The Night Desk · Season 1 · Case 24 · Alibi web ·
The Pier Pavilion Takings
A silver band at the end of the pier, a box office left on the latch, and a cash bag gone in the interval.
The case file
Wednesday, 9:10 pm. The Merrow Silver Band played its winter concert at the Pier Pavilion, at the far end of the pier, to a full house. During the interval the box office takings, $210 in a canvas cash bag, were taken from the box office drawer. The clerk had stepped out for ten minutes and left the window on the latch.
Four people were nearby, one each in the box office corridor, on the bandstand, in the tea room and out at the pier end. Each had one thing that would hide a cash bag: a trombone case, a camera bag, the tea trolley or a fishing basket. The band never left the bandstand in the interval, and two hundred people watched them tune up. Cass Rendle was covering the concert for the Gazette. She has already asked you for a quote.
Who was there
- Cass Rendle, gazette columnist, covering the concert. Notebook open, pencil moving, and already writing the headline.
- Sid Crocker, trombone, Merrow Silver Band. Braid on his tunic, a red mouth from blowing, and a gift for gossip.
- Mrs. Winifred Pascall, manageress of the pavilion tea room. Lace collar, tight curls, and a ledger in her apron pocket.
- Old Tom Blewett, pier angler. Oilskins, a pipe, and fifty winters fishing off the end of the pier.
The places: the box office corridor, the bandstand, the tea room and the pier end.
The means: a trombone case, a camera bag, the tea trolley and a fishing basket.
Case 24 · Wednesday, November 18
The questioning room
This case's night is Wednesday, November 18, from midnight your time. The questioning room plays here with JavaScript on; the case file above reads without it.
The inspector's note: An either-or clue waits for its partner
A clue that says a person was in one of two places does not place them, but it halves the board. Keep it in sight. The moment someone else is put in either of those places, the either-or snaps shut on the other. Many easy solves come from two clues that mean nothing alone and everything together.
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 Thursday, November 19, the night after it opens.