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        riddles >> what happened >> A Lake And Gunshot Puzzle
        
(Message started by: K Sengupta on Jun 23^rd, 2006, 7:29am)

Title: A Lake And Gunshot Puzzle
Post by K Sengupta on Jun 23^rd, 2006, 7:29am

Detective J had no sooner cast out his lure when something hit his line that almost pulled the fishing rod from his hands. Suddenly he heard "Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!"

"Sounded like gunshot" said his friend Fred Fraudstop.

Detective J felt his line go slack as his fish got away. "Yes, it did," he said, looking at the lake around him from the little cove where they were anchored deep in the lily pads. "Let's check it out".

They rounded a little projection of land that jutted out near their fishing spot. Now, they could see more of the lake. A man was standing in a boat at a dock behind a huge house. The house was surrounded by flowers and colorful shade trees. Long, wide concrete stairs led from the house down to the dock. As they came closer, they saw what looked like a body slumped over the backseat of the motorboat the man was standing in.

Detective J identified himself, and the police arrived quickly. John Joyboat said he had been out for a ride with his uncle in his motorboat. They were just coming back into the dock when a man in the dock shot his uncle. " He had a nine-millimeter automatic," Joyboat said. "He shot once from the dock. Then he took a couple of steps back to the stairs there and shot several more times before he ran away past the house."

"How do you know it was a nine-millimeter automatic?" Detective J asked him.

" I have one. I mean I had one like it. It was stolen about a month ago," Mr. Joyboat said.

Detective J walked slowly back and forth across the dock and the stairs, looking down intently.

"Arrest him officer," Detective J said. "You had better search him and the boat. You might have to call for divers."

What was Detective J talking about?

Source: Puzzle Magazine

Title: Re: A Lake And Gunshot Puzzle
Post by BNC on Jun 23^rd, 2006, 11:12am

maybe [hide]there was no clear shot from the deck to the uncle (possible Mr. Joyboat is in the way)[/hide]

Title: Re: A Lake And Gunshot Puzzle
Post by Icarus on Jun 23^rd, 2006, 3:13pm

[hideb]
J's rod was struck by a stray bullet. As he examined the scene, J realized that there was no way a bullet could have gotten around the projection separating his cove and the dock. However, from the boat itself, this was possible.[/hideb]

Title: Re: A Lake And Gunshot Puzzle
Post by Whiskey Tango Foxtrot on Jun 23^rd, 2006, 9:22pm

I would agree with BNC.
[hideb]Joyboat said that they were on the way in, meaning that the boat was pointed towards the house. For a shooter to hit a man sitting in the back seat when Joyride was standing in the way would be very difficult, especially with a 9mm. Since the man was said to be on the dock and not on the stairs, he could not have used a higher elevation to pull this off.

I would guess that Detective J believes that Joyride simply tossed his gun overboard after shooting his uncle.[/hideb]

I am curious about Icarus' solution. If [hide]Detective J's rod was hit by a bullet, then why did they only see the boat after rounding the bend?[/hide] I don't know if that is what the text meant, but it seems like that to me.

Title: Re: A Lake And Gunshot Puzzle
Post by ChunkTug on Jun 23^rd, 2006, 9:47pm

[hideb]Detective J was looking for ejected shell casings on the dock and stairs, and there weren't any.[/hideb]

Title: Re: A Lake And Gunshot Puzzle
Post by Grimbal on Jun 26^th, 2006, 5:31am

[hide]The shells could be found in the water under the boat and the automatic was found not far away, at the bottom of the water, exactly as far from the boat as an average stressed man would throw an average unloaded automatic.[/hide]

Title: Re: A Lake And Gunshot Puzzle
Post by alien on Jun 26^th, 2006, 7:15am

How about this: [hide]In order to get to the dock, the killer had to walk on recently mowed grass. So since the dock and stairs were clean, the detective gave the order to the officer.[/hide]

Title: Re: A Lake And Gunshot Puzzle
Post by Sjoerd Job Postmus on Jul 9^th, 2006, 8:26am

Well, our detective [hide]heard "Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!"[/hide]
Our "witness" [hide]tells a different story however: "Bam!" <pause (walking backwards)> Several more bangs[/hide]
So yeah, that must be it.