The Complete Roderick

‘Watch the way ya carry that camera, buddy. Lotsa cameras snatched like that, see?’

‘Thanks, offic—’

He thought of that conversation now, as he reached for his camera and came up with nothing but two ends of the strap, each neatly razored.

‘I’ve been robbed!’ he said. No one looked at him.

‘Hey I’ve been robbed!’ he said to a man in a Hawaiian shirt (matching the band of his straw hat).

‘Yeah? Tough.’ The man turned away to continue his conversation with someone else: ‘Okay so the Shah was a puppet, but I say, whose puppet? Whose puppet?’

Goun turned and bumped into someone.

‘Oh I’m sorry — hey! Professor Rogers, holy—’

‘Mistake!’ said the other, in an oddly hoarse voice. Indeed, his glittering gold hair did not look much like that of Rogers (except at the roots, where Goun was now looking), and some of his pock-marks seemed to have been filled in with putty.

‘But sure you must be, holy, hey it’s great to see you Prof—’

‘Mistake! Mistake! My name Felix Culpa!’

Goun watched, amazed, as the stranger ran off to jump into a yellow taxi. There was something like blood on the door.

Dear Dan,

The picture on the other side of this card is the post office in Newer where I won’t be mailing it. I hope you’re feeling better. Ma & Pa send their love. I’m fine.

Your pal,

Roderick

Nothing to add, so he stared out of the window as familiar places flickered past: Virgil’s Hardware, Joradsen’s Drug, Fellstus Motors, the sort of new Simple Simon Supermart, HAIR TODAY, the Legion Hall, the Idle Hour, Violetta’s shoppe (now it was to be called VI & I NOTIONS), the pool hall, the library, Buttses Dairy, Bangfield Realty, Welby Investments, the site of the proposed Bangwel Building, Newer Produce, Cliff’s junkyard, the motel and chapel, and finally the office recently vacated by Dr Smith the dentist — men were carrying in a new mechanical receptionist, other men were putting gold lettering on the windows:

LOUIE HONK-HONK’S DETECTIVE AGENCY, INC.

Stuff Found Out

NOTE ON DIE! DIE! YOUR LORDSHIP

The murderer must be Dr Coue, using the billiard cue, between 8:00 and 8:15, and dropping the clue of the hair. Reasoning is as follows:

1. If the billiard cue was not the weapon, then either Drumm embezzled or Coue was blackmailed, or both. If Drumm embezzled, then the daughter was compromised. Since she was not, Drumm did not embezzle. If Coue was blackmailed, then the butler was an addict; if the butler was an addict, then the billiard cue was the weapon. In short, if the cue was not the weapon, then the cue was the weapon. This contradiction resolves only if:

The billiard cue was the weapon.

2. Since Adam used the polo-stick, and Brett the poker, only Coue or Drumm could have used the billiard cue. (Each suspect had access to only one weapon.)

3. If Coue touched the statuette (weapon) then there was a message under it. If so, then Adam was the thief. If so, then Brett stayed in her room all evening reading. If so, then the bloody handkerchief was used to wipe the statuette. In short, if Coue touched the statuette, he also left the clue of the bloody handkerchief. But we know that Drumm left that clue, not Coue.

Therefore, Coue did not touch the statuette. Therefore he touched the only remaining weapon, the cue:

Coue alone had access to the billiard cue.

From the sentences, a table can be constructed:

SUSPECT	TIME	WEAPON	CLUE
Adam	(earliest)	polo-stick	thread
Brett	?	poker	sooty smudge
Coue	8:00–8:15	billiard cue	hair
Drumm	8:15–8:30	statuette	bloody handkerchief