Fortnightly Writing Competition - WHODUNNIT! (Results)

Started by Baron, Wed 20/05/2015 04:30:13

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kconan

Spoiler

I agree with Sinitrena on SK being too obvious in JudasFM's entry, which is why I went with a bit of an out there choice.
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Baron

I haven't read the other bits of speculation yet (although I'm dying to see if someone has had more insight than I, so guess what I'll be doing as soon as I'm done speculating myself? ;) ).

JudasFm's story:
Spoiler
I think the culprit is Tania Delarose from Team Gamma.  Race used to work for CGT, like she does now, so they would have known each other.  And it seems like CGT is in charge of transportation, so an insider could probably game the system and move around without being detected (if a cleaning machine was used for transit, as is posited and then ruled implausible, then Team Gamma had four cleaners to help things along).  And there was the detail of Race & Paige's room being in a pretty public space -what was he doing clocking-in in an out of the way sector if not meeting someone he didn't want seen going in and out of his room?  The note indicates jealousy, so a love-triangle suits the motive.  Alas, I can't find any hidden code in the note, but it seems like "SK" doesn't stand for initials (who signs their real name on a murder note?).  What does it stand for?  I bet that would solve the mystery, but unfortunately my mind hasn't been able to wrap around it yet. :tongue:
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Mandle's Story:
Spoiler
I gotta go with Marvin Masters.  Guy George seems like he hung around the pub waiting, while Lady Lentil seems to be telling the truth about the dog barking at the car, which is corroborated by Kevin Kline's driving testimony.  This puts Henry Higgins on the roadside at about the same time, since he is probably the dog owner.  Perhaps his dog sustained a small injury, resulting in the bloody dog footprints?  Anyway, the detail that really gets to me is Marvin saying he wiped away the condensation on the basement window to look inside.  But if there was snow on the ground -and there's snow for a good chunk of the year here in Canada where I live -then that cold temperature would cause the window glass to get cold and moisture condense on it on the inside.  Also, his wife seems to have been wondering where he was for a while, giving him lots of opportunity.
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Sinitrena's Story:
Spoiler
This one was tough.  I think there were two crimes because the murderer needed the distraction of the commotion over the safe theft.  So Ben must be forgetting that someone was absent from the group at that time, for at least a short spell.  The motive for the murder seems to be money: only when the hotel's cash is revealed to be missing does Inspector Coultry determine who the murderer is.  The fact that the real diamonds are also missing confirms this.  The fact that fake diamonds were used to implicate Ben suggests a specific animosity towards him by someone with inside knowledge of his lifestyle.  The most obvious culprit then is Peter, the groom.  He is hard up for cash, has reason to resent his mother (or is goaded to it by his ravishing new wife), and probably heard from her of her brother's (ie Ben's) history of thievery.  The fact that Rachel (the bride) was down getting more champagne also gives him a window of opportunity to commit the deed.  Finally, it seems from the evidence that Lady Susanna crawled to the door and locked it herself.  I mean, if she had the strength to make it that far, why not open the door to get help?  I think it must have been a final gesture of motherly love to give her son more time to escape so that he wouldn't be caught.
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Well, I've probably got them all wrong.  I'm off to read what everybody else thought.  Looking forward to the revelations over the weekend!

JudasFm

I have no comment on any of the speculations ;) But this is the most fun I've ever had in a writing competition :-D

Sinitrena

I am so tempted to tell you guys where your speculations went in the right direction and where you're completely wrong ;) But I must resist until the actual reveal, I must.

I agree with JudasFm, though, this writing competition is a lot of fun. You know what would be even better? If more people posted a few theories. Come on, guys, here are three murderers that need catching. Help justice along! :-D

Baron

I'd like to modify my theory of Sinitrena's perpetrator:

Spoiler
The two crimes required two coordinated criminals, and who was up getting more champagne downstairs before the safe went missing?  The blushing bride whose family connections taught her how to steal stuff out of a safe, that's who!  So Rachel broke into the safe for the cash and real diamonds, while Peter murdered his mom and planted the fake diamonds -slightly blooded -in Ben's room to frame him.  Such a happy couple! :-*
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Also...  Our scheduled speculation phase is almost over.  Please feel free to speculate further, but starting tomorrow our authors are free to post their big reveals.  I for one am giddy with excitement at being proven wrong in my speculative theorizing! ;-D  So hurry up and be speedy with those last minute speculations!


Mandle

JudasFM's Story:
Spoiler
I was thinking it was Kenichi Sawada as his name in Japanese customs would be Sawada Kenichi, thus: SK. Also the writer of the note does seem to be a little challenged with their English suggesting perhaps they are not a native speaker. This is all assuming of course that Japanese is even spoken in this future or even spoken by Mr. Sawada as his first language.

I'm probably wrong but that's all I could come up with...
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Mandle's Story:
Spoiler
I think the "police inspector" did it! His name is obviously fake and a complete rip-off of "Collumbo". I think he is the murderer posing as a policeman to frame someone and make good his escape!!!
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Sinitrena's Story:
Spoiler
Sorry...ran out of time and I couldn't figure it out because of my brain. So I'm just gonna guess...THAT GUY!!!

* Mandle points his finger dramatically at the correct suspect!!!
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Okay, I'm done! Can't wait for the reveals!

Baron

So it's revealing time!  Who's going to show me theirs first? ;)

Sinitrena

All right, here comes the revelation - first in story format, then in answer to your speculations:

----------------------------

“Damn it, Ben, damn it to hell. I know who killed Lady Susanna, I know how you know and I know that you're a bloody idiot!”

“Well, thank you, that's so nice of you. Now tell me, how am I an idiot?”

“First things first. There were two necklaces that night, weren't there? One was put into the safe, according to Agnes, and later stolen, and the other one, the forgery, that was in Lady Susanna's room when she was murdered and later found, covered in blood, in your room.”

“Yes.”

“Someone opened the safe that night, took the cash and the jewellery and locked it again, knowing full well that it wasn't opened that often and that the theft would stay a secret for a while. If you can open a safe and lock it again relatively fast, there's no reason to take something so heavy with you and there's even less reason to discard it that close to the scene of the crime. Either open it where it is or take it with you to a safe place but don't do it like that. Therefore, two thieves were in the office, one emptied the safe and locked it again, the other stole it later and never opened it. No reason to lock it again if you're just going to discard it. No, you lock it to cover your crime.”

“Yes.”

“Now, for the forgery. The safe was empty when it was found. If the first thief had made the forgery, it would have been in the safe, and the cash as well, so that no-one would know about the theft even if the safe was opened. He also didn't discover that the necklace in the safe was a forgery, went to Lady Susanna's room and murdered her, because it is not possible to tell a forgery that easily and besides, why would Lady Susanna put a fake in the safe? No, the real one was locked up. Therefore, the thief that opened the safe had nothing to do with the forgery or the murder because he never had a reason to go to Lady Susanna's room. As for the second thief: He didn't make the forgery to cover the tracks of his stealing the safe either. His crime wasn't exactly subtle. But forgery and murder must be connected in some way. After all, the forgery was covered in blood.”

“Blood no-one even attempted to clean away. Something a thief would do with such an expensive piece.”

“So the murderer knew it was fake. Now, nothing so far proves that you are innocent. It's possible that you wanted to steal the necklace, didn't know it was in the safe, went to Lady Susanna's room and killed her.”

“I didn't ask you for help to prove my guilt!”

“No, and I'm sure now that you are, indeed, innocent. Let's look at the murder itself now. Lady Susanna was found in her room, her door locked, the key in the keyhole and covered in blood. The door to Lord William's room was either open or they both had a key for it. She certainly didn't lock her door after she was attacked, unless she wanted to keep her murderer out. But her body was moved after her death, so we know that didn't happen. That means the door was locked during the fight, while Lord William should have been in his room. After all, he went to bed first. So how did the murderer get into her room and out again without her husband noticing? It's simply not possible. That leaves only one conclusion: Lord William killed his wife.”

“I'm glad you came to the same conclusion as I did.”

“Did I come to it by the same process, though? Anyway, the question remains why he did it? We can assume that it had something to do with the forgery. They had financial troubles, didn't they?”

“They did.”

“All right, maybe he wanted to commit insurance fraud and maybe Lady Susanna didn't want to. I'm speculating here, of course. They fought, he killed her and then he decided to frame you, a suspected thief.”

“And because the real necklace was in the safe, he had to make the safe disappear. He probably hoped nobody would notice that the one taken from Lady Susanna was a fake. - Case solved. But how to prove my innocence?”

“Here the part of you being an idiot comes in.”

“I'm sorry?”

“Only two people had the means to open the safe and lock it again: Agnes, who had the key, and you, with your vast knowledge as a thief. And you were absolutely certain that you know who the murderer is. You stole the necklace and, I guess, you then saw Lord William take the safe. You didn't know about the murder at that point and so you didn't do anything about it. You just made the real necklace disappear. You probably left the hotel for a while and gave it to an accomplice or something. Frederick saw someone come from your room. It wasn't you because you had no reason to go to the opposite side of the hallway. It must have been Lord William. You weren't there at this time. That's why you didn't notice that someone broke into your room and put the fake there!”

“I did not...”

“Stop it, Ben! Just stop it! Tell the damn truth for once. You have the real necklace and you didn't hide fake and real one together. So you obviously didn't have them at the same time. That, and the locked door of Lady Susanna's room should be enough to maybe not prove that you're innocent but certainly make the police take a closer look at a lot of things. Damn it, Ben, we could never prove any of your other crimes. You'll probably get probation. Just tell the damn truth!”

------------------------------

If I didn't make any mistake, the above explanation is the only one that matches all clues. If I missed something, please tell me.

Now, because this is so much fun, let's see how well all of you did on my story.

@Mandle
Quote* Mandle points his finger dramatically at the correct suspect!!!
Sorry, you're completely off. There is more than one correct suspect (Ben for the theft, William for the murder) so you can't just point at one.


@kconan
QuoteI'll pin the theft of the hotel safe and necklace on Ben.  And the murderer is...Lord William?
You got both suspects, but Ben didn't steal the safe, only what was inside the safe. I wish I knew how you came to your conclusions, because you must have picked up on some of my clues.


@Baron
QuoteI think there were two crimes because the murderer needed the distraction of the commotion over the safe theft.  So Ben must be forgetting that someone was absent from the group at that time, for at least a short spell.
Do you mean absent when the theft was discovered? There's really no reason for this, because Susanna was already dead at this time, something we know, or can deduce because she didn't come to the reception when Agnes screamed.
QuoteThe motive for the murder seems to be money: only when the hotel's cash is revealed to be missing does Inspector Coultry determine who the murderer is.
The motive is money, but that was not the final clue Tim needed. The important part of these last few sentences was that the safe isn't opned that often which means that it makes sense to lock the safe to disguse a theft.
QuoteFinally, it seems from the evidence that Lady Susanna crawled to the door and locked it herself.  I mean, if she had the strength to make it that far, why not open the door to get help?  I think it must have been a final gesture of motherly love to give her son more time to escape so that he wouldn't be caught.
You missed that she was moved after her death, so someone (that is, the murderer) was in the room at the same time that the door was locked. In addition, if she wanted to get help, the logical place for it would be the adjoining room of William, except of course that William is the murderer, so she actually tried to flee from him through the main door, but was stopped before she actually managed to get the door open. From a storytelling point of view, I mentioned the key in the lock to remove the possibility that someone picked the lock to get in her room, then used these same skills to lock it again, as was done with the safe. As far as I know, you can't pick a lock as long as the key is in the keyhole (I might be wrong about this. It's true for the locks I know, but there might be other models, so this is actually, unless I overlooked something else, the weakest point of my story.)
QuoteSo Rachel broke into the safe for the cash and real diamonds
You miss that the safe was not only opnened and the necklace stolen from it (by Ben) but also itself stolen and later fount at the beach.

You picked up on some of the clues, not bad.


@JudasFM
Quote“I never killed anyone.”

I notice he doesn't say anything about not stealing the necklace
That one was obvious, wasn't it? ;)
QuoteWe also know that the safe was found locked. Having opened the safe, it seems a bit odd that someone would shut it again. If the necklace was there, they would have taken it and run. If it wasn't, why would they bother to lock an empty safe?
When I read this I actually though you had it solved completely. Well done on picking up on the fact that you don't lock a safe you steal. I'm not sure you drew the conclusion that there must have been two thieves at that moment. But you certainly were close.
QuoteIt is possible he broke into Lady Susanna's room, since we know he's adept at picking locks and that this hotel is a small one as opposed to a big chain. Therefore, it's likely it would use keys as opposed to keycards.
No need to speculate if they use keycards. It's outright stated in the text that the hotel uses keys. Of course, you can't pick a lock when the key is still in the keyhole, so this didn't happen (see above).
QuoteWhen she didn't turn up after a while, Lord William went to look for her.
Okay, so my money's now very firmly on Lord William being the murderer. If Agnes's scream was so loud, why didn't Lady Susanna hear it and come down herself? Their rooms were right next door to each other, so if he heard it, she must have.
That actually wasn't a clue for Lord William as the murderer: Susanna was already dead at this point and because everyone went to the reception when they heard Agnes scream, it's logical to go look for her. It's also logical that William goes, he was, after all, her husband. Really, no clue here at all.
QuoteThere's no indication anywhere that there were two necklaces.
There is: Agnes said she went to bed after putting Lady Susanna's diamonds (read: necklace) into the safe, which means that something of her's was in the safe. And a necklace was taken from Susanna during or shortly after the murder. These two can't be the same.
QuoteI think Lord William returned and lay in wait for his wife that night, then killed her as she came in (motive: probably money). He then planted the necklace in Ben's room (based on this, it's likely Ben never had the opportunity to steal the necklace at all; Lady Susanna was probably wearing it when she came upstairs).
As I said above, Susanna had alread put the necklace in the safe at that point in time, so Ben had the opportunity and did indeed steal the necklace from the safe. Other than that, you're completely right. (Except that I thought that they argued and he killed her in the heat of the moment, so not a planned murder, but it works just as well if he planned it, I think.)
QuoteOh yeah, and I think Lord William took the safe and threw it out. The reason it was still closed was because he wasn't interested in its contents
I thought that he simply didn't know how to open the safe, but you're basically right.
Quotehe just wanted to use its disappearance to create a diversion and bring everyone out of their rooms, leaving him free to go 'discover' his dead wife
There's really no need for that. Sooner or later, he could have had a reason to discover her body, or someone else had discovered it, doesn't really matter.

So, all in all, you came very, very close to the real solution and only missed a clue here and there. And you didn't quite manage to fit it all together.

"But I still have a little present for you, JudasFM"
Ben, what are you doing here?
"As I said, I have a present for JudasFM. Here:

That looks suspiciously like Lady Susanna's necklace, Ben. Shouldn't this be in evidence?
"Ahm, well..."
You stole it, again, didn't you?
"Sorry, got to go..."

In other words, I'm really impressed with your deductive skills and I was bored, so I drew some diamonds for you.

----------------------

Looking forward to your revelations, JudasFM and Mandle. ;-D

Mandle

Sinitrena:Great story and great reveal! I will post mine tonight

JudasFm

QuoteIn other words, I'm really impressed with your deductive skills and I was bored, so I drew some diamonds for you.
Wow, thanks :D I never expected that! I shall keep them, and polish them, and wear them everywhere for the rest of my life. Or until I'm hunted down and arrested by the police for receiving stolen goods, whichever comes first.

Now it's my turn!

First of all, the speculations on this one were actually pretty interesting to read. Everyone spotted some of the clues, no one spotted all of them and no one seemed to spot the same ones, and everyone put their clues together to come up with...the wrong answer, most of the time.

The layout got a little bit muddled, so I broke up the Story Reveal, the Speculations and the Timeline (which tells you who did what and when, but doesn't offer any comments on the clues) into three separate hidden areas, just to keep my post tidy :-D

STORY REVEAL!
Spoiler

REPORT ON PAIGE KERR'S DEATH

To: Cy

From: Vern Rahim

Well, I guess this is why you keep me around, isn't it?  For my deductive abilities?  So let's get down to it. 

First of all, the killer is Race Palmer.  Take my advice and send Big Mike to arrest him.  Don't wait to read the rest of my report; do it right now before it's too late, if it isn't already.

THE NOTE

Well, that's really what you asked me to investigate, isn't it?  So I'll break it down for you.

The first thing you need to know, and the key to solving this whole thing, really, is that the note was not written by the murderer.

There are plenty of ways to spot this, but most telling is that the opening question is not, Why did I kill her but Why did I want her dead.  A subtle distinction, admittedly, but an important one; there's nothing there that could serve as any kind of confession, if you really think about it.  It also says I know you wouldn't hire a murderer, but it doesn't go on to say like me.  It's implied in the previous sentence, but not explicitly connected.

Let me give you a more concrete example:

Person A had some toast and peanut butter for breakfast.

Person B: Have you had lunch?

Person A: I had some toast and peanut butter.

B assumes that A is talking about lunch in answer to the question, when in fact, A is referring to a completely different meal.  You assumed the writer was referring to themselves when they were talking about the murderer, when they were simply making a statement of fact designed to confuse and mislead.

Secondly, the note suggests that Ken'ichi Sawada is innocent, as the writer says that they could have done a better job as navigator even without any expertise.  However, according to James, the reason Ken'ichi was next in line for the job was because he's the son of a navigator, and would presumably have picked up some knowledge on the subject.  I know there's been some speculation about the initials SK â€" Sawada Ken'ichi â€" but the note was written in English.  Although Neptunians do put the family name first in their own language, in English they write it the same way as you or I.

I know there's some theory flying around that Ken'ichi gained the most from Paige's death, which is arguably true, but come on, Cy!  If he went to the trouble of murdering Paige, why would he write a note telling you about it?  If the note was written by someone wanting to frame him, why isn't it a lot more explicit?  Why doesn't it point the finger at him directly?  It's actually pretty vague; all we can deduce for certain is that the writer disliked Paige and that they're never going to tell you who they are.

Thirdly, the fact that the note is handwritten is rather suspicious since anonymous notes â€" even ones only signed with initials â€" are usually printed or made of cut-and-pasted newspaper letters.  It suggests that the person behind it wanted the writer to be traced, which in turn points to someone else writing the note on Race's behalf in an effort â€" coerced or not â€" to cover up for him.

Fourthly, it doesn't say much.  It rambles on and goes off on various tangents, but it's sort of targeted at you, sort of targeted at Paige and sort of targeted at nothing and no one in particular.

Fifthly, there are a lot of crossings out, which is what helped me spot the hidden message.

Sixthly, the crossed out words are completed.  Most people who cross out words do so because they make a mistake, or because they change their mind about what they're going to say.  However, since all the crossed out words are completed, they weren't crossed out as the result of any mistake.  I suppose a person might change their mind more than once in a letter, but more than twenty seems rather odd.

Seventhly, the use of colloquial English ("you're out of luck", "live and learn" and the word "lackeys") points to someone fluent in English.  Granted there haven't been any native speakers of that language for the past three hundred years â€" everyone learns it as a second language, as you know â€" but it does narrow down the potential candidates rather quickly.

Conclusion: "SK" is Samara King.  Race forced her to write that note, then took it to you and said he'd found it in his box.  Since he couldn't very well have Samara running around, he has her locked up somewhere, which would account for her disappearance.  I doubt she's dead or someone would have found the body by now, but I wouldn't hang around if I were you. 

Samara King

I don't know why Race picked her; she's not especially important or prominent within the crew.  I imagine she was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.  In hindsight, his taking her was a huge mistake on his part; she proved to be far smarter and more resourceful than I think any of us would have expected.  You might want to keep an eye on her, Cy.

The Hidden Message

I did debate whether or not to include this, but then I figured, why not.  Samara deserves credit for being able to think so coolly, and the code she came up with is one we can use as well.

The hidden message in that note was a stroke of genius.  It was so clever it almost backfired on her, in fact; it was a little too well-hidden.  It does, however, explain a great deal.

As James said, Samara's father worked on the bridge crew of one of the big liners.  He was head of radio communications, which would mean...well, plenty of things, but above all, he'd have been extremely familiar with Morse code.

It seems Samara is as well.  Familiar enough, at least, to use it to write you a little message in that note.  The only way to do that would be to substitute a certain letter of the alphabet, one that was close enough to the code.

Morse is comprised of dots and dashes.  There are only two letters in the alphabet that also fit this description; j/J and i/I.  J is too seldom used, but the letter I is the fifth most common letter in the English language.

So, if we take the lower case is as dots, and the upper case Is as dashes and transpose the message, we end up with this: .-.-...-...-.........-..--.-..--...-...-..--.--......-...--.--.

Rather hard to decipher, since there's no way of telling where one letter ends and the next begins.  Which, of course, is where the crossed out words come in.

I imagine Race, to divert suspicion away from himself, insisted on a handwritten note precisely because it would be easier to trace to someone else.  Since Samara was under a lot of pressure at the time, he wouldn't find it suspicious that she was flustered and crossing out so many words.

If we take the crossed out words to represent a break between letters, we get: .- / .-.. / .-.. / .-.. / .. / . / ... / .-. / .- / -.-. / . / --. / ..- / .. / .-.. / - / -.-- / .... / . / .-.. / .--. / -- / .

Translation: ALL LIES RACE GUILTY HELP ME

I'd say that was some pretty damning evidence right there, Cy. But if you want more, keep reading. I watched the recording of your discussions with the bridge crew.  I appreciate your thoroughness but there was no need to send me all of them; the first ten minutes plus the note told me everything I needed to know.  I'm not sure if I should do this next bit as a Q&A or a prose report, so I'll probably mix and match.  I transcribed your remarks to enable you to follow my train of thought more clearly.

CY
Only we all know what he (Race) is like when he loses his temper

Yes. Yes, we do.

JAMES
Race's T-card was clocked on at six am, two kilometers away from where Paige was murdered. [...] Paige was killed at ten past six.  The only way Race could have got to her was if he hitched a ride on a cleaning machine, and he didn't.

So we've established that Race could have got to her in time to commit the murder if he rode the cleaning machine. Now we just need to work out if he did.

JAMES
I asked CGT â€" you know they have a monopoly on those machines â€"

In other words, you would have to work for CGT or be friendly with those that did to be able to get one, if you didn't want to pay the passenger rates.

JAMES
No one bought passage on any machines until the beginning of the shift at eight am.  Besides, that corridor is pretty out of the way.  There were a couple of machines there, but it's not a good place to go if you want to guarantee finding them.

So he's a long way from anywhere with no witnesses and more than one cleaning machine that can get him where he has to be in a hurry.

JAMES
He (Race) used to work for CGT until Chelsea fired him for losing his temper with a customer.

Another mention of Race having trouble controlling his anger.  More importantly, Race used to work for CGT.  He wouldn't be allowed to drive one of the machines now, since he was fired, but he'd know how to do it.  Since the corridor is 'pretty out of the way', to use James's phrasing, so if he did take it into his head to jump onto a machine, no one would have seen him.  Also, his being so far away would set up a fair alibi without raising suspicion; gofers go all over the ship and plenty of them keep odd hours.

So let's look at what we have so far:

1. Race clocked on in a random corridor at six am.

2. Paige was killed at ten past six. 

3. CGT's shift doesn't start until eight.

4. There were a couple of machines in the corridor where Race was.

5. Only CGT employees are allowed use of the cleaning machines.  None of them were on shift at the time.  Therefore, those machines would have been unguarded. Since it was so early and the sector so out of the way, it's very likely the corridor would have been empty while Race was there.

6. Race used to work for CGT; therefore, he would know how to drive a cleaning machine.

7. Do you really need me to fill in any more blanks here?

Anyway, going back to the shift thing, the only people who would know for certain that Race no longer worked for CGT â€" ie, other employees â€" would have most likely been asleep.  No one would have seen him steal the machine, no one would have seen him drive it the two kilometers to his and Paige's room.  A couple of very early risers probably would have seen him get off at the other end and go into the room, but unless he said, "Hey, I'm going to murder Paige!" they would just assume he was still working for CGT and had pulled an all-nighter or something.  I imagine he thought it was a risk worth taking.

Motive

Obviously we have to do a certain amount of guessing here, but this was clearly premeditated.  Best guess: Paige broke up with Race and he didn't like it.  People have committed murder for dumber reasons, after all.  Besides, it must have been hard for him dating the fourth most powerful crew member when he was just a gofer.

Case closed.  You owe me thirty and thirty.

-Vern
[close]

Phew! Okay, on to the speculations...

Spoiler

@KCONAN
QuoteWho: James Lawson?
Evidence and Motive: I couldn't figure anything out...
Out by a mile ;)

@BARON
QuoteI think the culprit is Tania Delarose from Team Gamma.
Sorry. But your deductive reasoning was pretty impressive. You picked up on most of the clues; you just pointed the finger at the wrong person.

QuoteRace used to work for CGT, like she does now, so they would have known each other.  And it seems like CGT is in charge of transportation, so an insider could probably game the system and move around without being detected (if a cleaning machine was used for transit, as is posited and then ruled implausible, then Team Gamma had four cleaners to help things along).
Fair deduction. Wrong, but fair ;) Team Gamma's having four cleaners really wasn't meant as either a clue or a red herring.

QuoteAnd there was the detail of Race & Paige's room being in a pretty public space -what was he doing clocking-in in an out of the way sector if not meeting someone he didn't want seen going in and out of his room?
This was a clue, but not in the way you've interpreted it. James says that Race wouldn't be the first crew member who went to an empty sector to get some peace and quiet. This implies that taking oneself off to out-of-the-way places is actually regarded as fairly normal.

Quotea love-triangle suits the motive.
That...is a really interesting interpretation ;-D Again, logical but out.

Quote(who signs their real name on a murder note?).
Again, well spotted. Though this one was something of a clue within a clue.

@SINITRENA
QuoteThe letter is signed SK. Of all the names mentioned, only Samara King and Ken'ichi Sawada match these initials. The letter claimes that the motive for the murder was basically jealousy, so it's logical to assume that someone who wanted her job was responsible.
Actually, it never says that, not in so many words. The only thing the letter claims for sure is that everyone hated Paige because she was such a lousy navigator. Anything beyond that is pure speculation.

QuoteIn addition, Samara hasn't clocked in since before the murder.
Well spotted ;)

QuoteI have a feeling that I miss something important in the letter, especially in the few words that are crossed-out, and I'd really like to know what the deal is with Cy NO LAST NAME, the incedent that found them without a navigator in the first place, and the incident when the crew killed people to keep other safe (as mentioned in the letter); Are those two incidents the same?
The backstory at this point spans two full novels, so I won't clutter up the board with long synopses. For interest's sake, however, the two incidents are completely separate. In the books, it's about three months' difference; here it's more like three years, but I reckon I'm allowed to play with my own timeline a bit ;) I'm not sure what you wanted to know about Cy...

QuoteLooking for a motive, I actually think Race would be a likely candidate: He is a gofer while Paige seemed to have a succesful career. There might have been tension between them.
As I said, this storie has me stumped. I still say it was Samara King, even though I think this is too easy.
Ooh...you were so close! So very close!

@MANDLE
QuoteI was thinking it was Kenichi Sawada as his name in Japanese customs would be Sawada Kenichi, thus: SK. Also the writer of the note does seem to be a little challenged with their English suggesting perhaps they are not a native speaker. This is all assuming of course that Japanese is even spoken in this future or even spoken by Mr. Sawada as his first language.
Sorry, nope. This was a red herring, for three reasons:

1. While it's true that in Japanese culture his name would be Sawada Ken'ichi, the letter was written in English. Japanese people who write in English write their names Western-style.

2. There are no native speakers of English in this future - everyone learns it as a second language - and yes, Japanese is spoken (although they call it Neptunian now ;)) and yes, it's Ken'ichi's first language. However, I'm not so unfair as to expect people to solve it based purely on assumptions of the world which are never confirmed, so the whole language thing had nothing to do with solving the case. If I'd meant it as a clue, I'd have explained the languages and Ken'ichi's fluency in them more clearly ;)

3. As Vern says, the use of colloquialisms point to someone who is fluent in English. Someone who struggles with basic grammar would be very unlikely to know the word lackey for instance. Same goes for sayings like live and learn.
[close]

And a neat little summing-up timeline:

Spoiler

1. Race kidnaps Samara the day before the murder and forces her to write the letter by hand. He knew she'd been in the running for Paige's job and he intended for the murder to be traced back to her.  So SK does stand for Samara King, and Samara wrote the letter, but she didn't murder Paige.

2. Samara, who is extremely familiar with Morse code due to her father's occupation, hides a message in the note, using the letter i/I to represent dots and dashes and the crossed out words to separate each letter.

3. Race keeps Samara locked up to stop her blowing the whole thing. As a gofer, he did all sorts of odd jobs. It's a logical assumption that he'd be more familiar with the ship's layout, and so he'd know where he could imprison her.

4. The next morning, Race goes to a corridor some distance away from his room and clocks on there to try and provide himself with an alibi.

5. He then steals one of the empty cleaning machines, being able to drive them from his time at CGT, and drives to his room where he kills Paige.

6. After waiting a suitable length of time, he brings Samara's letter to Cy, saying he found it in his box.

7. Cy passes it on to Vern, who solves it in about two hours and sends the report back to him.
[close]

Okay...I think I covered everything. I wasn't sure about the hidden message violating the "No Big Reveal" rule, but even if you spotted it, it only claims who the killer is; you'd still have had to prove it ;)

Thanks to everyone who speculated :D Like I said before, this kind of interactive fiction contest was a lot of fun!

Mandle

Quote
Inspector Callum Beaux scanned his eyes back from right to left and announced:

"Based on the witness testimony I have solved this case. The murderer is...Marvin Masters! I have noted many discrepancies between the time-lines stated by quite a few suspects, but this is quite normal in investigations such as these, and in fact, if I did not find such discrepancies then that would arouse suspicions of an entirely different sort.
People rarely keep a careful track of time while unaware that they are going to be questioned about it at a later date. A set of perfectly matching time-lines would lead me to suspect a conspiracy instead of a single murderer acting alone, the latter being the case here.
You see: Only one of you has told me an outright lie..."

Inspector Beaux flipped his notepad back two pages and read from it:

"Marvin Master's statement reads as follows: "At around 8:30PM I tried looking into Steve's basement window after he did not answer the door. The light was on so I wiped the condensation from the window and looked inside but there was nothing to see."

On a cold night such as tonight there is no possible way that a layer of condensation could form on the exterior of a window, although it does seem that a layer of perspiration has formed on the exterior of Mr. Masters as I have been speaking...

Take him away boys!"

(Congratulations to all who figured it out by finding the one liar in the group. The time-lines discrepancies would not hold up in a court of law, being only subjective observations (and mostly guesses) by the suspects. But an outright lie from a suspect's very own mouth is pretty damning evidence. Why else would they lie unless they were guilty...Oh, and the "blood" in the dog-tracks was actually just the reflection from the red lights of the police cars and a red-herring...)

Sinitrena

JudasFM, I hope you don't mind when I split some hairs? I love your story and I'd like to read more stories in this world (There are two full novels, you say?). There's just this tiny detail I have a slight problem with:

QuoteIt also says I know you wouldn't hire a murderer, but it doesn't go on to say like me. It's implied in the previous sentence, but not explicitly connected.

It doesn't go on to say this, but it does right before, and I think it is explicitly connected, because of this "forget that":

QuoteMaybe now you'll get someone who's better at the job.  Like me, for example.  You

Actually, forget that; I know you wouldn't take a murderer.
As I said, a tiny detail ;), but you might want to change it for any later uses of the story.

Edit: And it says "take a murderer" in the letter but "hire a murderer" in the report. I assume that's just a typo...

All right, I'm done splitting hairs. :-*


Then there's the morse code thing: It's very clever but I would never have figured this out, not in a thousand years 8-0, especially since I don't know any morse code and I think there are more people who don't know any morse than those who do. For a fair whodunnit, that's a bit too difficult. Although, the reader had the clue, so someone who does know morse can figure it out, so I guess this story still counts as a Fair Play Whodunnit.



QuoteI'm not sure what you wanted to know about Cy...

Cy seemed a bit suspicious to me because of this line from the letter:
QuoteAlthough personally, I think that's rather mean unfair of you, 'Cy', or whatever your full name is.

That, and the fact that Cy is the only character (I think, unless I missed someone) in your story who recieved only a first name, made him a suspect for me (I think there was one other sentence but I can't find it right now, maybe I remember it wrong). That's why I considered him more of a mystery than he was probably meant to be? ??? And I also wondered if a motive for the murder could have been that Paige knew something about him and so he killed her. But there wasn't enough to back up this theory, so I didn't post it originally.

JudasFm

Splitting hairs is fine; I don't mind that at all XD Feel free to split away!

First of all, yes; there are two novels, or rather as it stands now, one and nine tenths (should finish it in the next few weeks; before seeking an agent for the first one, my editor advised me to write another novel that set the scene and explained how they all wound up alone on that ship to begin with). I might use this world again in future writing contests, if it fits ;)

The Morse code was made extremely difficult on purpose; I never expected anyone would solve it. It was meant to be more along the lines of an Easter egg than a real clue; the reader could have worked out it was Race from the other clues. It would only really be key evidence in proving that Race kidnapped Samara or that Samara was the one who wrote the note. Since the only mystery the readers had to solve was who killed Paige, it was very much something of a side quest ;) (Okay, it proves that too, but it's not necessary).

But as you say, the clues were there: the note was signed with the initials of someone whose father worked radio communications, and radio communications use Morse code, which in turn uses dots and dashes. Fiendishly difficult, but no one said the clues had to be easy ;)

Yes, the hire/take thing was a typo on my part; sorry about that :-[

You're right; Cy's surname was never revealed (and there are people on the Nemesis who aren't even prepared to swear that Cy is his real first name ;) But I digress) It is a bit of a mystery, but not a sinister one.

Mandle

Loved the reveals of the other authors!

I must say I completely missed every clue that was up for the grabbing, but I'm pleased that at least two people helped put Marvin Masters away in the Big House where he deserves to be...

Much fun was had by all!

Thanks Baron for an inovative and fun contest!

Sinitrena

QuoteBut as you say, the clues were there: the note was signed with the initials of someone whose father worked radio communications, and radio communications use Morse code, which in turn uses dots and dashes.

To be honest, I would consider morse code to be a rather old fashioned thing in a sci-fi setting, but what do I know? If they still use it in your world, they do. But even if I had known that I should look for it, I'd have looked for lenght of words or numbers of upper case and lower case letters, but certainly not dots or no dots of i/I. But as you said, not absolutely necessary to "solve" the crime, only to prove it in-story.

QuoteYou're right; Cy's surname was never revealed (and there are people on the Nemesis who aren't even prepared to swear that Cy is his real first name ;) But I digress) It is a bit of a mystery, but not a sinister one.

You're making me very, very curious here.


@Baron: All our murderers are caught. When do we do the voting?

Baron

It is voting time!

The criteria, as promised:

Best character (most believable, compelling, adorable, captivating, or mesmerizing)
Best setting (best described/developed location for the mystery)
Best word craft (stylistic marks for good word choice or turns of phrase)
Best crime (most creative!)
Best mystery (the subtle weaving of clues and colour to make the story compelling to our sense of curiosity over WHODUNNIT?!?)

One vote per category this time, please.  Votes will be tabulated Friday night and announced on Saturday.  Good luck to all entrants! 

JudasFm

Quote from: Sinitrena on Tue 09/06/2015 22:36:18
To be honest, I would consider morse code to be a rather old fashioned thing in a sci-fi setting, but what do I know? If they still use it in your world, they do.

I do see your point, but old-fashioned isn't the same thing as obsolete. The wheel was invented in the Bronze Age (earliest sample from around 3500BC) and yet we're still using it almost five thousand years later ;) Same goes for the alphabet, even if the words have changed. (Okay, I admit I don't know when that was invented, but the letters have remained mostly the same, if you ignore the old-style S that looks like an F).

In comparison, the idea of an audible code surviving six or seven hundred years doesn't seem so strange. The use of Morse code in a sci-fi setting (especially one featuring ship travel) is actually quite valid. It's easier to transmit beeps than entire words, and can be used in a variety of situations with a variety of tools. It also eliminates any kind of misunderstanding due to a person's accent or static on the line, or if you needed to transmit a distress call such as SOS in a hurry. Rather than invent a whole new system of dealing with this, I think people would stick with the familiar one; after all, if it ain't broke, don't fix it :-D
QuoteBut even if I had known that I should look for it, I'd have looked for lenght of words or numbers of upper case and lower case letters, but certainly not dots or no dots of i/I

It's a little hard to get across in type, I agree; if the handwritten version had prominent lines on the capital Is, it would have been easier. Next time I might write a note and scan it in ;) (Visual clues! Why didn't I think of using visual clues? Definitely something to bear in mind if there's another whodunnit contest!)
QuoteYou're making me very, very curious here.

Heh. Well, like I say, maybe I'll write some more stories in this world if there's the opportunity ;)

But before that, let's vote!

Best character Sinitrena, for Ben. He made me smile in places, and that's never a bad thing
Best setting Sinitrena. I got a really good sense of the place from the writing
Best word craft Mandle. The thing about the red light looking like blood in the paw marks was very compelling
Best crime Sinitrena, for linking two crimes together
Best mystery Sinitrena. I had to really work to solve this one, and even then I still had a couple of 'how did I miss THAT' moment (namely the keys thing :-D)

kconan


Best Character: I'll go with JudasFm's Cy.
Best Setting: JudasFm's huge spaceship.
Best Word Craft: Sinitrena.
Best Crime: Mandle.
Best Mystery: Mandle

Sinitrena

Best character JudasFM with Cy - He just intrigues me.
Best setting JudasFM - A spaceship as big as a city? Interesting.
Best word craft JudasFM - For the morse code. It must have been incrediable difficult to compose a letter that actually contains the message.
Best crime JudasFM - The abduction is a clever and unexpected addition to the murder.
Best mystery Mandle - That one was difficult, because the two stories are at opposide ends of the possible spectrum for a whodunnit. On the one hand, there's JudasFm's story with lots of red herrings, characters that don't matter for the mystery, clues that are nearly impossible to figure out, etc. On the other hand, Mandle's story is a whodunnit stripped to its bones: only the necessary characters (or nearly), nearly no discriptions that don't matter and add to the atmosphere instead (exception: the red footprints in the snow), a mystery that is relatively easy to solve (you still have to think about it, but it's unlikely to reach a wrong conclusion). In the end, I think as a mystery I just prefer stories I manage to figure out.

Baron

Well, that's the deadline.  I was hoping for more votes, but.... :P.  Actually, I was hoping for more entries as well.  Hence:

Baron's Proposed Constitutional Amendment to the Unwritten Customs of the Fortnightly Writing Competition

I squirmed, painfully, on the sidelines all competition, to the point that I really regretted being the one to propose this topic, since as contest administrator it precluded me from participating.  But then I got to thinking: why couldn't the contest administrator also participate?  The major hurdle is people proposing topics that they already have great ideas for, but that could just be an added challenge to unseat the current champion.  Or, we could invent some sort of mechanism whereby the administrator asks the field for a broad story outline if they want to participate (character type & setting, for example) and then has to write a story based on that.  Any way it works, the advantages of involving the contest administrator outweigh the disadvantages.  It would mean, on average, 20-30% increase in contributions and votes, thus augmenting the excitement of the competition.  Plus we'd get to write more, which is the whole point of the competition in the first place.  A disadvantage would be that we no longer have an impartial tie-breaker and rule clarifier, but we've had ties before without them being "broken" and everything just carried on as usual, and we've also had some pretty off-base entries that were still allowed anyway.  I think if we all agree that a tie with the administrator results in a victory for the other party, and that any unpublished entry that remotely suits the topic is allowable, then we can strengthen the institution of the FWC with no real negative repercussions.  Who's with me?

Results

I guess this is what you're really after.... (roll)  So, according to the esteemed electorate, our winners are as follows:

.  With 6 votes our grand winner is JudasFm!  I liked the sci-fi setting and the interactions of the bridge crew, but I agree that the Morse-code note was a little complex to be fair -the idea of a visual note with more obvious i/I's might remedy that.  I also think there was a fatal flaw in the crime: eventually someone would discover Samara King's body, which would result in more evidence pointing at Race.  Unless he kidnapped a third person to write a note to deflect blame again, but then he'd have to silence the third person.... and so on.  But on the positive side I really liked the idea of a secret code in a note mystery, and the fictional politics behind the scenes in your world were quite compelling.

.  With 5 votes Sinitrena was nipping at JudasFm's heels, and thus wins the silver trophy.  I really liked the complex relationships between the protagonists that you were able to paint in such a short period of time, and I think yours would have been my choice for best crime.  Extra special mention for the Inspector Coultry character: I love how he treats his "friend" Ben.  ;-D  If there was a downside to your piece it was a lack of thorough examination of the crime scene discussing the clues, but given the constraints of the word count I see why that would have been difficult to fit in.

.  That leaves Mandle in third. ;)

And so - at long last - I turn the competition over to a new administrator.  The burden of the next topic falls to JudasFm, may you bear it well.  I look forward to doing some writing next time around!  Hope to see everyone out again for the next exciting instalment of....

...The Fortnightly Writing Competition!

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