The Night Desk · Season 1 · Case 4 · Timeline ·
The Last Ferry to Saltholm
Four stops, four passengers, and a registered mail pouch that arrived in Saltholm $600 lighter.
The case file
Thursday night. The 9:00 ferry from Port Merrow calls at four stops before Saltholm: Gull Rock at 9:10, Saltmarsh at 9:40, Kettle Cove at 10:15 and Fogbell Point at 10:50. At Saltholm the purser found the registered mail pouch slit along its seam and $600 in banknotes gone.
The purser had checked the pouch at 9:20, after Gull Rock, and it was whole. Four passengers rode with it, and each got off at a different stop, taking one thing ashore: a sample creel, an oilskin coat, a hatbox or a furled umbrella. Whoever slit the pouch carried the money off in theirs. Put the four in order to find who got off where, with what, and with the money.
Who was there
- Mrs. Agatha Pell, milliner on Tidewater Street. Hat pinned at a fierce angle, gloves buttoned to the wrist, never lets go of her umbrella.
- Hugo Varga, salesman of fishing tackle. Loud check suit, a laugh that arrives before he does, samples in every pocket.
- Miss Iris Doane, schoolteacher at Kettle Cove. Watches you the way she watches the back row, and expects a straight answer.
- Jem Turrock, fisherman from Saltmarsh. Weathered, patient, smells of salt and pipe ash, and counts his words like coins.
In order: Gull Rock (9:10), Saltmarsh (9:40), Kettle Cove (10:15) and Fogbell Point (10:50).
The means: a sample creel, an oilskin coat, a hatbox and a furled umbrella.
Case 4 · Thursday, October 29
The questioning room
This case's night is Thursday, October 29, from midnight your time. The questioning room plays here with JavaScript on; the case file above reads without it.
The inspector's note: Pin the ends of the line first
In an ordered case the first and last places are the strongest squares on the board, because "before" and "after" run out of room there. Someone who left before the second stop can only have left at the first. Fix the ends, then let "right after" pair the middle. Treat a clue about two things moving together as a hinge: once one side is placed, the other has nowhere else to go.
How to solve a Night Desk case, with a worked example.
The solution
The night desk's write-up appears here once you solve the case, or from Friday, October 30, the night after it opens.