DOSSIER 01
CASE FILE No.925 STATUS: OPEN EYES ONLY
COLD CASE · PRACTICE
THE FROZEN ORCHARD HOUSE
A hard frost took the orchard house. One man swears he pruned the vines bare-handed.
A walled orchard house on a great estate, caught by the first hard frost of the year. The stove had gone out and the cold bit deep; the soil froze in the beds and the water iced in the cans, so no bare hand could have worked the ground that night.
Decode each statement, then name the one liar. The cipher is the same for all five.
INCIDENT REPORT. Edmund Pyne was found at first light among the frozen vines, struck once with the heavy iron dibber. The stove had failed and the orchard house had stood below freezing all night; the soil was iron-hard and the water iced in the cans. Five of the garden staff were abroad in the cold. Each gave an account. One of them describes work no bare hand could have done in that freeze.
Small numbers count each symbol's appearances.
STATEMENT No.01 ENCRYPTED
— R.A.— Reuben Ash
STATEMENT No.02 ENCRYPTED
— M.C.— Mabel Cole
STATEMENT No.03 ENCRYPTED
— G.H.— Giles Hart
STATEMENT No.04 ENCRYPTED
— A.W.— Agnes Wren
STATEMENT No.05 ENCRYPTED
— P.B.— Percy Bly
A revealed letter files the case as assisted.
The Bureau notes every assist.
Reveal a letter?
A pulled lead files the case as assisted.
LEAD No.1
THE SETTLED FACT
Who's lying?
Four stories hold. One won't. Name the liar.
One verdict. The case locks for the day.
You file one verdict.
The Bureau does not reopen the case. Sign off against —?
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