The Night Desk · Season 1 · Case 25 · Misdirection ·
The Mayor's Portrait
An empty gilt frame in the council chamber, a painter who hated her own work, and a hall full of people who know who did it.
The case file
Thursday, 9:30 pm. At Port Merrow Town Hall the new portrait of Mayor Thaddeus Pengarth was unveiled at eight, hung in the founder's old gilt frame. At nine the chamber went dark for a magic lantern lecture on the harbor. When the lamps came up the frame was empty, the canvas cut out close to the gilt.
Four people slipped out of the chamber in the dark, one each to the gallery stairs, the cloakroom, the mayor's parlor and the side porch. Each carried something that would hide a rolled canvas: an artist's folio, a map tube, a roll of bunting or the mayor's overcoat. The painter, Miss Starke, told the room at the unveiling that she would rather burn the thing than see it hung. The gallery stairs were roped off all evening, and the rope was still tied.
Who was there
- Miss Imogen Starke, portrait painter. Paint under her nails, a man's coat, and no wish at all to be liked.
- Cuthbert Ruan, town clerk. Thin, polite, and the keeper of every key and paper in the building.
- Hartley Nankivell, borough surveyor. Measuring tape in his pocket and a map tube he will not put down.
- Mrs. Clemency Pengarth, the mayor's wife. Pearls, a fixed smile, and her husband's coat over her arm.
The places: the gallery stairs, the cloakroom, the mayor's parlor and the side porch.
The means: an artist's folio, a map tube, a roll of bunting and the mayor's overcoat.
Case 25 · Thursday, November 19
The questioning room
This case's night is Thursday, November 19, from midnight your time. The questioning room plays here with JavaScript on; the case file above reads without it.
The inspector's note: Ask who points, and where
In a case with an obvious suspect, notice who keeps steering you toward them. Pointing is not evidence either way, but the person who points hardest is usually standing somewhere you have not looked yet. Put the pointer on the board like anyone else. If their square and the evidence meet, they were pointing away from themselves.
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, November 20, the night after it opens.