a certain lifestyle to uphold. Which is why I ended up borrowing money... and most of it from Cora. The Batemans are almost as rich as the legendary Rochesters, and she was more than happy to share her fortune with her best friend. But today I finally realized Cora's generosity was just her way to feel superior! (David: "Why? What happened today?") My mansion making the cover of House & Castle was the final straw, because, once again, Cora couldn't handle being second best! Cora was so jealous, in fact, that she demanded I repay all the money I'd borrowed from her, even though she didn't need a cent of it! The thing is, [player's rank and name], I didn't have any money to pay her back! We argued, and I grabbed that ashtray and hit Cora over the head with it! She passed out right into my arms. She was such a little thing that I was easily able to drag her to the wine barrel. I pulled off the lid and shoved her arrogant face deep into the dark liquid. She started struggling against me, but I was stronger than her, just like in every aspect of our lives! I held Cora's head down until she stopped moving. I knew then that I'd finally escaped her demands for her pound of flesh!" (Jacinta's confession to killing Cora Bateman)
- "Because Cora was so proud of her pathetic vineyard and her tastless plonk! If she liked it so much, she deserved to die in it!" (Jacinta's callous statement regarding Cora's murder in court)
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