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The Night Desk · Season 1

The Wet Season

Thirty nights of rain in Port Merrow, from October 26 to November 24. A new case opens each night at midnight, your time, and every case stays open once its night has come.

The season starts small: a ferry office's takings, a stolen reel of film, a forged letter at the Gazette. From the third case, Cass Rendle of the Gazette is working the same stories and printing her own answers first, and she is not always wrong. Look closely at the solved cases and something keeps turning up: a small inked heron, on a letterhead, a business card, a rent demand. The last three nights of the season follow that heron home.

Sundays are cold cases: an old file reopened, five witnesses instead of four, and one of them lying. New to the board? Start with how to solve a Night Desk case.

  1. Case 1 · Monday, October 26 · Alibi web · Case file The Ferry Office Takings A blackout on Lantern Pier, a satchel set down in the dark, and a day of fares gone.
  2. Case 2 · Tuesday, October 27 · Locked room · Case file The Picture House Reel A locked projection booth, a fifteen-minute intermission, and the only print in the county gone.
  3. Case 3 · Wednesday, October 28 · Forged document · Case file The Gazette Proofs A forged letter in tomorrow's proofs, a newsroom full of typewriters, and a private agent who got there first.
  4. Case 4 · Thursday, October 29 · Timeline · Case file The Last Ferry to Saltholm Four stops, four passengers, and a registered mail pouch that arrived in Saltholm $600 lighter.
  5. Case 5 · Friday, October 30 · Misdirection · Case file The Pawnbroker's Pearls A tray of pledges, four stops on the way to the safe, and two people who look far too guilty.
  6. Case 6 · Saturday, October 31 · Alibi web · Case file The Kittiwake Tea Caddy A tea dance, a prize caddy spoiled with seawater, and one person whose story will not hold.
  7. Case 7 · Sunday, November 1 · Sunday cold case · Case file The Keeper's Logbook Three years ago the Merrow Light went dark for forty minutes. Tonight the missing page came home.
  8. Case 8 · Monday, November 2 · Alibi web · Case file The Chandlery Cashbox Rope, tar, brass fittings and a cashbox with a dent in it. Somebody in the shop was not buying anything.
  9. Case 9 · Tuesday, November 3 · Locked room · Case file The Customs House Seal A lead seal still whole, a crate of Saltholm silk a bolt lighter, and four ways in that nobody was meant to use.
  10. Case 10 · Wednesday, November 4 · Forged document · Case file The Harbor Board Minutes A ninety-nine year lease, a vote that never happened, and a page in the minute book that does not quite match the rest.
  11. Case 11 · Thursday, November 5 · Timeline · Case file The Night Tram The last car up Gull Hill, four stops in the rain, and a fare bag that never reached the top.
  12. Case 12 · Friday, November 6 · Misdirection · Case file The Regatta Cup Two minutes of darkness at the rowing club, four doors out of the hall, and a sore loser everyone has already hanged.
  13. Case 13 · Saturday, November 7 · Alibi web · Case file The Lantern Society Raffle A church hall full of paper lanterns, a raffle tin that came back light, and one helper who is not telling the truth.
  14. Case 14 · Sunday, November 8 · Sunday cold case · Case file The Salt Ledger Ten years ago the salt works lost its wages and forty men lost their jobs. Tonight the last ledger came back.
  15. Case 15 · Monday, November 9 · Locked room · Case file The Organ Loft A locked loft above the choir, a key that never left its pocket, and three other ways up that nobody counted.
  16. Case 16 · Tuesday, November 10 · Forged document · Case file The Ferry Ticket Forty forged return tickets, a clerk suspended on a reporter's word, and one buff card that knows where it was made.
  17. Case 17 · Wednesday, November 11 · Timeline · Case file The Fog Signal Rounds Four rounds of the signal house in a thick fog, one brass reed gone, and a horn that stopped calling.
  18. Case 18 · Thursday, November 12 · Alibi web · Case file The Fishmarket Scales Four scales on the fish quay, all true at midnight, and one of them four pounds light by the time the boats came in.
  19. Case 19 · Friday, November 13 · Misdirection · Case file The Gazette Darkroom One glass plate of four men shaking hands, a darkroom left for supper, and a rival reporter caught at the door.
  20. Case 20 · Saturday, November 14 · Locked room · Case file The Hotel Safe A brooch in an envelope, a manager's office locked all evening, and four gaps in its walls that nobody thought to count.
  21. Case 21 · Sunday, November 15 · Sunday cold case · Case file The Drowned Bell Fifteen years ago a chapel bell sank in a storm. This summer the divers opened its crate and found stones.
  22. Case 22 · Monday, November 16 · Forged document · Case file The Telegram from Saltholm A telegram that tells a reporter to drop her story and go home, pasted together word by word from other people's mail.
  23. Case 23 · Tuesday, November 17 · Timeline · Case file The Coal Barge Schedule Four barges, four slots on the new schedule, and a coal heap two tons short by dawn.
  24. Case 24 · Wednesday, November 18 · Alibi web · Case file The Pier Pavilion Takings A silver band at the end of the pier, a box office left on the latch, and a cash bag gone in the interval.
  25. Case 25 · Thursday, November 19 · Misdirection · Case file 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.
  26. Case 26 · Friday, November 20 · Locked room · Case file The Harbormaster's Strongroom A strongroom with a time lock that never opened, a register with one page missing, and three ways in that do not need a door.
  27. Case 27 · Saturday, November 21 · Forged document · Case file The Lease of Fogbell Point An old lease that gives away the Point, a seal too sharp for its age, and four people who could have made it.
  28. Case 28 · Sunday, November 22 · Sunday cold case · Case file The Heron's First Nest Finale, part one. Twenty years ago a young clerk was blamed for an empty safe and left town. Tonight he is back.
  29. Case 29 · Monday, November 23 · Timeline · Case file The Last Tide Tables Finale, part two. One figure in a page of type, changed between proof and press, and a boat that would have gone aground.
  30. Case 30 · Tuesday, November 24 · Alibi web · Case file 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.

Ranks

Every case you solve on this device counts toward your rank. A sharp solve is right on the first accusation, within the case's par of questions.

  • Constable: where everyone starts.
  • Detective: 3 cases solved.
  • Sergeant: 8 cases solved, 3 of them sharp.
  • Inspector: 15 cases solved, 8 of them sharp.
  • Chief Inspector: 25 cases solved, 15 of them sharp.

Season 2 of The Night Desk opens on December 7. Season 1 stays here to play.