Case #48
Paragraph #1: The Pointing Finger
You, a freelance but well-known sleuth, arrived at the scene of the crime well ahead of the police. Monitoring their radio bands on your scanner has often paid off in the past. The corpse of the old man lies splayed over the impressive mahogany desk of his private study. His glazed eyes are open and his face is fixed in a mask of fear. His left hand is frozen in rigor mortis reaching towards the spot where an intricate wooden box was lying upon the desk until you took it. His right arm is stretched out in the other direction and the hand seems to be pointing at something.
Currently your laser-pointer is bound to the dead man's finger with a length of flexible wire spring you removed from your notepad. The laser-pointer is switched on. It projects a red dot on the far wall which contains a bookcase. The red dot lies exactly in the middle of the spine of a thick black book.
The book has no title on its spine. Instead, it has only designs similar to the ones on the wooden box, which also seem to be embossed gold. At the center of the pattern was the image of an unusual gold key, seemingly embossed in sharp relief so as to appear very real.
Upon further inspection, the thick black "book" is just a fake book spine built solidly into the bookcase! In fact, it seems all the "books" in this bookcase are fakes! The entire bookcase seems a farce designed to hide this one important "book".
Looking closer at the golden key in the book's spine, you noticed it didn't look like a key meant to open any kind of lock you've ever seen. The bottom of the key was a set of four stubby horizontal tongs of slightly different lengths, two on each side. The middle of the key's shaft seemed to have a fine seam running around it. The top of the key was a circle embossed with the number "7". The more you looked at the key, the realer it seemed.
When you tried to take the key, your fingers could find no purchase on it, but it did seem to move around slightly in its setting as you fumbled with it. It WAS a real gold key, embedded in the fake book spine! It was embedded too neatly for your fingers to extract, but...
Just now you have dug the gold key out from its snug setting with the sharp tip of your fine-point pen and it falls into your waiting hand!
The police sirens have cut off right outside the house as several units screech in, followed quickly by the sound of opening car doors!!!
The windows and study are now awash with the flashing blue lights of the police cars right outside!!!
The unlocked back door you came in through is your only escape option.
You have:
Loose Pages. ~ A loose collection of the black card-paper cover, backing, and pages that were once your notepad. They fell apart when you removed the spiraling wire that held them together. Nothing of current importance is written on the pages.
Your Pen. ~ It's a black ballpoint pen. It has a button at the top you click to extend/retract the ballpoint.
Your Keys. ~ On the key-ring jingle your apartment key, your car key, and a few more unimportant or forgotten keys. Also hanging from the key-ring was a small novelty laser-pointer you bought to play with your cat. You took off the laser-pointer.
Your Wallet. ~ It contains just the usual stuff. Nothing useful for this paragraph.
A Wooden Box. ~ It's a wooden box about big enough to contain a softball. It has many intricate designs inlaid in what appears to be gold, and which you cannot spend the precious time on, before the police arrive, to figure out.
A Gold Key. ~ It doesn't look like a key meant to open any kind of lock you've ever seen. The bottom of the key is a set of four stubby horizontal tongs of slightly different lengths, two on each side. The middle of the key's shaft seems to have a fine seam running around it. The top of the key is a circle embossed with the number "7".
On Pointing Finger:
Your Laser-Pointer. ~ It's a small novelty laser-pointer which was hanging from your key ring. You bought it to play with your cat. It's a thin silver cylinder about 3 centimeters long. It has an on/off toggle button on one end and the laser beam comes out the other end. It is currently bound to the pointing finger of the dead man with the length of flexible wire spring from your notepad. The laser-pointer is currently turned on.
Wire Spring. ~ It's the length of flexible wire spring you removed from your notepad and used to bind your laser-pointer to the pointing finger of the dead man.
PROGRESS
Look at wooden box. ~ It's a wooden box about big enough to contain a softball. It has many intricate designs inlaid in what appears to be gold, and which you cannot spend the precious time on, before the police arrive, to figure out.
Look at direction the right arm seems to be pointing. ~ You peer along the line of sight from the right hand, but cannot tell exactly what it is pointing at. This study is a jumble of stuff.
Look in the direction that the man's eyes are facing. ~ The dead man's eyes are staring in about the same direction as his pointing finger. There must be something important over there, but you can't tell exactly where or what.
Take box. ~ You grab the box. You have passed the point of no return by disturbing the crime scene. Now you must leave before the cops get here or you're in even deeper shit than just by being here, but you feel that first solving the mystery of the pointing finger is vital. Speaking of cops, you can now hear sirens in the distance but growing closer.
Is there anything written in my notepad? ~ You look at your notepad. It is a basic model with a black card-paper cover and backing. These and the pages in-between are held together by a spiraling wire at the top as is common with most notepads. Nothing of current importance is written in the notepad.
Shake the box. ~ There is something heavy and metalic that thumps around inside the wooden box.
Did the man live alone? ~ Yes, he was a rich old miser and a bitter loner. More about him in paragraph #2. No time for thinking about his history right now.
Examine pen. ~ It's a black ballpoint pen. It has a button at the top you click to extend/retract the ballpoint.
Examine keys. ~ On the key-ring jingle your apartment key, your car key, and a few more unimportant or forgotten keys. Also hanging from the key-ring is a small novelty laser-pointer you bought to play with your cat.
Use the laser pointer to point in the direction the hand is pointing. ~ You take the laser-pointer off from the keyring. You line up the beam with the direction the finger is pointing and turn on the laser-pointer. A small red dot appears in the darkness over at the room's edge, but it's too far away in the darkness to see exactly what the red dot is on. Also, you estimate that the police sirens are now only a few blocks away!!!
Pull wire from spine of notepad and use it to bind the laser pointer to the finger. Then follow the beam to its target. ~ In a moment of ad-lib genius that rivals MacGyver you carefully bind the laser-pointer to the finger, frozen in unnaturally powerful rigor mortis, using the flexible wire spring you took from the notepad. You walk over to the red dot on a far bookshelf and find that it is exactly in the middle of a thick, black book. The book has no title on its spine. Instead, it has only designs similar to the ones on the wooden box, which also seem to be embossed gold. At the center of the pattern is the image of an unusual gold key, seemingly embossed in sharp relief so as to appear very real. The police sirens are now almost certainly just down the block! This block!!!
Take book. ~ What the...?! The thick black "book" is just a fake book spine built solidly into the bookcase! In fact, it seems all the "books" in this bookcase are fakes! The entire bookcase seems a farce designed to hide this one important "book". You'll have to think quick! You can't bring yourself to give up and leave just yet, not when you feel so close to solving the mystery of the pointing finger, but flashing blue lights are starting to show in the windows!
Examine key in book spine. ~ You look closer at the golden key in the book's spine. It doesn't look like a key meant to open any kind of lock you've ever seen. The bottom of the key is a set of four stubby horizontal tongs of slightly different lengths, two on each side. The middle of the key's shaft seems to have a fine seam running around it. The top of the key is a circle embossed with the number "7". The more you look at the key, the realer it seems.
Take key. ~ Your fingers can find no purchase on the key, but it does seem to move around slightly in its setting as you fumble with it. It IS a real gold key, embedded in the fake book spine! But embedded too neatly for your fingers to extract. The windows and study are now awash with the flashing blue lights of the approaching police cars!!!
Use your own Keys to dig out Gold Key. ~ All of your keys are too thick to fit in the snug setting of the gold key.
Use nib of ballpoint pen to dig out Gold Key. ~ You click your pen to bring out its fine-point nib and use that to dig the gold key out from the spine of the fake book. Just as the key falls into your waiting hand you hear the first of the police cars screech to a halt outside the house, and the sound of opening car doors... The unlocked back door you came in through is your only escape option.
NON-PROGRESS
Open wooden box. ~ You have no idea how to, and no time for trial-and-error.
Check for wounds on the body. ~ He appears unwounded, but no time for a detailed search.
Check for any identification on the body. ~ You already know the man's identity. It's not something you need to worry about right now in Paragraph #1.
Examine study. ~ It's an old, rich man's study jumbled full of treasures and junk. Which is which is not obvious. There are no further hotspots for now.
Examine desk. ~ A huge mahogany desk, probably worth more than your car, but no time to rifle through it. The police will be here any minute!
Examine left hand ~ Nothing special except for what's mentioned in the story.
Examine right hand ~ Nothing special except for what's mentioned in the story.
Draw designs on box in Notepad ~ That would take too long. No time!
Use pen to draw a line from the guy's right hand to see more specifically where it points. ~ It would still be too far from the edge of the desk to whatever he was pointing at to narrow it down enough.
What is in my wallet? ~ Just the usual stuff. Nothing useful for this paragraph.
Am I supposed to guess what the finger could be pointing to? ~ No.
Open the man's right hand/ Move the man's right hand/ Use pen to carefully lift the man's right hand. ~ You're too worried these would destroy your chances over ever uncovering this clue. Also: Not needed.
Describe the body. What is the man wearing? ~ He is dead and wearing rich man clothes. Everything important about the body is mentioned above in the story.
Do you see anything out of place or unusual for a study? ~ The place is a jumble of too much stuff to look at everything in a short time, but nothing catches your eye as glaringly out of place.
What time is it? ~ Night-time.
Is the window open? ~ No.
Examine "corner" where the right hand is pointing at. ~ Too much jumble, too little time.
Listen to radio scanner again. ~ The radio scanner is built into your car, which is parked around the block.
Draw the shape of the body in notebook - does it look like a letter? ~ You doubt it, and no time for sketching. The cops are drawing closer. Tick-tock.
