The locked room, part 5
Jul. 16th, 2002 03:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
davywavyA thrilling LJ tale in five parts. You are advised to read parts 1-4 first, by scrolling down to them.
Constable Wilkins and the three servants sat in the lounge. An air of quiet expectation hung over the scene. Inspector Jenks stood by the fireplace, puffing on his pipe. He was thinking, putting the final facts of the case together in his head before relating them.
“This case, from the outset, was obviously no ordinary case. In fact, I hazard to suggest it is unique in my experience. We shall look at the facts, one at a time.
"First: the murder weapon. The knife Doctor Black used to open his mail. Jarvis said it was silver – and yet it was found by a metal detector, which finds ferric metals.”
Jarvis opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off by the inspector.
“I should say at this point that I see no reason to doubt the testimony of any one of you – Jarvis, you have worked for Doctor Black for many years, and I think that you genuinely believed the knife to be silver. Or rather – the knife was silver…and then it wasn’t.
“Second. The blood on the knife. It was still red – when blood congeals quickly to a muddy brown. How could this be, when the murder had taken place hours previously?
“Third; the fact that the knife was found where it was – how did it come to be there? It wasn’t thrown from the murder room, nor was it carried there. Then how?
“Fourth; the Locked Room. Why was the room described as ‘locked’ when it so obviously wasn’t? A chair behind the door? With a door key to hand? It almost seems as if someone wanted me to the think the door was locked – when it never was!”
There was silence in the room. Nobody could understand what the inspector was saying.
“This is,” continued Jenks, “a case that nearly baffled me. Nearly, but not quite. The killer had to be someone of prodigious intellect, who had, it seems, access to all parts of the house, and could change the arrangement of the clues with seeming impunity. Only one person had that sort of power. The killer is…”
Can you identify who really killed Doctor Black? The answer will be posted here at 5pm today.
Constable Wilkins and the three servants sat in the lounge. An air of quiet expectation hung over the scene. Inspector Jenks stood by the fireplace, puffing on his pipe. He was thinking, putting the final facts of the case together in his head before relating them.
“This case, from the outset, was obviously no ordinary case. In fact, I hazard to suggest it is unique in my experience. We shall look at the facts, one at a time.
"First: the murder weapon. The knife Doctor Black used to open his mail. Jarvis said it was silver – and yet it was found by a metal detector, which finds ferric metals.”
Jarvis opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off by the inspector.
“I should say at this point that I see no reason to doubt the testimony of any one of you – Jarvis, you have worked for Doctor Black for many years, and I think that you genuinely believed the knife to be silver. Or rather – the knife was silver…and then it wasn’t.
“Second. The blood on the knife. It was still red – when blood congeals quickly to a muddy brown. How could this be, when the murder had taken place hours previously?
“Third; the fact that the knife was found where it was – how did it come to be there? It wasn’t thrown from the murder room, nor was it carried there. Then how?
“Fourth; the Locked Room. Why was the room described as ‘locked’ when it so obviously wasn’t? A chair behind the door? With a door key to hand? It almost seems as if someone wanted me to the think the door was locked – when it never was!”
There was silence in the room. Nobody could understand what the inspector was saying.
“This is,” continued Jenks, “a case that nearly baffled me. Nearly, but not quite. The killer had to be someone of prodigious intellect, who had, it seems, access to all parts of the house, and could change the arrangement of the clues with seeming impunity. Only one person had that sort of power. The killer is…”
Can you identify who really killed Doctor Black? The answer will be posted here at 5pm today.
