The Night Desk · Season 1 · Case 12 · Misdirection ·
The Regatta Cup
Two minutes of darkness at the rowing club, four doors out of the hall, and a sore loser everyone has already hanged.
The case file
Friday, 9:30 pm. Halfway through the Port Merrow Rowing Club's regatta dinner, the lights failed for two minutes. When they came back, the Merrow Regatta Cup, two handles and eleven pounds of silver, was gone from the prize table.
Four people were standing by the four ways out of the hall: the veranda doors, the boathouse stairs, the kitchen passage and the front hall. Each had something big enough to hide a cup: a kit bag, a picnic hamper, an engraver's case or a rolled sail cover. The club has already decided it was Hal Penrith, whose Saltholm crew lost the cup by half a length this afternoon and who told the whole hall he would have it back by morning. The steward bolted the front door at nine and sat beside it all evening.
Who was there
- Hal Penrith, captain of the Saltholm crew. Big shoulders, a split lip from the race, and a temper he is trying very hard to sit on.
- Miss Clara Merriam, club secretary. Pencil behind one ear, the club accounts under one arm, and a smile for every member.
- Ned Tolley, boatman to the club. Weather in every line of his face and a sail needle stuck through his lapel.
- Jasper Wick, engraver, of Fore Street. A jeweler's loupe on a ribbon and fingers stained black at the tips.
The places: the veranda doors, the boathouse stairs, the kitchen passage and the front hall.
The means: a kit bag, a picnic hamper, an engraver's case and a rolled sail cover.
Case 12 · Friday, November 6
The questioning room
This case's night is Friday, November 6, from midnight your time. The questioning room plays here with JavaScript on; the case file above reads without it.
The inspector's note: A loud motive is not a clue
When everyone in the room has already chosen a suspect, write that name down and then put it aside. A motive explains why someone might, never that they did. Fill the board from places and means as if the obvious suspect did not exist, and only then look at where they landed. Often the person shouting the name is the one with a square left over.
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 Saturday, November 7, the night after it opens.