The Night Desk · Season 2 · Case 34 · Alibi web ·
The Skater's Locket
Opening night on Hollow Mere, one lantern-lit lap, four stops, and a locket that came back as an empty ribbon.
The case file
Saturday, 8:15 pm. Hollow Mere froze hard this week, and the Skating Club opened the season by lantern light. Miss Lorna Vivian, the club champion, skated one lap of honor wearing her late mother's gold locket on a velvet ribbon, and stopped to speak to four people on the bank: at the warming hut, the skate-hire stall, the bandstand and the boathouse. When she came off the ice the ribbon was untied and the locket was gone.
Each of the four had one thing in hand that would hide a locket: a fur muff, a skate bag, a vacuum flask or a lantern. Three of them will tell you the truth. One is lying, and the liar took it. Find who, in what, and at which stop.
Who was there
- Mrs. Ottilie Bray, secretary of the Skating Club. Fur hat, fur muff, a club badge pinned over her heart, and minutes in her head.
- Digory Pellow, runs the skate-hire stall. Mittens with the fingers cut off, a cold pipe, and every skate size in the county by heart.
- Hedley Moyle, bandmaster of the Port Merrow Silver Band. A cornet under his arm, frost on his mustache, and a habit of conducting while he talks.
- Miss Kezia Lander, second-best skater in the club. Red cheeks, a quick temper, and two years of losing to Lorna Vivian by a foot.
The places: the warming hut, the skate-hire stall, the bandstand and the boathouse.
The means: a fur muff, a skate bag, a vacuum flask and a lantern.
Case 34 · Saturday, November 28
The questioning room
This case's night is Saturday, November 28, from midnight your time. The questioning room plays here with JavaScript on; the case file above reads without it.
The inspector's note: One liar, two collisions
When a case says one person lies, a single collision only narrows it to two names. Find a second pair of claims that cannot both be true. If one name sits in both pairs, that is the liar; turn each of their claims into its opposite and let the honest witnesses fill the rest of the board. Physical evidence, like a stain, never lies.
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 Sunday, November 29, the night after it opens.