345 lines
16 KiB
Plaintext
345 lines
16 KiB
Plaintext
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.ch Cast of Characters
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(Last revised: 1983 Jan.` 20)
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Freeman Linder, the victim
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Monica Linder, his daughter
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Hui Phong, the butler/housekeeper
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Mr.` Stiles, the accused
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Sgt.` Duffy, your assistant
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.comment Optional:/Mrs.` Linder, Linder's wife/Mrs.` Foobar, Stiles' companion (and alibi?)/Dr.` Cheswick, Linder's physician
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.ch Plot Summary
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The time is February, 1938.
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Freeman Linder, a middle-aged Great White Hunter type, runs an
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Asian-American import-export business out of his house in Cabeza Plana,
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near Los Angeles. He discovered about a year ago that his wife had taken
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a lover, Ralph Stiles, an "effete snob" type. This discovery made
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their relationship deteriorate, with growing bitterness and belligerence,
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until Mrs Linder recently took her own life with a gun.
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Linder plans to take revenge on
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Stiles by framing him for attemped murder. To this end, he enlists the
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services of his Asian butler, Phong, and his daughter, Monica.
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The plot is this: Linder has simultaneously sent two messages,
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a telegram to you (the inspector) and a phone call to Stiles.
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Your telegram (included in the
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game package) tells of a life-and-death emergency in which he believes
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his life is endangered; actually he wants you to witness the alleged crime
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and then arrest Stiles. In the phone call
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he says that he needs to speak with Stiles on an urgent matter,
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and could Stiles come discreetly to the house,
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going through the back yard directly to Linder's office door.
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Inside Linder's office, which faces out onto the yard, an elaborate set-up
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is planned. In a grandfather clock next to the door and window, behind your
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back as you sit, a gun is positioned aiming through
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the keyhole toward Linder, who will be sitting behind
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his desk on the opposite side
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of the room. The gun is to be triggered by Linder by means of the butler's
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call button, hidden under the edge of his desk. Also triggered by the
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button is the detonation of a some explosive (gunpowder?) attached
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to the edge of the
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window pane adjacent to the clock. The net effect will be to simulate
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a shot fired through the window at Linder.
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Two guns are purchased for this purpose. One, as mentioned before, is
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hidden in the grandfather clock. The other, which is fired in secret
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beforehand, is left lying on the
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ground (behind an open gate, which is rigged to close and lock after
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anyone passes through it), where you might find it later without much
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difficulty. Linder is a gun collector, and he has no trouble obtaining
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two identical small handguns that are unregistered and untraceable.
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On the night in question, you arrive at the house at, say, 8:00 p.m. and have
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a chance to speak to Linder and other members of the household.
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I picture Linder and Monica talking in the living room and Phong
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cleaning up after their dinner. Phong lets you in and escorts you
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to the living room. After a while,
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Linder brings
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you into his office and, of
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course, shows you some incriminating evidence about Stiles
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(but not revealing everything
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about the circumstances surrounding it), and explains why he
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suspects that his life is endangered. During this time, Monica leaves
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to go see a movie with a friend. When Stiles's car appears,
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Phong rings the doorbell as a signal and sneaks into the house.
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Linder keeps an eye on the door/window and, when Stiles
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appears a short while later,
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causes the shot to be fired. Stiles panics and flees via the back of the
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yard (not the locked gate) but is brought back inside shortly
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by a police officer who followed you to Linder's house to offer help.
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This officer, Sgt. Duffy (an older relative of the Duffy in
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"Deadline"), immediately volunteers his services as
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your assistant. (Duffy is the source of hints, if any, for the
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player.) You both decide to investigate the incident
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together before calling in the police lab
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people.
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Duffy handcuffs Stiles and detains him in the living room.
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Monica returns home at 11:00 and appears to retire at 1:00, say.
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(Here's an opportunity for a disappointing ending: while you and
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Linder are chatting in his office, there's a certain small chance that
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he receives a telephone call
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with some kind of disastrous financial news. It's so bad, in fact, that he
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suffers a seizure of some kind and, within a couple of your moves,
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sets off the hidden gun
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prematurely. If you get up from the chair to assist him, you
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could get shot in the back! Otherwise, the shot could go off before
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Stiles arrives at the window, making you a suspect in the
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shooting!)
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The plot has thickened, however, because Monica Linder decided that she would
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take
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this opportunity to murder her father. Her mother and she were
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very close.
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Mr Linder was often away on business during Monica's childhood, and
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Mrs Linder imbued her daughter with a love/hatred for him,
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describing him in terms of abandonment. Monica is a
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talented mechanical engineer and helped her father construct the
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remote-controlled gun set-up, but she also blames him for her mother's
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death and
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has lost all love for him. Further,
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he has tried several times lately to seduce her.
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(Phong may have something to say in passing
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in this regard.) She therefore aims the gun so that her
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father will be killed when it is fired. Her idea is to convict Stiles of
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the murder and go free herself.
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(When the fatal shot goes off, she should be away from all
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buttons, which is the reason for going to a movie.)
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Naturally, Phong has no idea of Monica's plan and will assume that the death
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was accidental. He will not 'spill the beans' on Linder's plan, however,
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since he also has reason
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to want Stiles removed from the scene. There are a number of
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pieces of evidence that contradict the simple explanation for the crime.
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These will be listed below. When you have evidence that Stiles didn't
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commit the crime (for example, finding the outside gun and
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discovering Phong's trail of foot prints leads to it but Stiles's doesn't),
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Phong will come forward and admit to having helped in the
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arrangement of the mechanical devices, but having no idea that they were to be
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used in this manner (Linder told him that they were trying to frighten
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Stiles). Monica will, as a last resort, attempt to convince you that her
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father was dying of something or other and had planned his own death. There
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will be evidence, however, that Monica is the only one who could have
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twisted Linder's plan into murder: namely, the key to the clock is hidden
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on her person, so she had final control of the gun's aim.
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Once the outside gun is found, it might be possible to even convict Stiles of
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the murder of Linder. This ending is obviously sub-optimal, as an innocent
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person is convicted. Another possibility is to find the wires, etc. and
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decide that Linder planned his own death. Nobody would be arrested in this
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scenario. One might also arrest
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Monica with varying amounts of evidence, leading to a number of sub-optimal
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results and the optimal one, in which Monica's plan is totally revealed.
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.comment (Is Linder's plot a good frame? Does his egotism make him think police are stupid?)
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.ch Evidence/Viewpoints
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Key: a sentence beginning with "L:" (Linder), "M:" (Monica), "P:"
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(Phong), or "S:" (Stiles) tells what the character would say or
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feel
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about the item or person.
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.hl 1 Pistols
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It should be possible to find the second gun on the grounds and to determine
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that it has been recently fired but wiped clean of finger prints.
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It should, with more difficulty, be possible to
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gain access to the insides of the grandfather clock and find the murder weapon
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itself. Both should be untraceable as to origin or ownership
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without the sales receipts.
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.br
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S: could show phobia about guns, due to his "liberal" outlook.
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.hl 1 Gun Receipts
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The guns should have been purchased by Monica, with the knowledge of Phong.
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The receipts should be findable, perhaps hidden on the grounds or in the
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trash. It should be clear that there are two different receipts, not
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one, with a false name. Clearly, depending on what you know, Monica and
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Phong will give a variety of bewildering statements regarding the guns.
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.hl 1 Remote control
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It should be possible to detect a button on some
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part of the desk. Pushing the button would have no effect after the murder
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was committed. I don't know what should happen if you push it before the
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crime occurs. Perhaps it isn't activated until it is supposed to happen.
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.br
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M: needs to de-activate the button after it's no longer needed.
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.br
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P: admits knowledge of set-up but thought purpose was to frighten Stiles.
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.comment .hl 1 Chair/The chair where Linder sits is elaborately decorated so that the button is hard to notice./.br/L: "I found that in an obscure but wealthy estate in Southeast Asia during the war and brought it home as booty. Sitting in it makes you feel like an 'Oriental potentate'."
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.hl 1 Window Pane/Carpet
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It is possible to find fragments of the explosive,
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perhaps, or an unusual spray of glass (perhaps glass in both directions from
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the window - inside and out), indicating that the cause of the explosion was
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not a projectile coming from outside. (What happens to the detonating wires
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when the window shatters as though a bullet passed through it? They should
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be detectable.)
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.hl 1 Wall/Bullet Hole
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A bullet hole, perhaps from a dry run, should be findable in the wall or
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pillow across
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from the clock. It should be difficult to find, as it had been covered over
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to mask its identity. Or, perhaps the keyhole on the clock should have some
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powder on it after the shot.
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.hl 1 Footprints
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This is where an "act of God" spoils the otherwise foolproof plan.
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It turns out that an unexpected rainfall has made the back yard
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muddy enough so that trails of foot prints are left by both
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Phong and Stiles. Phong's trail connects the outside gun
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and the house without approaching the street. Stiles's
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trail goes from street to office door and back without
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approaching the gun. If you are careful not to confuse the
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trails with your own foot prints, you can discover this
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fact. Or you can inspect Phong's shoes, perhaps.
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.hl 1 Clock
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Examination should provide a good description of the clock itself, including
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the keyhole and mechanism. After the shot, the keyhole should have some
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powder marks until Phong or Monica cleans it off.
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The clock is the only decorative item in the office that is not
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Asian in origin. I picture a full-blown seven-foot clock, run by
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weights and regulated by a pendulum, whose dial shows day, date,
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and phase of moon besides the time.
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.br
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L: "I've always admired
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elaborate machines, and that's the finest example I could hope to
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own."
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.hl 1 Clock Key
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Monica must hide the key after the set-up is complete, so
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that Linder can't discover her treachery. Then, after the
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inside gun shot, she must try
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to use the key to remove the inside gun from the clock
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without being discovered. She should hide it on her
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person as incriminating evidence.
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.comment .hl 1 Blackmail Note / There should be at least one blackmail note from Stiles to Linder, presumably one which he shows you. Maybe a threatening note, forged by Linder, could also be found.
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.hl 1 Workshop
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In the house should be a workshop, with gear capable
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of generating the remote-control device used in the murder.
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You could be able to find a spool of wire identical to that found at
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the broken window.
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.hl 1 Medical Report
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It's possible that Monica, considering the possibility of the method of
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Linder's death being discovered, has generated a false medical report
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indicating that her father was close to death, this as a reason for her
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father's choosing to plan his death rather than an attempt on his life.
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Monica's explanation and the medical report should be convincing.
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(Ironic twist: an autopsy on Linder's body could show actual evidence
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of fatal disease, unknown to Monica, so that she
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could have just waited rather than
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resorting to murder.)
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.hl 1 Broom
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In an easier version, a broom in the corner of the office before the
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gunshot occurs would give a hint about anticipated or previous broken glass.
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.comment .hl 1 First Gunshot/L: "I imagine that was a car backfiring." (But he must hear it for his plan to work, so you also hear it distinctly and thus suspect this explanation.)/.br/M: "backfire", but after Linder's death "No doubt Stiles tested his gun to be sure it worked." (But outside gun has not been fired twice.)/.br/P: "backfire", but his finger prints are on it if he's not careful.
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.comment .hl 1 Second Gunshot/P: thinks Linder's death was accidental./.br/S: flees scene but is captured by Duffy.
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.ch Game Package
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This is a tough one for this case, since the crime isn't committed until you
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have arrived on the scene.
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.hl 1 Telegram
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The telegram asking you to come to the Linder house. It should be
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appropriately melodramatic. For example:
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.s
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LK 9893B AL;K3O9U
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.br
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1938 FEB 18 233PM
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.br
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=CHIEF DETECTIVE, HOMICIDE DIV, POLICE DEPT, CABEZA PLANA, CALIF
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.br
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URGENTLY REQUEST YOUR ASSISTANCE.
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BELIEVE STILES ENDANGERS MY LIFE. PLEASE COME TO 4986 LYMAN DRIVE AT EIGHT
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THIS
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EVENING. -FREEMAN LINDER.
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.hl 1 Scrapbook
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Perhaps a scrapbook about Mr. Linder, which you have for some reason.
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Maybe related to another case. Or a newspaper story about some
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military/diplomatic award or business venture of his.
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Example:
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FREEMAN LINDER RECEIVES AWARD
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Freeman Linder, president and chairman of Pacific Trade Associates
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Inc., received an award as "Goodwill Ambassador of the Year" from the
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Valley Asian-American Friendship Club at its dinner meeting
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Thursday night. Mr.` Linder was honored "for his long and
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energetic service in the cause of peace and friendship between
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the peoples of Asia and America."
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In receiving the award Mr.` Linder gave a talk about his career
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and the changes he has seen in Asian-American relations. After
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quitting an engineering major in college to serve in the Marines in 1898,
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he was
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stationed in Shanghai during the "Boxer Rebellion" of 1900.
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When his term of service ended, he remained in Asia, travelling in China and
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Japan, and supporting himself as a free-lance engineering consultant,
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much like former President Hoover.
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In 1910 he returned to the States, married, and tried to settle
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down in a job with an engineering company. However, he found his
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opportunities for advancement limited by the lack of a formal degree,
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so he signed on as a civilian engineer for the Japanese military
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during the Great War.
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After the Armistice, he
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founded Pacific Trade Associates, an
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export-import agency with its first offices in Tokyo and Los
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Angeles. His business grew rapidly with the general increase in
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trans-Pacific trade, and eventually it opened additional offices
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in Hong Kong and Singapore. He acquired a cosmopolitan
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knowledge of Asian cultures through his business contacts, and
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his talk included amusing anecdotes of culture shock on the part
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of both himself and others.
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(continued on page 69)
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.hl 1 Stiles Dossier
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You might, before coming to Linder's house, have picked up the police
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folder on Stiles, which might, for example, indicate that he has come between
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husbands and wives in the past, but has never been a party to violent crime.
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It should show evidence of instability, such as arrests on
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charges of petty theft, drug possession, drunk and disorderly,
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etc.
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.hl 1 Biographies
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(from a society type page) of the various members of the
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family, to provide the proper background (like the interviews in Deadline).
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This could easily be a news story about Mrs Linder's death.
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For example:
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VIRGINIA (CLAYTON) LINDER, 49
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Mrs.` Virginia F.` Linder (nee Clayton), 49, of 4986 Lyman Drive,
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Cabeza Plana, died Tuesday at Valley General Hospital of a gunshot
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wound. Police are investigating the circumstances of the shooting,
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but they have made no arrests. Mrs.` Linder is survived by her
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husband Freeman, president of Pacific Trade Associates, and her
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daughter Monica, a mechanical engineer employed by North American Aviation.
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A private memorial service will be held next Tuesday.
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The family requests that donations in lieu of flowers be made
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to ...
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(continued on page 105)
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.hl 1 Copy of Mrs Linder's Suicide Note?
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.hl 1 The usuals
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Casebook, reference card, warranty card, ZUG card, dossier, and wrap
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card.
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