DOSSIER 01
CASE FILE No.016 STATUS: OPEN EYES ONLY
COLD CASE · PRACTICE
THE STOPPED WATCH
Every clock in the shop stopped at ten. So did the watchmaker.
INCIDENT REPORT. Albert Pyne was found dead among his clocks at ten o'clock, struck down behind the counter. A wall clock had stopped at a quarter past eight, knocked over in the struggle — but it does not mark the hour of death. Pyne's body was still warm, the shop lamp still burned, and the verger across the lane heard the back door bang as the church bell struck half past nine. Death came at half past nine, not a quarter past eight. The till was empty and his pocketbook gone. A grey muffler, well known to belong to a rival of Pyne's, was found snagged on the latch of that back door. Five persons were near the shop that evening. Each has given a statement. One of them leans on a clock that lies.
Decode each statement, then name the one liar. The cipher is the same for all five.
STATEMENT No.01 ENCRYPTED
— N.B.— Ned Barlow
STATEMENT No.02 ENCRYPTED
— T.F.— Tom Fletcher
STATEMENT No.03 ENCRYPTED
— S.R.— Susan Reed
STATEMENT No.04 ENCRYPTED
— E.V.— Edith Vane
STATEMENT No.05 ENCRYPTED
— C.M.— Cyril Mott
Who's lying?
Four stories hold. One won't. Name the liar.
You file one verdict.
The Bureau does not reopen the case. Sign off against —?
ANALYZING
VERDICT IN
KEY EVIDENCE
×0STREAK
—VERDICT