The Night Desk · Season 1 · Case 30 · Alibi web ·
The Heron Unmasked
Finale, part three. The grant that keeps the Point, gone from its box in a ten-minute recess, and one witness who lies.
The case file
Tuesday, 9:20 pm, and the last night of the season. The Harbor Board met at the Town Hall to decide the future of Fogbell Point. The town's 1802 grant of the Point, recovered from behind the mayor's portrait last week, lay in the deed box in the muniment room, ready to be read into the record. During a ten-minute recess it was taken from the box.
Four people were on the upper floor in the recess, one each at the muniment room door, in the council chamber, in the mayor's parlor and on the clock tower stair. Each had one thing in hand that could carry a rolled grant: a hollow walking cane, a dispatch case, a press camera or the Board's minute box. Three of them will tell you the truth. One is lying, as he has lied all season.
Who was there
- Ambrose Kell, director of Heron Holdings. The silver heron's head of his cane, a Saltholm tailor, and very still gray eyes.
- Cass Rendle, gazette columnist and inquiry agent. A press camera on a strap, and a month of the heron in her notebook.
- Thaddeus Pengarth, mayor of Port Merrow, until Friday. Gray in the face since Sunday, his chain of office in his pocket instead of round his neck.
- Miss Ottoline Vane, clerk to the Harbor Board. Steel spectacles and the Board's minute box held like a shield.
The places: the muniment room door, the council chamber, the mayor's parlor and the clock tower stair.
The means: a hollow walking cane, a dispatch case, a press camera and the minute box.
Case 30 · Tuesday, November 24
The questioning room
This case's night is Tuesday, November 24, from midnight your time. The questioning room plays here with JavaScript on; the case file above reads without it.
The inspector's note: Test the liar on every collision
When you think you have found the liar, do not stop at the first collision that points to them. Check every other pair of claims that cannot both be true. A real liar sits inside all of them. If one collision points somewhere else, there is more than one way to read the board, and you should test again before you accuse.
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 Wednesday, November 25, the night after it opens.