First, I just wanted to thank everyone who's ever answered a question or posed their own. I can't believe that there have been 1,000 questions so far and it's been a lot of fun for me. So thank you, thank you, thank you!
Now on to today's question.
The time of death had been firmly established. At 10:06 PM, all three suspects said they heard a gunshot echo through the house. The house was shared by four graduate students; one of which lay dead in his second story bedroom, a bullet in his chest.
Harry, it seemed, had been a ladies man. He had even bragged about seducing one of his roommates girlfriends. Unfortunately for the detectives, they didn't know which one. They separated the three remaining housemates and interviewed each one.
"I was working on my car," Bill insisted. "I plugged an extension cord into an outlet behind the house. Then I took a work light around to the side driveway, in front of the garage. When I heard a gunshot, it took me a moment to realize it came from within the house. Then I ran inside."
The second suspect entered the room with a noticeable limp.
"I had just come home," explained Sonny. "I parked in the alley behind the house. I was walking up to the back door when I tripped hard over some cord. I fell down, then just sat there, nursing my ankle. Maybe two minutes later came the gunshot. That got me moving."
The third suspect claimed that he had just come down to the kitchen. "I was starting to scoop out a bowl of ice cream," said Glen. "Then I heard a noise out back. I looked out, but it was dark. I went back to my ice cream. A couple minutes later, I heard the shot."
The detectives circled the house. In the kitchen, they found a melted bowl of ice cream on the counter by the fridge. In the backyard, they saw an orange extension cord with a bent prong that had been ripped from an outdoor socket. Following the extension cord, they found Bill's car in front of the garage, the work light suspended over the open hood.
"It's pretty clear who's lying," the chief detective said as he went in to make the arrest.
Who did the chief detective think was lying and why?
It makes me rather self-conscious that the detective thinks "it's pretty clear who's lying." It's by no means clear to me. My inclination is to go with Bill, because I imagine that if he had really been working on the car, there should have been light enough in the back of the house for his roommate to see where he was going. Perhaps, then, the work light was not being used, other than as a pretense to say that Bill was not in the house.
ReplyDeleteIt was Bill, He wouldn't have been able to work for at least 2 minutes after Sonny tripped and pulled the cord out of the wall, but he wasn't working - he was on his way to kill the other roommate.
ReplyDeleteI agree, it was Bill. He would have noticed the light going out when Sonny tripped and pulled the cord out, but he didn't mention it because he didn't know it happened; he was in the house killing his roommate.
ReplyDeleteIt was Bill. He didn't know that Sonny tripped and put his light out, which is why
ReplyDelete(a) he didn't mention hearing the noise out back, as Glen did, when Sonny fell and
(b) he said that he didn't run inside until after he heard the gunshot. He would have been standing in the dark for 2 minutes before the gunshot, and would have left to investigate the cause.
Yes, Bill must be lying. He would have noticed the extension being pulled out if he'd been working. He probably left his car when he heard Glen come down to the kitchen, knowing that he'd have an empty path to Harry.
ReplyDeleteLooks like you fiugred it out. Bill was lying and was already on his way to killing Harry when the cord was pulled. Thus he never knew the light had gone out when Sonny tripped on the cord, pulling it from the socket.
ReplyDeletecongrats on 1000!
ReplyDeleteThanks Russell. I appreciate that.
ReplyDeleteI find it hard to believe I made it to 1,000. It's kind of surprising in some ways.
Good choice for number 1000, I figured it out too.
ReplyDelete..congrats for you!!..^^
ReplyDelete..is this the platinum year?..O.O..(i dunno..~.~)
..^^..
It's been four years and 1,000 questions.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to say the site is doing better than ever.