The Night Desk · Season 2 · Case 41 · Alibi web ·
The Tree Lights
Eighty colored bulbs, a crowd counting down from ten, and a cable cut clean through under the snow.
The case file
Saturday, 6:10 pm. For the first time, the Christmas tree on Market Square was strung with electric lights, eighty colored bulbs from the new Electric Light Company. They were tested at 5:40 and burned beautifully. At six the mayor threw the switch at the bandstand, the crowd counted down from ten, and nothing happened. The cable had been cut clean through under the snow.
Between the test and the switch, four people stood around the Square, one each at the bandstand, the fountain, the town hall steps and the church gate. Each had one thing that could cut a cable: wire cutters, pruning shears, a chestnut knife or a snow spade. Find who cut it, with what, and where.
Who was there
- Percy Tonkin, engineer, Electric Light Company. A new overcoat, a new company, and eighty bulbs he tested himself at twenty to six.
- Mrs. Winifred Opie, chair of the Christmas committee. A committee badge, a basket of holly, and firm views on how Christmas used to be done.
- Joe Nance, chestnut seller. A brazier on wheels, a striped muffler, and a voice that carries across the Square.
- Edgar Retallick, sexton of the parish church. Seventy, a snow spade over his shoulder, and an opinion of electricity he will share.
The places: the bandstand, the fountain, the town hall steps and the church gate.
The means: wire cutters, pruning shears, a chestnut knife and a snow spade.
Case 41 · Saturday, December 5
The questioning room
This case's night is Saturday, December 5, from midnight your time. The questioning room plays here with JavaScript on; the case file above reads without it.
The inspector's note: A tool remembers its last job
A cut, a scrape or a print carries whatever was on the tool before: sap, flour, soot, paint or ink. When several people carry things that could all do the deed, ask what each of them had been doing that day, and look for that trace at the scene. The leftover usually names the tool, and the tool names its owner.
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, December 6, the night after it opens.