The Night Desk · Season 1 · Case 8 · Alibi web ·
The Chandlery Cashbox
Rope, tar, brass fittings and a cashbox with a dent in it. Somebody in the shop was not buying anything.
The case file
Monday, 6:30 pm. Orrin Bascombe was hauling a coil of manila in from the yard when somebody pried open the cashbox under his counter and took the day's $140. Bascombe was gone four minutes. He could see the counter through the back door the whole time, he says, but not who stood behind it.
Four people were in the chandlery: one at the counter, one up in the sail loft, one in the rope store and one by the side door. Each had something in hand that could open a cashbox: the spare key, a marlinspike, a sail needle or a putty knife. Cass Rendle of the Gazette is already on the quay telling everyone it was the rope maker.
Who was there
- Nell Pascoe, bascombe's shop girl. Seventeen, sharp as a tack, and tired of being blamed for the till.
- Jonah Brisk, sailmaker. Big hands, small voice, palm leather strapped round one hand like a glove.
- Mags Dooley, rope maker. Tar on her forearms and a laugh like a foghorn, even now.
- Ezra Quill, purser of the coaster Petrel. Neat collar, neat cuffs, a list of stores in a neat hand.
The places: the counter, the sail loft, the rope store and the side door.
The means: the spare key, a marlinspike, a sail needle and a putty knife.
Case 8 · Monday, November 2
The questioning room
This case's night is Monday, November 2, from midnight your time. The questioning room plays here with JavaScript on; the case file above reads without it.
The inspector's note: Two witnesses to one fact are not two facts
When two people tell you the same thing, it is reassuring, but it only fills one square. Count what each clue adds to the board, not how many voices say it. A good habit is to tick the square on the first telling and simply note the second. The questions that pay are the ones that reach a square nobody has touched yet.
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 Tuesday, November 3, the night after it opens.