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The easiest hard case ever.
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Sir Kittithaj
Sir Kittithaj

May-2-2005 07:15

Today I start working on cases again after my 3-day vacation to the sea.

My skills is currently suitable for hard cases. So I started working on one: The Baffling Mystery of the Indian Room.

The victim was Varette Burlile. Brandon Carr, her servant, came to me for help. He suspected Lanette Stumfoll, Burlile's friend. She was mad because Burlile forgot her gift (what a foolish reason was that!)

Searching the crime scene, I came up with a clump of curly hair, and unidentifiable bloody footprint. Hmm... I guess it's the time to buy a thinking pipe, although I don't smoke.

Brandon Carr told me he was with the butcher. Luckily for me, he was my contact. I then went to Stumfoll's house. She told me she suspected Karl Kinsella, Burlile's brother. However, she clammed up when I was asking for her alibi. I tried my best to persuade her but couldn't make her speak. I think I need some perfume too, or probably a new dress.

I went to Kinsella's house to ask for more suspects. However, he refused to speak to me at all. I failed to persuade him otherwise. I hoped I would be luckier with townspeople.

I went to the butcher, Sylvia Lee, she confirmed Carr's alibi and told me that Karl Kinsella thought he knew who the murderer is. Great, if he could only speak!

My informant told me that Burlile was belong to La Cosa Nostra and made enemies with the Order of Socrates. Like I should care, really.

I started my long walk through the city. The waitress was no help. The music teacher told me that Carr probably knew about the murderer. Well, better than nothing. The fortune teller didn't tell me anything. The bartender told me about Stumfoll, whom I already knew. Finally, father Gesling knew nothing.

So, I stuck with three suspects. Two of them refused to speak to me further.

In a desperate move, I went to the City Hall to research. With such a few number of suspects, I didn't expect anything much.

And then I found that Kinsella was in the drunk tank when the murder happened...

Replies

Dogberta
Dogberta
Nomad

May-2-2005 07:36

Yes, including a similar one where I ended up with a false accusation. You took a risk, although having a physical evidence and a witness evidence is strongly suggestive. But the key is being able to confirm the alibi as false.

If you can't do that, the only way to be sure is to have TWO witnesses identify the suspect. Every case will have two witnesses who identify the right suspect and ONE who identifies the wrong suspect. And every piece of physical evidence matches one of the suspects, but only one of them will fail to have a real alibi. So you can get into trouble using your technique. The more conservative (and hence richer) sleuths would probably have quit the case.

Madame TBird
Madame TBird
Well-Connected

May-2-2005 08:06

VEry risky move, quitting is always better than risking a false accusation on your record. If your in an agency you can leave a case like that to get some help on.

Sir Kittithaj
Sir Kittithaj

May-2-2005 08:11

I sometimes quit if the thing looks REALLY hopeless. To this day, I only quit 2 out of 60+ cases. I have 3 false accusation when I was really new. The first two was erased by the shady guy for $400 (I was about 2-3 days old at the time.) Now the price to erase my last 1 false accusation is up to about $3,000, but I've yet to made any false accusation since then.

Actually, this thread is meant to be an entertaining read (otherwise I wouldn't take the time to write that long) and for people to share their similar cases that seemed hopeless but was done by shear luck. Anyway, thanks for the input. It helps me to understand the dynamics of the game better.

Now, does anyone has more story to share?

Meglet
Meglet

May-2-2005 19:53

Hey Dogberta, I had no idea that there would always be one someone who lied about a suspect! Wow I don't know how I managed then to escape since always when in a pinch (i.e. no alibi and/or unable to tie physical evidence due to clamming) go and start at the top of the list and work my way down asking about the person and accusing as soon as one person says yes. No the only times I have had false alibis were stupid mistakes...like clicking the wrong name and not realizing till after I click "Yes". After my second time doing that and paying over $32,000 to our dear friend Mr. Shady today, I shall always look at the name once more and my paper to be sure it matches....*sigh* I do know I've had two such cases in the last week or so that I don't know what I was thinking but just went with my gut although I had no way to know for sure and got lucky. But let this be a lesson to you newer agents: 1) ALWAYS be sure and 2) ALWAYS double-check. :) You'll save a heck of a lot of visits to Mr. Shady and a ton of hard earned cash.

Sir Kittithaj
Sir Kittithaj

May-3-2005 05:15

Yes, wrong witness evidence happens from time to time. I had the same experience before. I had one physical evidence and one witness evidence. I was really sure I accused the correct suspect. And I was wrong; both proved to be false evidences.

Of course, the probability of such cases is low. The probability to have a false witness is 1/3. The probability to have a wrong evidence is 1/2 or lower (depends on how many evidence you found). So the probability of such an unfortunate event is lower than 1/6. That's why I always take risks on such cases. And that's from a man who isn't a risk-taker!



If any of you have more stories to share, feel free to do so.

cfm
cfm
Nomad

May-3-2005 05:42

As Shady's prices grow, you may find it is not worth that risk!

Meglet
Meglet

May-3-2005 11:38

Well surely you don't mean that a false alibi can have evidence on the scene and NOT be the suspect right?? I mean there is tons of evidence but only one matches the suspect and only one false alibi has evidence. Right?

Meglet
Meglet

May-3-2005 11:40

That was confusing...I mean the suspect has a false/no alibi AND a piece of evidence matching them, but there will not be anyone else with a false alibi and evidence. All the other evidence is tied to true alibis.

cfm
cfm
Nomad

May-3-2005 16:34

You are correct Meglet. If you have a false or "none of your business" alibi, AND a piece of evidence against, them, they are guilty.

Skyler Michaels
Skyler Michaels
Well-Connected

May-3-2005 17:43

Glad you solved the case but did you have to tell us the story of all the moves you made?

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