The Night Desk · Season 2 · Case 58 · Forged document ·
The Postponed Search
Finale, part one. A Board notice that buys somebody two weeks, a chairman who never signed it, and four typewriters in town.
The case file
Tuesday, 6:00 pm. After the Captain's letter, the Harbor Board voted to search Fogbell Point for the Halcyon's silver at first light tomorrow. At five this evening a notice in a Board envelope was left at the harbor station: the search is postponed to January 4, by order of the chairman. Mr. Kemp says he never wrote it. It was typed this afternoon, between four and five.
Four people with typewriters were at work in that hour, one each in the Grand Marine's writing room, the Harbor Board office, the typing school and the Hollin Trust's office. Each typed on a different machine: a Corona portable, a Royal, a Remington or an Oliver. Find who typed the notice, on what, and where.
Who was there
- Linus Crale, reporter, Saltholm Clarion. Six weeks in Port Merrow, every story first, and a source he has never once named.
- Nathaniel Kemp, chairman of the Harbor Board. Silver hair, a dispatch box, and the Board's old Royal typewriter that only he is allowed to use.
- Miss Edith Hender, principal of the typing school. Sixty words a minute at seventy, nine pupils, and a row of Remingtons.
- Silas Venning, agent of the Hollin Trust. Packing up the Trust's office for Christmas Eve, and an employer whose face he has never seen.
The places: the Grand Marine's writing room, the Harbor Board office, the typing school and the Hollin Trust's office.
The means: a Corona portable, a Royal, a Remington and an Oliver.
Case 58 · Tuesday, December 22
The questioning room
This case's night is Tuesday, December 22, from midnight your time. The questioning room plays here with JavaScript on; the case file above reads without it.
The inspector's note: A forger copies what he has seen
People forge a signature from the version of it they know. A clerk copies the hand, a printer copies the type, a reporter copies the byline. When a forged name looks right in one way and wrong in another, ask where that version of the name appears, and who reads it there every day.
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, December 23, the night after it opens.