(By Hy Conrad)
Sherman loved Halloween. It gave him a chance to dress up as Sherlock Holmes and still seem normal. The pudgy detective was in his usual costume, escorting a squadron of children down Elm Street, when he noticed a crowd gathering in front of old Miss Cleghorn's house. "She must be up to her usual," chortled Sherman. "Putting on some horrific mask and scaring the kids at the door." Miss Cleghorn was indeed scaring the kids but not intentionally. Inside the open door, Sherman could see her frail body lying in the entry hall, wearing a monster mask, her head surrounded by blood. A plastic bowl lay nearby, its contents of wrapped candy strewn everywhere.
Seargent Wilson sood beside the body. He glanced over at the man with the calabash pipe and deerstalker cap. "Is that a costume, Holmes? With you it's hard to tell."
"What happened, my respeactable partner in crime?"
"It's an accident. It took us a while to reconstruct the what happened." Wilson pointed up to where a strand of large pearls lay centered at the top of the stairs."
Two cars pulled up at hte curb, one behind the other. Sherman recognized Miss Cleghorn's niece and nephew, Emma and Bobby, as they got out of the cars and approached the front door, both dressed for a night out and seemingly unaware of tragedy.
"Aunt Rita," Bobby gasped.
"Your aunt had an accident," Seargent Wilson told them. "She's dead. The kids had been coming up to the door for half an hour or so and getting no answer, One of them finally looked through the window and saw her."
Bobby noticed the spilled candy and the mask. "What's she doing wearing a mask?"
"She was obviously doing her Halloween thing," Emma said.
"She promised she wouldn't this year. We were taking her out to dinner."
"Well, obviously she changed her mind. " Emma said, shaking her head. "I don't know haw many times I told her not to wear a mask on the stairs."
"When did you last see your aunt?" asked Sherman.
Bobby stared at the rather overage trick-or-treater. "Uh, I dropped by this morning. My daughter left her skateboard here. Aunt Rita made me coffee and we chatted."
Sergeant Wilson grabbed Sherman by the collar and dragged him aside. "Don't try to make this a murder. The neighbors say there were no visitors since this morning."
"Someone could have driven up the back alley and come in that way," argued Sherman. "Believe me, friend, this was murder."
WHY COULDN'T IT HAVE BEEN ACCIDENTAL?
WHOM DOES SHERMAN SUSPECT AND WHY?
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4 comments:
Man, I can't figure it out and it's KILLING me! The only thing I can deduce is that it must have been a robbery because the pearls were lying at the TOP of the stairs, and if she'd slipped on them, they would have been at the bottom of the stairs. Plus, she probably wouldn't wear pearls with a Halloween mask. Two statements that I think have something to do with it (although, I can't figure out how) are "I don't know how many times I've told her not to wear a mask on the stairs" and "My daughter left her skateboard here". For some reason, those lines seem fishy...
You are so very close. You are right about the pearls, if she slipped they would probably not be neatly at the top of the stairs. (But it wasn't a burglary.) And you are right about one of the statements being a clue to Sherman (which leads him to know that it was a murder).
So...which statement tipped him off and why?
Who does he think did it?
Although it's possible that one could fall down the stairs and end up in a pool of blood concentrated around the head, it's not likely. It is more likely she recieved a blow to the head at the bottom of the stairs, and the string of pearls was placed at the top of the stairs to imply a burglary. Also if she fell from the top of the stairs there would be candy on the stairs as well, not just at the bottom.
I think Emma is guilty, although I don't know any motive, the quote about wearing a mask on the stairs is a little fishy if you ask me.
What do you think Sis? Am I right?
You're closer than anyone, Wees! (Some have e-mailed me their ideas.) Everyone has had brilliant guesses, but I'm going to have to give it to you because you are oh so closest.
The answer from the book gives no motive but says that Emma is guilty and that the scene was staged to look like an accident with the pearls placed atop the steps to seem like the cause. Emma had commented on the aunt "falling down the stairs" even though no one had said anything about that while she was there.
You super sleuth you!
You are now tied for third (with one point) in this here battle of the wits!
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