DOSSIER 01
CASE FILE No.906 STATUS: OPEN EYES ONLY
COLD CASE · PRACTICE
THE CUT BELL-ROPE
A witness swore the bell woke him at ten. The rope was cut at dusk. No bell rang.
A small private chapel on the grounds of an old estate, lit by a row of guttering altar candles. The bell-rope hung in the porch, and that evening someone had cut it through near the top, so the bell sat dumb in its tower while the rain came down on the slates.
Decode each statement, then name the one liar. The cipher is the same for all five.
INCIDENT REPORT. Hester Vane was found before dawn at the foot of the altar steps, struck down with the heavy brass cross. The bell-rope in the porch had been cut through before dusk and hung useless; the bell could not have sounded that night by any hand. Five of the estate's people had been awake in the small hours. Each gave an account of the dark. One of them swears to a sound the cut rope could never have made.
Small numbers count each symbol's appearances.
STATEMENT No.01 ENCRYPTED
— H.W.— Hugh Wren
STATEMENT No.02 ENCRYPTED
— A.S.— Agnes Stagg
STATEMENT No.03 ENCRYPTED
— C.P.— Cecil Pratt
STATEMENT No.04 ENCRYPTED
— M.B.— Mabel Blunt
STATEMENT No.05 ENCRYPTED
— F.C.— Frank Cole
A revealed letter files the case as assisted.
The Bureau notes every assist.
Reveal a letter?
A pulled lead files the case as assisted.
LEAD No.1
THE SETTLED FACT
Who's lying?
Four stories hold. One won't. Name the liar.
One verdict. The case locks for the day.
You file one verdict.
The Bureau does not reopen the case. Sign off against —?
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