Ken Weber - Five-minute Mysteries 2: 40 More Cases of Murder and Mayhem for You to Solve

Solutions

1 Safety Inspection

How does the WSB inspector know this?

When the WSB inspector sat in her car observing the construction site particularly the two-by-four safety rail Sully had allegedly put up around the third-floor ledge she noted that the nail heads used to install the rail were gleaming back at her in the sunlight. If the railing had been put up four weeks before, and was untouched (except by rain) because of the strike, even galvanized nail heads would not be gleaming by this time. They would be rusted or at least oxidized. The inspector quite rightly suspects that this is a very recent installation, probably one that took place after Sullys death.

2 The Best-laid Plans ...

What was Linc Dennebars one big mistake?

Linc wore gloves throughout the affair so he wouldnt leave fingerprints. That means, however, that his prints are not on Marys telephone, which he used to report the crime.

3 Recovery at Dusk

Stan Livy has become aware that something is not as it should be, and therefore calls off the operation. What is the hitch he discovers?

The new member of the team had provided accurate information so far. When she described the security system, she said there were motion-response cameras on top of the wall. Stan suspects a possible trap, or at least a hitch, because, if the cameras respond to motion, the one above the gate where he is posted should have followed the old man on the pony. Instead, it is pointing across the valley. Stan must wonder what else is not as it should be.

4 Closing In on the Hacker

Why does Tara Kiniski believe this is not the hacker the ICS team must catch?

Tara is aware that hackers spend ten to twelve hours a day or more at keyboards, seven days a week. With that kind of activity, it does not take very long for calluses to form on the fingertips. A true hacker, therefore, will not yield a set of perfect fingerprints. (Except for the thumbs, which are not used for keyboarding; for that reason both hackers and civilians produce clear thumbprints.)

5 A Safe Shelter?

Tyl has decided there is no one in the mill. What has led him to this conclusion?

Tyl noted that pigeons had made a home in the ruined mill. If the problem of starvation is bad enough for people to be eating rats, its a certainty that anyone occupying the ruined mill will have caught and eaten the pigeons.

6 Mule Train

Major Morton knows there is something that would certainly have alerted the trooper to the passing of the mule train had he been alert and at his post. What is that?

Any herd of animals fairly close together in warm conditions, especially if they are and have been active, will emit a level of odor that is impossible to miss. Twenty to twenty-five working mules, in summer warmth, in the relative confinement of a ravine would certainly smell, and, since there was only a bit of wind according to Hampton, the odor would not have been carried away. Trooper Hampton is either a heavy sleeper or, as Major Morton suspects, he wandered away from his post or took a bribe to let the train go through.

7 Why Granny Doesnt Retire

Why is Alice convinced that Torrey Mackilroy has talked to Pauline Ortona recently?

Torrey and Pauline were very close friends in high school, close enough to warrant quite an amount of comment in the yearbook biographies. Alice is struck by the fact that despite such an intense friendship, Torrey is not the least bit curious when approached by a private investigator. She doesnt ask what has gone wrong, why Polly is missing, how she is, what shed done, etc. all natural questions one might expect. The only reason for that, Alice surmises, is that Torrey already knows the answers.

8 Transcript: Crown vs. Jergens

What is the error in Kasters testimony to which the judge refers?

No matter what the county, or even the hemisphere, when a full moon first appears over the horizon, it never does so in the west. Kaster may think he saw the tractor silhouetted against the moon, but before the ten oclock news on an August night it could not have happened that way if his porch is on the west side of his house.

9 Odd Billy and the Backpack

What is the flaw in Billys explanation of how he found the backpack?

Billy said he smelled smoke yesterday when he was on the logging road, went to investigate the campsite a couple of hundred yards away, and found the backpack. But there is no way he would have been able to smell smoke from the road that day.

Since the morning sun was in Sharnells face when they were in the car, she was driving east. At Billys instruction, she turned right (south) and drove down the straight logging road for about three minutes. Billy pointed out her side window (to the east) and told her it was at this point that he had smelled smoke.

The weather person on the radio said that the days weather would be a repeat of the previous days, with a stiff breeze from the west-southwest. Such a breeze would blow the smell of smoke away from the logging road, not toward it. From two hundred yards away, Billy could not have smelled a smoldering campfire.

10 The Identikit Decision

What evidence suggests to Wally that the moustache was a fake?

The crime scene investigator describes the liquor bottle as having a trace of some kind of adhesive around the rim. It is not only possible but likely that it came from a moustache that was glued on.

11 Waiting for Sahdeen

What did the van driver do that was so stupid?

The gray Ford Windstar turned the wrong way onto a one-way street. A terrorist who is trying to keep a low profile, who is being looked for, and who knows the city well would not make such a mistake.

Max is behind the wheel and has pulled in his elbow because a jogger on the sidewalk bumped it. Harry is watching cyclists and cars in the side mirror from the passenger seat. Therefore, the van is parked on the left side of the street. Since a stakeout team would not draw attention to itself by parking illegally, the street must be a one-way. When the Windstar exited Old Church Towers (which they could see through the windshield), it turned toward them, because Harry told Max to get the licence plate number as it came close. The Windstar was going the wrong way, something sure to attract attention.

12 Just a Dead Battery

What leads Lily diSantos to the idea that the diplomatic issue is probably a distraction?

The dog walker found the note and jewelers case outside in the alley behind the Eckmans street at first light this morning. But rain had fallen after the robbery, for the patrol car returning from the site had its windshield wipers on. The note would not have been pristine and creamy smooth if raindrops had fallen on it. Someone is attempting to make it appear that the robbery has political motives, thereby adding a distraction to the investigation.

13 An Excerpt from Scene Three

Which one is a prime suspect, and on what basis does Curtis make that claim?

All three suspects would have knowledge of the balcony off the bedroom, and can be expected to have sufficient knowledge of the ravine to negotiate it in the dark and it is very dark: no moon, no stars, no streetlight. But only the son, Roly, would know on which side of the bed Joe Beingessner sleeps. Since the shooting is premeditated, only Roly would know where to place the shots without any light to guide him.

14 The New Deputy Takes a Wrong Step

How does Tim know the electrified fence system is not working properly?

Tim noted that grass and weeds have grown up under the electrified fence, high enough to hide it in some places. He does not need to have rural experience to know that this could ground the charge. The transformer may indeed be sending out a jolt every three seconds, but grass that touches the wire, especially wet grass from the shower last night, will simply conduct the jolt into the ground, rendering the fence ineffective. Any animal will yield to the temptation of better, or different, food on the other side of a low wire, cows being a notorious example. (What Tim may or may not know, but could soon find out from his rural colleagues, is that cows have deeply rooted follow-the-leader behavior. Once one goes through a failed fence, others will follow quickly.)