Solution
The Gruesome Affair Of The Murdered Drummer
THE EXPLANATION
The night before the murder, Nuts Razor’s band were playing a gig at the Leather Apron Inn, and while he was there he lost his little black book full of girls’ names.
Debbie Holder, the barmaid at the Leather Apron Inn and spurred lover of Nuts Razor found the book and read it.
Along with her own name she saw the name of her friend Elsie Parkinson.
Debbie told Elsie who was present at the gig, about what she had found.
Elsie had also been having a fling with Nuts Razor and was pregnant with his child. She had recently told him about it and he had vowed to change his ways and settle down with her.
He bought her a pendant intended to protect the unborn child but on finding out about the extent of his womanizing she angrily threw it away.
Elsie’s mother the vicar was unaware of her pregnancy and relationship with Nuts so the two lovers always wrote to each other in code in case the notes were discovered.
Elsie wrote a note to Nuts telling him what she had done with the pendant.
The next night, after his band practice Nuts sent a text message to Elsie in code asking her to meet him in park.
Still furious with rage, Elsie decided not to go to work at the Thai Castle restaurant and instead she picked up a fire poker from home and went to the park to meet Nuts.
Nuts also accidentally sent the text message to Jane Porter, one of his other lovers.
Whilst Nuts and Elsie were in the park, Elsie flew into a mad temper and hit Nuts on the back of the head with the fire poker.
When Nuts failed to recover consciousness, she panicked and fled the scene.
On her way home she saw a man wearing a black and yellow scarf.
When the crime was discovered she decided to tell police about the man she had seen in order to try and deflect suspicion from herself.
Please allow a few minutes for the file to buffer.
Start at the park, the place where the body was found.
Examine the picture and zoom in to find the piece of paper on the ground.
It says medical ID: 1818
Go to the doctors web site and enter the ID to view Nuts Razor's medical records.
He caught a cold from practicing in a cold warehouse.
Click the link from the warehouse to visit the rehearsal room myspace page and follow the link to the Head Splittaz myspace page.
You see that Nuts was a member of the Fox Inn football team.
The picture of the football team shows that they play in the colours yellow and black, the colour of the scarf worn by the mystery figure seen in the park.
Go to the Fox Inn and find the landlord Bill Chaplin’s facebook page.
Follow the link to the football team's page and see the discussion in which Jake Samson admits that he was the figure seen leaving the park wearing his team scarf.
Go to the police station and enter the name ‘jakesamson’
You are told that although he was the figure seen, he couldn't have possibly committed the crime due to the injury on the murder victims head being inconsistent with him being left handed.
You are given a piece of paper found in Nuts Razors possession on the night of his death. It is a note written in letter substitution code.
Every letter represents a different letter in the alphabet.
Once the code is solved it reads….
“Go away and leave me alone. I don’t want your stupid present. I threw it into a tree near the Leather Apron. If you want it back you'll have to click it and hold for five seconds.”
Go to the tree outside The Leather Apron Inn, click it and hold for 5 seconds.
Find a necklace with a serial number on the back.
Note: There is an identical necklace in the museum where it explains that the symbol is meant to protect a child.
Go to the market place website where you see that there is a stall selling pendants.
Enter the serial number on the pendant to see the market traders contact details.
Email Catherine Harrison who sells pendants.
She responds with a message saying that Nuts bought the pendant from her the day he died. She also goes on to say that he had lost his little black book on the 30th of August.
Note: The Head Splittaz played at the Leather Apron Inn on the 30th of August.
Go to The Leather Apron Inn website. Fill in the lost property form with the words ‘littleblackbook’ and get access to it.
The black book contains the name of three girls. Elsie Parkinson, vicar's daughter, Debbie holder the Leather Apron Inn barmaid and Jane Porter who works at the gym.
Go to the gym and enter the phone number next to Jane Porter's name to speak to her.
Note: Find the Bloodborough dialing code by looking at the bank web site.
She has a cast iron alibi and says that some of Nuts Razor's other girlfriends are very jealous.
She forwards you a text from Nuts that she says must have been sent to her by mistake.
Using the substitution code again the text reads…
"Don’t be so jealous E
Meet me in the park at ten"
Go to the college and complete the quiz about the town in order to get the password for the town hall records.
Go to the town hall, enter the password and access the records.
See that Elsie Parkinson is the waitress at the Thai Castle restaurant.
Go to the restaurant and see that there is a notice apologising for the bad service on the 31st of August because the waitress didn’t turn up for work.
Suspicion falls on Elsie Parkinson.
Go to the vicarage (Elsie's home) and follow the link to the the vicars twitter page.
She has tweeted that
on the 31st of August she had a visit from Mildred Harrison, the baker.
Follow the link from the bakers to Mildred Harrison's Flickr page and see the picture she posted of the vicarage fireplace.
Note that there is no fire poker on the stand, although on the older picture she took of the fire place the poker is there.
If you found Fluffball the missing cat you could visit Hilda Rogers the fortune teller who helped you by eliminating suspects from your enquiries.
This is how it was done...
On accessing the town hall records note that Peter Fletcher has two jobs. He is a market trader and a cat protection officer.
Access the contact details on the market web site by using the pendant serial number.
Email Peter Fletcher and he responded with a message saying that he had seen a cat in a tree near Bloodborough Tower. He says that you need to click the tree and hold it.
On doing so you find Fluffball the cat who is wearing a collar with a web address written on it. Type in the web address and hey presto, you meet the fortune teller.
Murderer: Elsie Parkinson
Murder Weapon: Fire Poker
Motive: Jealousy
The winner selected at random from all of the correct answers is:
David Redman, Dorset
Well done to all of you who got it right.
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