oioioi
Mallard Duck
Posts: 103
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Post by oioioi on May 5, 2021 19:24:38 GMT
{Spoiler}The house sounds like a typical country house, which would have a low ceiling and beams, and it says - and I thought it was very odd when I read it - that the ceiling was 'flat'. Who describes a ceiling as 'flat'? So there could be a false ceiling with spaces between the beams. Or ... {Spoiler}The 'building' in which Emile was found sounds like a typical English cottage, not the main house on an 'estate'. So what was Emile doing there? Was that what was 'fishy'?
Perhaps Henri was the guy who smuggled the drugs to Emile, and they met in the building in which Emile was killed. Henri was enraged that he did all the dangerous work, smuggling the drugs to Emile, whereas Emile was getting richer and richer. He then killed Emile when he refused to give him a bigger cut of the profits, keeping the drugs. So the drugs would have been stashed at Henri's house and thus he was found with them. So Carlie had the right culprit, but not the correct motive. Or ... {Spoiler}What was 'fishy' was that the family wasn't saying that Emile had made his money by smuggling drugs ... after all, he was dead ... and thus Henri must have killed him as he had the drugs. So the family must have the drugs stashed at their places and were framing Henri by giving him some of the stash and dobbing him in to the police. They'd killed Emile because he was making all this money from cocaine smuggling and wasn't giving them any. But I'd like to know what was on the CCTV footage, and who were the witnesses and what did they have to say, that would be enough to convict Henri if Carlie could find the cocaine stash.
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moni
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Post by moni on May 5, 2021 21:08:12 GMT
I got it! Poor Emile was shot on the back of his had... one precise shot. He wasn't simply murdered, he was killed execution style. Who does that! The Mafia! Poor Henri IS framed, like 3xOi said. Emile was done in by a drug lord's Hitman, and the drug was recovered by a professional Cleaner. Of course, there is no trace of the drug in the house, though... the stash has never been in the house - it was safely sitting in transit at Emile's insurance "paper company". I find Carlie's sister very suspicious, though, she is waaayyy too well informed about the victim's activities. She was his lover, intentionally steering the detective to Henri's direction. My conclusion is, the drug is on the detective's sister, who is Emile's lover and evidently his killer, and a head of a drug Mafia circle.
I'm kidding... If we apply Occam's razor, the drugs are either in the ceiling (more precisely right between the top of the door and the low ceiling by the entrance) or in the police evidence room, which one is more plausible? Well, both.
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Post by lurkercat on May 5, 2021 22:26:15 GMT
oioioi , moni , If you have not already done so, consider our previous puzzle - Dr. Riddler's party puzzleThis actually had a quite clever answer with valid reasons behind it that we'd all overlooked (well, ummm, hadnt noticed at all!) and that we'd doubted had any solution. Dont read the spoiler on that post because it is really the answer & you'll want to give the puzzle a try on your own before giving up and looking, though you can feel free to read any of the spoilers from me or SynthpopAddict, "cause even when we thought we had the answer (multiple times!) we were always wrong.
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pennmom
Bear
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Post by pennmom on May 5, 2021 23:10:30 GMT
I posted the answer via spoiler are you ready for a new one?
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Post by lurkercat on May 6, 2021 0:48:00 GMT
Duh, pennmom The "answer" to the Emile case does not make sense. Every ceiling in my house has a flat ceiling, my house has a peaked roof, but nothing about the attic is "hidden". It has the typical entry to the attic that almost all homes have in their topmost floor. Everybody knows that attics exist & no one is surprised that ceilings are flat!
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Post by lurkercat on May 6, 2021 0:53:25 GMT
pennmom, Oh, and P.S. that was SynthpopAddict's first guess and you did not give her credit for the solution! And yes, of course we are ready for a new puzzle Bouncy Puppy
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pennmom
Bear
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Post by pennmom on May 6, 2021 2:49:01 GMT
1.18 out of 4 on the BrainScale
Clyde Stevenson just bought a brand new house. Everything in it was state of the art; the refrigerator was stainless steel, the ovens were electric, even the windows were built to only open from the inside. Clyde was a very nervous man, and always kept his house locked up, especially this one, since it was new.
Clyde decided, since he bought a nice new house, he might as well break it in and plan a barbeque. He went to the store and bought some steaks, wine (it was his first party), and other things that he saw fit. He set the table, had the steaks marinating, and then began calling his friends to come over. He invited Stan, Eric, Helen and Pete.
They all came over and Clyde started the steaks. He finished grilling the steaks, and then broke open the wine and they started to eat. They talked about sports, the news, and gossiped about people in town. After a while, Stan started to get a little tipsy and was getting a little rude. Clyde asked him to settle down, in a civil manner, but Stan got furious and tried to fight. After quite a brawl, they got a taxi for Stan and everyone left.
The next day at 10:00 A.M., the police got a call that Clyde had been murdered. When the police arrived on the scene, they found Stan and Helen. The police officer decided to question them both at the station, to get the story straight.
When the officer questioned Stan, he said, "I was talking to Helen on the phone when I told her I should go over to Clyde's to apologize. (Stan told the officer what happened last night) She said that she should come with me in case things got heated again, and I said that was fine. I got there about ten minutes after Helen did, and I noticed that the front door was locked. I decided to look through a window to see if they were there, when I saw Helen, blood soaked, tossing a knife into the sink. I quickly opened the window and crawled through, and called the police. Helen killed Clyde."
When the officer questioned Helen she said, "Stan called me and told me to meet him at Clyde's so he could apologize about last night. (She also told the story about what happened) I get there about ten minutes faster than Stan, so I decided to wait in the car for him. After a while, I got bored so I decided to go in and tell Clyde what was going to happen. I noticed the door was wide open, and I thought that was strange because Clyde is a very nervous man. So, I rang the doorbell, walked in, and locked the door, because I know that Clyde always wants the door locked. I saw Clyde lying on the floor with stab wounds. I grabbed him to see if he was alive, but he was dead. I went into the kitchen to call the police when I saw Stan in the other room saying that I killed him, and that he had called the police."
The officer put them in different jail cells and decided to look over the crime scene. He searched the entire area and discovered who murdered Clyde. Who was it and why?
{Spoiler Answer} Stan murdered Clyde. In the beginning, it states that the windows were new, and were designed to only open from the inside. If Stan had tried to open the window, he would have found it wouldn't work, and he would not have been able to get through that way.
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moni
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Post by moni on May 6, 2021 2:57:58 GMT
{Spoiler} Stan is the killer. He is lying when he says that he opened the window, since the windows can be opened from the inside, only... As for why, he is an "icehole" that's why.
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Post by SynthpopAddict on May 6, 2021 13:00:20 GMT
I think both Stan and Helen are guilty. Moni is right about Stan lying on the window story since he couldn't have come in that way with the windows only opening from the inside. So Helen went to Clyde's house to get Clyde to open the door up, then she later let Stan in. Who actually stabbed Clyde is up in the air since the story doesn't give us any details about where the blood was splattered or other evidence like fingerprints/bloody footprints were. But both of them are implicated.
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moni
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Post by moni on May 6, 2021 14:26:30 GMT
{Spoiler} I still think, it was Stan alone. He was lying about getting to Clyde's house after Helen. This is what happened: Stan couldn't get over the fight with Clyde, waited everybody leaving the party. Then he went back, killed Clyde, left the door open, and went home. He called Helen in the morning, asked her to go with him to apologize to Clyde. Stan needed Helen there, because he wanted to frame her. As opposed to what he said, he got to Clyde's BEFORE Helen, went in the house, and waited for Helen to arrive. When Helen got there, he was watching her from the other room touching Clyde's body and the knife, then knowing he had enough evidence against Helen, he called the police. One thing he wasn't counting on, that Helen would lock the door after entering the house, therefore he had to make up a story about getting into the house through the window, which lie would incriminate him on the end.
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pennmom
Bear
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Post by pennmom on May 6, 2021 21:05:25 GMT
1.75 out of 4 on the BrainScale
It was a dark and stormy night in Erisville. Jagged bolts of lightning wracked the sky above Detective Callahan's house. "Glad I'm not out there tonight," Callahan thought. He gazed out his bay window at the thick, frozen fog that had engulfed the landscape. As his yard vanished and was replaced by an eerie, foggy void, Callahan guessed it was maybe five degrees outside right now. Too cold for anything but tea and a book.
He took the last gulp of his cup of strong jasmine tea, and headed to the kitchen to make another. His mind was elsewhere as he poured the tea, but a sharp scream jolted him out of his daydream. He jumped, spilling boiling water on his hand, but he hardly noticed.
His thoughts were centered on the scream. He waited for another, but no sound came. "Just a loon," he laughed, and went back to his chair, fire and book. His phone rang ten minutes later, making him jump again. It was Murphy, the desk sergeant at the precinct. "Callahan, we have an apparent homicide at one-two-seven Apple Blossom Rd. Will you check it out since you're so close?"
"Sure," the detective replied, stunned by the awful realization the scream he'd heard was not a loon after all.
"Thanks," said Murphy. "Officers Gould and Apfel are on the scene now."
Callahan only had to drive around the block to get to the stately home of Celine Omar, heiress to the Omar Tasty Snacks fortune. He drove up the long driveway, passing a small guest house which was about sixty feet from the bigger one. He parked in front of the main house's big bay window and walked inside. He entered the house and was greeted by Gould, who led him into the study with the big bay window he'd parked under. Only the desk lamp was on, giving the room a shadowy appearance. Inside was Apfel, holding an evidence bag containing the murder weapon, a large butcher knife.
The body of Ms. Omar was in the middle of the room, covered with a sheet. On the couch sat a woman in a white nightgown, and a man in pajama's, both disheveled and spotted with blood.
"What happened here?" He asked the woman.
In a voice choked from tears she said, "I'm Tessa, the maid. I live in the guest house on the drive and my front window faces this bay window. I heard a scream as I was getting ready for bed. I looked out my front window and saw him struggling with Ms. Omar. I raced in here to stop him, but she was already laying on the floor." She began to cry again. "I tried to pull the knife out and save her but he attacked me too. The whole staff knew he hated her. They were dating up until a month ago, when she broke it off. He seemed fine, but we all knew he would try to get revenge."
"What?!" yelled the man sitting next to her. "She is a liar!"
"Calm down sir," said Callahan. "Why don't you tell me what happened."
"I am John, the butler. I live in the guest house out back. I heard the scream and ran in the back door. When I got to the study I saw Tessa standing over Ms. Omar's body. I rushed over to Celine, and tried to pull out the knife, to save her, but Tessa attacked me. I loved Celine. I would never hurt her. But Celine had found out that Tessa has been stealing from her. Tessa watches out her front window and spies on Celine in the study. When Celine is occupied, Tessa goes into the house and steals from her. She was about to be fired," said John sadly.
"Lies!" screamed Tessa, jumping to her feet.
Apfel took her by the arm. "You're going to need to calm down ma'am." Tessa sat back down, whimpering.
"What do you think sir? Both their fingerprints will be on the knife and I've never heard two such conflicting stories," said Gould.
Callahan thought a moment. "Take Tessa into custody. She's obviously lying."
How did Callahan come to this conclusion?
{Spoiler HINT...are you sure you want a hint?}Tessa spied every night, but she couldn't have on this night. {Spoiler Answer} John was telling the truth, Tessa had to have been lying. Callahan had looked out his own window at home and had not been able to see anything through the foggy void. Being only a block away, the conditions would have been the same at Ms. Omar's home. Tessa would not have been able to see into a poorly lit room through 60 feet of frozen fog, making her story impossible.
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Post by lurkercat on May 7, 2021 0:56:59 GMT
Callahan is, of course, much smarter than Carlie! {Spoiler: How Callahan knew}The fog was so thick Callahan could not see his yard. Since the murder house was so close to his, the same fog situation should have been there. Tessa could not see anything other than fog at a distance of 60 feet, so she was lying she saw the butler
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oioioi
Mallard Duck
Posts: 103
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Post by oioioi on May 7, 2021 20:01:27 GMT
Because of the fog. Tessa couldn't have seen through the window. But what I want to know is how on earth did Callahan possibly hear a woman's scream from a house around the corner, when both she and he were indoors with everything locked up because of the storm, not to mention the sound-dampening fog and the loud thunder that was just above his house? And I agree with lurkercat. Callahan is definitely much smarter than Carlie! Aha!
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pennmom
Bear
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Post by pennmom on May 8, 2021 15:16:36 GMT
2.27 out of 4 on the BrainScale
Inspector Will was taking a look at the soaked cell phone of the victim, Mr. Johns, which he took from his belt. The old man's friends were all living in the same old house. They built it together, and they were going to spend their last days together in it. But today Mr. Johns was dead. This is the data Inspector Will collected:
1. Mr. Johns was lying on a couch, all his front shirt wet, and it was still bubbling water from his mouth. It seems that the death came when he was drinking a glass of water, and he drowned while swallowing.
2. Mr. Evans said Johns was epileptic, and that may be the reason for the drowning. He didn't hear anything, because he was outside doing the lawn.
3. A broken glass was found over the mat, near the couch. Also Mr. Johns' watch was broken, the time stopped at 1:34 p.m.
4. Mr. Soren had a very fresh look; he was about to catch a plane to Paris. He says he was the one that discovered Johns' death, because Johns didn't answer back when he talked to him to say goodbye. He was taking a shower when it all happened, so he didn't hear anything either.
5. Mr. Penn was in the room, looking at the garden. He is deaf so he was also unaware of the attack.
6. Mr. Man was the one who called the police. He called his old friend Johns on his cell phone at 1:40 and it seems Johns had answered. But, as Man said, it was a ghastly voice, like a voice in a torment fire, echoing cries of the doomed. It was a horrible call so he hung up.
Inspector Will closed his notes. He asked for Mr. Johns' number and dialed it on his cell phone. After a couple of rings the dead man's cell phone answered automatically. Inspector Will then said that it seemed someone was about to miss a plane, at least until the doctors had reviewed poor Mr. Johns' body for fight signs.
Why does the inspector think it is a murder, and how does he think it was committed?
{Spoiler Answer} Mr Johns could be murdered by asphyxia, drowned in the bathtub. Soren looked fresh, just bathed, he could be the one who killed Johns, and during the act, the call from Man came. The phone automatically answered, and the echoing of the bathroom plus the cries of Johns are all the assets needed to make a ghastly sound. Torment fire? Maybe it was the shower rain plus the splashing in the tub. If the body presented fight signs, then Soren would be the first suspect.
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Post by SynthpopAddict on May 8, 2021 17:10:52 GMT
This probably isn't all correct, but: {Spoiler}Soren murdered Johns by putting a glass of water over his face to drown him. Johns broke the glass by smashing his watch against it but drowned anyway. This would explain why his shirt front was wet and water was still coming out of his mouth and how his phone still worked even though it was wet and the garbled voice call. Soren took a shower to cover up any evidence on him and to provide an alibi.
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moni
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Post by moni on May 9, 2021 7:03:17 GMT
{Spoiler} If it is a murder, and not an unfortunate choking because of epilepsy, then Soren is the best suspect. Here is what happened: The victim was all wet, and Soren just took a shower, so he may killed him in the shower, the watch broke in the struggle, and the phone call actually caught everything in the act, the sounds of struggle. Then Soren placed Johns' body on the couch, dropped the phone on his belt, broke a water glass to establish evidence for an epileptic accidental death. It is also suspicious, that Soren was obviously the first one discovering the body, why he wasn't the first one to call 911? Also, epileptic people cannot drown in a glass of water - as soon as the seizure starts, all muscles cramp up - they cannot swallow, but they can choke. If the autopsy shows that there is water in Mr. Johns' lung, then it is not an epileptic seizure, but intentional murder by drowning, also there should be signs of bruising from struggle. Since we don't have the autopsy findings detailed, it still can be an accidental choking, though... (but then, wouldn't be water bubbling out of the victim's mouth, would it!)
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pennmom
Bear
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Post by pennmom on May 9, 2021 12:27:57 GMT
2.6 out of 4 on the Brain Scale
"Now, I know everybody in this little old town, and I had never seen him before in my life!" Hilda Fiddlebottom, the town's biggest busybody, told Chief Graham over the phone. "Plus he looked all suspicious like. So naturally I made sure to listen in to everything he was saying on his fancy cell phone."
"Naturally," replied Chief Graham.
"Well you are not going to believe this! Apparently he robbed a bank a few years back, and he hid the loot right here in our town! He said it was going to be tough, but he just had to retrieve it by midnight tonight! I didn't catch why. But he said he was heading back to the motel to gather up his supplies and go get his loot! There are only a few hours left before his midnight deadline! GO GET HIM CHIEF!!"
Chief Graham and Detective Jefferson sped over to the town's only motel, only to discover that it looked empty. But there were tire marks in the parking space in front of one of the rooms, as if someone had spun their tires taking off in a hurry.
"I bet that's his room. He must have heard us coming and fled. You probably shouldn't have blared your siren the whole way over here, Jefferson."
"Sorry Chief. I've just always wanted to use my siren! We don't get to see much action around here, you know?"
When they inspected his motel room, they discovered a curious array of equipment, half of which was packed into a very large, black duffel bag.
Jefferson looked at the chief and said "It looks like he was in the middle of packing up his supplies when he heard us and took off. We've got to find him! Maybe if we really analyze this equipment, we can figure out where he hid his loot. It looks pretty complicated. What do you think, Chief?"
"Well, this is the only evidence we have. Let's see if we can deduce where he's headed!"
Here were the supplies they found in and around the duffel bag:
A small folding step ladder; a can of WD-40; a roll of duct tape; two small tires, probably for a small lawn mower; a coil of thick, black nylon rope; some kind of gardening tool with a short, flat blade; a small blow torch; two empty Ziploc bags; a small air filter, possibly out of a vacuum cleaner; and a power drill.
After contemplating the items for a moment, Chief Graham laughed and said "I know exactly where's he's headed! If we hurry, we can catch him!
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oioioi
Mallard Duck
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Post by oioioi on May 9, 2021 13:22:47 GMT
Well, he obviously can't be going to where the loot is stashed without all his gear, so ...
1. Maybe it was all a set up with Detective Jefferson, who had the siren going the whole way, letting the bank robber know that they were on their way and that the police station, which is where he'd stashed the loot, is now empty and ready for him to go get it! Det Jefferson would have left wherever the loot was stashed open, and the robber would lock up after himself so that the Chief wouldn't be suspicious. The stuff he left in his hotel room was only to confuse Chief Graham. The bank robber had purposely spoken loudly on his cell phone within Hilda's hearing, having been alerted by Det Jefferson that she was the town's biggest busybody and would alert the Chief. And that was why it had to be by midnight TONIGHT! That was when Det Jefferson could set it all up and make sure that the Chief took off straight away to catch the robber, because he only had a few hours to catch him. Why else would it have had to have been by midnight that night? So the Chief is heading to wherever in town the loot could be stashed that would need all that equipment, but he's wrong! The robber is getting the stash back at the police station.
2. The Chief thinks that the bank robber can't get his loot without all the gear and so has taken off, maybe going to try again another time, and the Chief is going to try to stop him leaving town on the only road in/out of town.
3. The bank robber is off to replace the equipment that he needs ... but what is open at that time of night (only a few hours until midnight) in such a small town? If there is such a place open in such a small town, just a few hours before midnight, then that's where the Chief is headed.
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moni
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Post by moni on May 9, 2021 15:54:18 GMT
{Spoiler} He is heading to Home Depot, of course. All the items in the duffel bag is from Home Depot. Without his tools, he cannot get to his hidden loot. He forgot all of them in a hurry, so he needs to replace them.
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Post by Valkara on May 9, 2021 17:40:58 GMT
1.75 out of 4 on the BrainScale
It was a dark and stormy night in Erisville. Jagged bolts of lightning wracked the sky above Detective Callahan's house. "Glad I'm not out there tonight," Callahan thought. He gazed out his bay window at the thick, frozen fog that had engulfed the landscape. As his yard vanished and was replaced by an eerie, foggy void, Callahan guessed it was maybe five degrees outside right now. Too cold for anything but tea and a book.
He took the last gulp of his cup of strong jasmine tea, and headed to the kitchen to make another. His mind was elsewhere as he poured the tea, but a sharp scream jolted him out of his daydream. He jumped, spilling boiling water on his hand, but he hardly noticed.
His thoughts were centered on the scream. He waited for another, but no sound came. "Just a loon," he laughed, and went back to his chair, fire and book. His phone rang ten minutes later, making him jump again. It was Murphy, the desk sergeant at the precinct. "Callahan, we have an apparent homicide at one-two-seven Apple Blossom Rd. Will you check it out since you're so close?"
"Sure," the detective replied, stunned by the awful realization the scream he'd heard was not a loon after all.
"Thanks," said Murphy. "Officers Gould and Apfel are on the scene now."
Callahan only had to drive around the block to get to the stately home of Celine Omar, heiress to the Omar Tasty Snacks fortune. He drove up the long driveway, passing a small guest house which was about sixty feet from the bigger one. He parked in front of the main house's big bay window and walked inside. He entered the house and was greeted by Gould, who led him into the study with the big bay window he'd parked under. Only the desk lamp was on, giving the room a shadowy appearance. Inside was Apfel, holding an evidence bag containing the murder weapon, a large butcher knife.
The body of Ms. Omar was in the middle of the room, covered with a sheet. On the couch sat a woman in a white nightgown, and a man in pajama's, both disheveled and spotted with blood.
"What happened here?" He asked the woman.
In a voice choked from tears she said, "I'm Tessa, the maid. I live in the guest house on the drive and my front window faces this bay window. I heard a scream as I was getting ready for bed. I looked out my front window and saw him struggling with Ms. Omar. I raced in here to stop him, but she was already laying on the floor." She began to cry again. "I tried to pull the knife out and save her but he attacked me too. The whole staff knew he hated her. They were dating up until a month ago, when she broke it off. He seemed fine, but we all knew he would try to get revenge."
"What?!" yelled the man sitting next to her. "She is a liar!"
"Calm down sir," said Callahan. "Why don't you tell me what happened."
"I am John, the butler. I live in the guest house out back. I heard the scream and ran in the back door. When I got to the study I saw Tessa standing over Ms. Omar's body. I rushed over to Celine, and tried to pull out the knife, to save her, but Tessa attacked me. I loved Celine. I would never hurt her. But Celine had found out that Tessa has been stealing from her. Tessa watches out her front window and spies on Celine in the study. When Celine is occupied, Tessa goes into the house and steals from her. She was about to be fired," said John sadly.
"Lies!" screamed Tessa, jumping to her feet.
Apfel took her by the arm. "You're going to need to calm down ma'am." Tessa sat back down, whimpering.
"What do you think sir? Both their fingerprints will be on the knife and I've never heard two such conflicting stories," said Gould.
Callahan thought a moment. "Take Tessa into custody. She's obviously lying."
How did Callahan come to this conclusion?
{Spoiler HINT...are you sure you want a hint?}Tessa spied every night, but she couldn't have on this night. {Spoiler Answer} John was telling the truth, Tessa had to have been lying. Callahan had looked out his own window at home and had not been able to see anything through the foggy void. Being only a block away, the conditions would have been the same at Ms. Omar's home. Tessa would not have been able to see into a poorly lit room through 60 feet of frozen fog, making her story impossible.
Who writes these? Loon calls don't sound like human screams, and anyone who spills boiling water on him/herself is definitely going to notice!
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