I find TinCow's defense of Ares a little strange, but I do not feel strongly yet that he would be like a mafia partner. I seriously doubt the mafia would risk defending their partner this early, but I can't see how Ares could be innocent. Most plausible explanation so far that I have seen was that... stone thing? might have been planted there by the mafia to frame Ares. To me, TinCow does not have the scum vibe, otherwise this is an incredibly risky tactic.

It may be worth solving this mystery once and for all by investigating Ares, dead or alive. I do not want him to escape from death as mafia, nor do I want a frame job as good as this to screw with us all game.

We need to solve this conclusively before we can move on. In the meantime, we can look at FactionHeir, I haven't played many games with him but you other guys can read him better than me. Or anyone else you want to look at.