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Archive through February 04, 2002 20   02/04 02:58pm
Archive through February 09, 2002 20   04/20 09:44pm

Bookworm

Saturday, February 09, 2002 - 08:32 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Well Nancy, did you do it? Thanks for updating the lateral thinking thread by the way. I love that one.

Neko

Sunday, February 10, 2002 - 06:20 am EditMoveDeleteIP
Lobster's got it.

He had his coat under his arm before stepping outside the club.

David Forrant could not have known until after he left the club that the evening had turned warm. The club, with its musty odor, had kept its windows closed, and Forrant by his account had been inside all evening. Instead of leaving the club with his coat on, finding the evening air warm, and removing his coat, however, he walked out with the others with the coat already rolled up under his arm. Foot correctly surmised that he had the silver bowl concealed in it.

When Crowley referred to emptying the rubbish, he was speaking in terms of his duties in and about the banquet room. The presence of trash in the can in the president's office was therefore innocent.

Congrats. I'll try to find a new one somewhere

Nancy

Sunday, February 10, 2002 - 06:33 am EditMoveDeleteIP
lol no I didn't do it and unfortunately my Uncle david passed away last year so i can't ask him rotflmao :)

Grooch

Monday, March 04, 2002 - 09:43 am EditMoveDeleteIP
"The Unbending Uncle" -
by Richard Ciciarelli

It's okay, Lieutenant," Police Sergeant Bill Wayne said. "We've already taken photographs of the prints." Lieutenant Jack Haskins stood in the road looking at a set of tracks in the snow that led from the road to a large white house and back again.

"Come on," Sgt. Wayne said. "I'll show you what we found. Tracks go across the lawn to that end of the porch." The two men followed the tracks as Wayne spoke. "Look under that urn where the tracks go."

Haskins lifted a large marble urn to see a dull, weather-beaten key.

"See?" Wayne said. "The killer came here to get the key to the front door. Now look-- the tracks go to the door, where the security code was punched in. Then the killer went inside. We found water marks on the carpet leading to the old man's room."

"Killer knew the code?" Haskins mumbled.

"Then the killer came out again, went to the road, and made his getaway." Wayne pointed to the tracks leaving the house.

"Let's go inside," Haskins said.

The two policemen entered the house and followed some water stains to a bedroom down a hallway to their left.

"You can see where the killer came in," Wayne said. "He went straight to the old man's room and killed him."

"How?" Haskins asked.

"We found a syringe on the floor with some colorless liquid in it. It's being analyzed now. Some kind of poison, probably."

"And the old man didn't fight his attacker?"

"Nope. Nurse says he took a sleeping pill every night. He probably never knew what was happening."

"Nurse?" Haskins asked.

"Yep. The old man was pretty sick. Emphysema. He had a live-in nurse to take care of him."

"I want to talk to her," Haskins said.

* * *

"No, I never heard a thing," Peggy Carlisle said in answer to Haskins' question. "My room is upstairs and at the back of the house."

"Who would know your employer's security code?" Haskins asked.

"Well, besides him and me, his two nephews and his niece. They didn't visit often, and Mr. Humbert didn't really like them, but they knew the code so they could come in if I was out running errands."

"Would any of them have reason to want him dead?"

"Well, they all need money pretty badly, and Mr. Humbert had told them all he was changing his will to leave everything to charity. He was an unhappy person and he blamed everyone else for it. No one was going to get a cent."

"I need their names and, if you have them, their addresses," Haskins said, pulling a notebook from his pocket.

* * *

"Uncle John's dead?" Phil Humbert said when Haskins told him the news. "Well, I won't pretend to be sad. He was a miserable man. Impossible to get along with."

"I understand you were mentioned in his will."

"The old one or the new one?" Phil asked. "Uncle John delighted in telling me how poorly I ran my dairy farm. Every time I needed a loan to pay off some bills, he'd tell me I'd have to wait until he was dead to get anything from him. Then, the other day..."

"He told you he'd cut you out of his will completely?" Hasins finished.

"He said he was going to-- first chance he got. I don't know if he had actually done it or not."

"Where were you last night between ten and midnight?" Haskins asked.

"Right here in the barn," Phil Humbert said. "I'd been out drinking and the wife wasn't too happy about that. It wasn't the first time. I have a cot and a heater set up back here for just such occasions. I get by okay, even in weather like this."

Haskins' next stop was a supermarket where the late John Humbert's niece, Lucille Mayfair, worked.

"This'll have to be quick," Mayfair said. "I only get a ten minute break."

Haskins filled her in on her uncle's death.

"And you think I killed him?" she asked. "Look, Lieutenant, I got two kids I'm trying to raise on a cashier's salary because my no-good bum of a husband took off three years ago-- and Uncle John loved reminding me of how he told me that would happen.

"I need money, I won't deny that; and I asked Uncle John for some help-- often. But he always said I got myself into this mess, I had to get myself out. Only after he died would I get any of his money. He was a rotten old... well, I don't know how that nurse put up with him, even if he did promise to remember her in his will. But I didn't kill him."

"Where were you last night between ten and midnight?"

"Home. I got off work, cooked supper, helped the kids with their homework, got them into bed, and spent an hour or so looking through the classifieds for a better-paying job that I'm qualified for. Then I went to bed."

The last stop on Haskins' list was a dingy apartment occupied by Hal Humbert.

"Uncle John's dead?" Hal said. "I guess that means I don't get the job then."

"Job?" Haskins asked.

"I might as well tell you; you'll find out anyway. A few years ago I joined the army, but I couldn't hack it. I went AWOL. They caught me and I was dishonorably discharged. Because of that I couldn't get a decent job anywhere. I asked Uncle John for a loan to tide me over, but he just laughed. Said he'd be dead before I got anything. Then the other day he said I wouldn't get any money even then, but he did offer me a job. It's only a janitor's job, but it's better than nothing. I was supposed to go to his company for an interview. He said he'd phone the hiring officer and put in a good word for me. Now I guess I don't even get that."

"Where were you last night between ten and midnight?"

"Right here. Just me and my good friend Jack Daniels. It was going to be our last party together. If I was going to get a new job, I'd have to be sober."

That night at his home, Haskins went over the evidence. The forensics report stated the liquid in the syringe was a strong muscle relaxant, strong enough to cause John Humbert, with his severe emphysema, to stop breathing.

Haskins looked at the crime photos, reread the suspects' statements, and closed his eyes in thought. One thing stuck out in his mind. He had a glimmer of an idea who killed John Humbert.

Who killed John Humbert?

Crazydog

Monday, March 04, 2002 - 10:40 am EditMoveDeleteIP
Hey glad to see these are back!

I am going out on a limb and saying that the nurse killed him. She mentioned that he said he was changing his will to leave everything to charity. But the niece mentioned that the nurse was named in the will. There is an inconsistency here.

Also, why was the key still under the urn. It was mentioned that the killed left the house and went to the road. There were no tracks leading back to the urn. Meaning that the killer already had a key or the door was not locked. I think the nurse made the tracks to make it look like someone used the key to enter the house.

Neko

Monday, March 04, 2002 - 02:20 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
I think you got it Crazydog...
That sounds about right

Bookworm

Sunday, March 10, 2002 - 05:26 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Congratulations Crazydog!! I was just checking the mystery site for a new mystery to post and here I am about a week behind. If you don't mind Grooch, I will post the solution.

Peggy Carlisle (the nurse) killed John Humbert. What gave her away?

The footprints in the snow.
Haskins remembered the footprints in the snow. They seemed to lead from the road to a spot where an extra key was hidden, then into the house and back to the road.

If the killer had made these tracks, why did the tracks not lead BACK to where the key was? After all, the killer took it, unlocked the front door, and then replaced it. Or did she?

Haskins realized from Humbert's relatives that he was not an easy man to live with. He probably had pushed Nurse Carlisle to her limit.

She injected the muscle relaxant (which she had fairly easy access to) into her patient, put on an old pair of his boots, and walked out the front door of the house, making the tracks that led to the road. Then she returned, stopping at the key's hiding place to make it appear the killer used the key to get in. Then she tracked snow into Humbert's bedroom. All this was done to throw suspicion on Humbert's relatives.

Upon further investigation, Haskins found that Humbert had planned to leave a sizeable bequest to Nurse Carlisle, but that would have changed when he changed his will. She killed him to get the money she felt she had earned caring for this miserable old man.

The site we are getting these from only posts one mystery a month. If anyone else has another site that we can find more mysteries, that would be great!

Whowhere

Monday, April 15, 2002 - 12:40 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
A man lives on the 20th floor of an apartment building. On a rainy day, he gets into the elevator in the morning, goes down to the ground floor and goes off to work. In the afternoon when he comes home, he gets into the elevator and goes straight to the 20th floor.

However, on a sunny day he goes down to the ground floor in the morning, but when he comes home he only goes up to the 10th floor and then walks up 10 flights of stairs. Why does he do this?

Littlebreeze

Monday, April 15, 2002 - 12:52 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Is he a midget, too short to reach the button for 20? On a rainy day he could reach it with his umbrella, if he was carrying one. Of course, he'd be stupid not to carry something to hit the button with on sunny days too, so this is probably a stupid answer.

Whowhere

Monday, April 15, 2002 - 01:15 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
You're right and good point!

Twiggyish

Monday, April 15, 2002 - 02:26 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
I missed it..dang. Are there anymore?

Bookworm

Monday, April 15, 2002 - 03:04 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Why yes, actually there is a new one up.

The Greedy Thief

"Mrs. Hilton?"
Amanda Hilton glanced up from her worktable to see Joey, her young assistant, standing in the doorway. "I picked that basket of limes like you asked and left them on the kitchen counter. Anything else?"
"Yes, Joey. Call Mrs. Pitman and tell her I'll have this special order done by the 23rd. Then take the grocery list and go shopping for dinner."

As Joey left, Amanda leaned back in her chair and stretched. It was a good life. How many jewelry designers could live in the Florida Keys, work whenever they felt like it and, in the middle of January, walk out into a garden full of lime and lemon trees and banana palms?

The gems strewn all over her worktable had provided an interesting challenge: how to make a piece of jewelry that incorporates two perfectly gorgeous rubies with 67 identically cut glass emeralds. Amanda's solution was a parrot brooch, the worthless glass forming the green of the bird's body while the expensive rubies represented the bird's eyes. Just yesterday she'd faxed Mrs. Pitman the design and received an enthusiastic go-ahead from the Palm Beach heiress.

"Mother!" Amanda's daughter Judy flounced into the workroom wearing a bathing suit and sandals. "It's such a gorgeous day. Can't you do your work after the sun goes down?"

The jewelry designer looked at the confusion of stones on the long worktable then at the brilliant sunshine streaming through the window. "Well, maybe a short break. We spent all yesterday at Sombrero Beach. I don't need any more sun."

Amanda's two grown children, Judy and her older brother Brent, were making their annual winter visit and even though they swore they could entertain themselves, Amanda always wound up taking off more time than she should. Brent and Judy dragged their mother out through the sliding glass doors, through the garden and down to the dock. Amanda plopped herself into a hammock and within seconds had dozed off. Five minutes later she was awakened by the crash of breaking glass.
The sound instantly galvanized her. Amanda jumped up and went racing back into the seaside cottage, running straight for the workroom. Her worst fears had come true. The window facing the street was broken and the table was bare. All 69 stones were gone.

The Marathon Key police department was barely worthy of the name, but Captain Greeley was caring and conscientious. His first task was to interview all members of the household, starting with Joey, the assistant.

"Mrs. Hilton had sent me out with a grocery list," Joey told the captain.
"I locked the front door when I left, as always. Trawler Tim's didn't have everything, so I had to go to a few other places. When I got back, the police were already here."

"Did anyone see you while you were out shopping?"
"Plenty of people," Joey replied. "But I don't think anyone can tell you the exact time. You know how it is."

The next person on Greeley's list was Judy. She was in the kitchen making herself a drink. "I feel bad about making Mother leave the workroom. It must have been a fluke-- someone looking in through the window and seeing the gems spread out on the table. Of course they had no way of knowing that only the rubies were worth stealing."

"But you knew," observed the captain.
"We all knew," said Judy. "Mother loved talking about the challenges of her work."
"Where were you at the time of the break-in, Miss Hilton?"

Judy paused as she glanced around for a lime for her gin and tonic, then made do with a lemon from a basket on the counter. "I was out by the dock with mother. After she fell asleep, I wandered back into the grove of banana palms, looking for a ripe bunch. Then I heard the glass breaking and saw mother rush inside. I followed her in."

Greeley found Brent Hilton in the doorway to the workroom, taking in the scene. "The intruder was taking quite a chance-- with Judy and Mom just out back and me in the guest room? Anyone of us could have walked in at any second."

"You were in the guest room?" asked Greeley.
"Yeah," Brent answered. "Watching the Jerry Springer Show," he added with a blush. "I didn't even hear the breaking glass. I didn't know a thing until I heard Mom in here screaming and cursing. Even then it took me a second to realize it wasn't the TV."

Amanda Hilton was outside, pacing over the crunchy mass of broken glass under the workroom window. "Please," Captain Greeley said, motioning her away from the spot. "Physical evidence."
"Sorry," Amanda said as she gingerly stepped back and joined him. "You really think it was an intruder?"

"Looks that way," said Greeley. "The thief knew someone could walk in on him any second. Yet he took the time to grab every single piece of worthless green glass. Someone from the house would have only taken the rubies."

"I suppose," Amanda said, unconvinced. She had been all through the house and thought about it long and hard. She had her suspicions, and they didn't involve any intruder.

Axman

Monday, April 15, 2002 - 06:57 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Joey did it because he hid the emeralds in the limes and switches the basket of limes with lemons. Or something like that.....

Bookworm

Thursday, April 18, 2002 - 07:09 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
It does have to do with the limes and emeralds but that isn't the answer. Good try Ax!

Twiggyish

Friday, April 19, 2002 - 10:42 am EditMoveDeleteIP
Joey said he brought the basket of limes into the kitchen,but Judy didn't see them.
Brent said he was watching Jerry Springer, but only 5 minutes earlier he dragged his mother out for a swim.
I think it was Brent.

Bookworm

Friday, April 19, 2002 - 07:00 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
It doesn't have to do with jerry springer. Again the limes/lemons are key.

Sia

Friday, April 19, 2002 - 10:38 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Does Amanda suspect that her son Brent concealed the gems in the basket of limes that her assistant Joey picked and left on the kitchen counter--and then removed the basket? The basket of limes is missing when Judy makes herself a drink in the kitchen. I don't think Judy was in on the theft, but I guess she could have been. What is the answer? I give!

Riviere

Saturday, April 20, 2002 - 12:54 am EditMoveDeleteIP
My thought is Judy was the thief, there are no ripe bananas in January in Florida?

Bookworm

Saturday, April 20, 2002 - 08:30 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
The basket of fruit is not missing from the kitchen, but it is revealed that it is lemons, not limes, that Joey picked, when Judy makes her drink.

Abbynormal

Saturday, April 20, 2002 - 09:44 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Ok so maybe Joey is color blind or something and thought he was picking limes instead of lemons so maybe he thought the fake emeralds were diamonds? Being color blind he couldn't tell the rubies from the fake emeralds. So he took them all. Is this a dumb answer or what?

Twiggyish

Saturday, April 20, 2002 - 09:57 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Abby, that's why he would break the glass ones, because he was color blind. That makes sense.

Bookworm

Sunday, April 21, 2002 - 01:22 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Congratulations Abby!! Not such a dumb answer...

The Explanation
Why?

The lemons on the counter indicate that he might be color-blind.

The glass fragments that fell outside the broken window indicate that it had been smashed from the inside. This was an inside job. But then why did the thief take the extra time to grab all 67 worthless glass emeralds? The answer lay in the kitchen, where Joey had left a basket of lemons, after telling Amanda he had picked a basket of limes. The easiest way to explain this mistake was to assume that Joey was color-blind. That would also explain why Joey had taken every gem, expensive and worthless, from the worktable. Victims of color-blindness can have trouble distinguishing red from green or green from yellow.

Good guesses everyone!

Sia

Monday, May 06, 2002 - 12:41 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Hey, Bookworm, do you have any more mysteries for us to solve?