[Aaryan]

It was a dark and stormy night in Anytown. Jagged bolts of lightning wracked the sky above your house. "Glad I'm not out there tonight," you think. you gaze out your bay window at the thick, frozen fog that had engulfed the landscape. Too cold for anything but tea and a book.

Suddenly, you hear a scream!

Just a loon, you suppose. Suddenly, the phone rings. It's Murphy, the desk sergeant at the precinct. "Smith, we have an apparent homicide at one-two-seven Random Name Rd. Will you check it out since you're so close?"

"Sure," you reply, stunned by the awful realization the scream you'd heard was not a loon after all.

"Thanks," said Murphy. "Officers Jones and Apfel are on the scene now."

You drive around the block to get to the splendid home of Celine Olapu, heiress to the Olapu Tasty Snacks fortune. You drove up the long driveway, passing a small guest house which was about sixty feet from the bigger one. You parked in front of the main house's big bay window and walked inside. You look around at the huge waiting room, with regal chairs and a great glass chandelier hanging from the ceiling. A few crooked photos of hideous people hang on the wall. You decide not to touch them. You meet Jones, the head of police, who leads you to the study with the big bay window you'd parked under. Only the desk lamp was on, giving the room a shadowy appearance. Inside was Apfel, holding an evidence bag containing the murder weapon, a large butcher knife.

The body of Ms. Omar was in the middle of the room, covered with a sheet. On the couch sat a woman in a white nightgown, and a man in pajama's, both disheveled and spotted with blood. On the table was a pen, some papers, and a car bill.

"What happened here?" You ask the woman.

In a voice choked from tears she said, "I'm Terry, the maid. I live in the guest house on the drive and my front window faces this bay window. I heard a scream as I was getting ready for bed. I looked out my front window and saw him struggling with Ms. Omar. I raced in here to stop him, but she was already laying on the floor." She began to cry again. "I tried to pull the knife out and save her but he attacked me too. The whole staff knew he hated her. They were dating up until a month ago, when she broke it off. He seemed fine, but we all knew he would try to get revenge."

"What?!" yells the man sitting next to her. "She is a liar!"

"Calm down sir," you say. "Why don't you tell me what happened."

"I am John, the butler. I live in the guest house out back. I heard the scream and ran in the back door. When I got to the study I saw Tessa standing over Ms. Omar's body. I rushed over to Celine, and tried to pull out the knife, to save her, but Tessa attacked me. I loved Celine. I would never hurt her. But Celine had found out that Tessa has been stealing from her. Tessa watches out her front window and spies on Celine in the study. When Celine is occupied, Tessa goes into the house and steals from her. She was about to be fired," said John sadly.

"Lies!" screamed Terry, jumping to her feet.

Jones took her by the arm. "You're going to need to calm down ma'am." Terry sat back down, whimpering.

"What do you think Smith? Both their fingerprints will be on the knife and I've never heard two such conflicting stories," said Apfel.

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A new Detective Smith will come out every week.

And in your answer, tell me, do you enjoy these?

[Guest]

It was the butler. It's foggy and the maid is sixty feet from the house, she couldn't possibly have seen it. BTW I love these.

Edited February 2, 2011 by Darth Legion

[Aaryan]

edit: i wrote body of mrs omar its olapu.

and no. theres more to it.

Edited February 2, 2011 by Aaryan

[Guest]

edit: i wrote body of mrs omar its olapu.

and no. theres more to it.

The maid has no access to the kitchen where the knife is stored though. The butler, on the other hand, is in the kitchen daily overseeing the preparation of meals.

Edited February 2, 2011 by Darth Legion

[Aaryan]

and i wrote "tessa" in John's stroy, it's Terry. I had a bunch of typos.

Im not gonna tell you if your answer or explaination is wrong.

your reasoning isn't solid enough. The maid COULD (if she was the murderer, maybe she is, maybe not ) have gotten a knife from anywhere.

Edited February 2, 2011 by Aaryan

[Guest]

Maid was the murderer. She lied about witnessing the murder.

"Only the desk lamp was on, giving the room a shadowy appearance." So one can't see much in the room from such a distance.

Body was found in the center of the room not near the window, so it must be hard to witness this murder.

[Guest]

It was the maid. She said she could see the butler struggling with the heiress, but it was dark and stormy with a thick fog on the ground. No one could see for 60 feet in those conditions. She's lying so she did it.

[araver]

Possibly a long unnecessary explanation for the story:

The victim was reading a car bill (and possibly making notes). Of the two suspects, I believe she would give the car to the butler for a ride, but not to the maid. Pondering the car bill means he probably lied to her (had an accident or something). Either the maid (who can see the driveway) ratted him or the victim figured it out herself, she broke it off with him.

Both suspects are dressed lightly although it's cold outside. Distances are not explicit, but I'm thinking the man is more prone to travel the distance in pyjamas. He is the only one with a motive to kill / silence the victim.

Possibly, but not necessarily, the maid was also in the house, trying to steal something - I don't think the fog was thick enough for her to not see the light in the study, and thus see the victim was otherwise occupied. And a foggy time is a perfect time to steal things. This clears her as the killer.

[Aaryan]

Unicorn got it, but the strongest reasoning I have to give Saxguy00.

araver: good idea but whoever said the car bill was the butler's fault?

and again, what do you think of the Detective Smiths?

and use spoilers, Unicorn.

Edited February 3, 2011 by Aaryan