wu :: forums - Print Page


    
      
        wu :: forums
        (http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~wwu/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi)
      

        riddles >> what happened >> Whodunnit? (Internal Affairs)
        
(Message started by: ThudanBlunder on Oct 5^th, 2007, 10:49pm)

Title: Whodunnit? (Internal Affairs)
Post by ThudanBlunder on Oct 5^th, 2007, 10:49pm

New York's a dirty city, and murder's a dirty crime - but someone's got to deal with it and most of the time that someone is me.

My name is Harry Schultz, and I work for the city police department. When there's a homicide in Manhatten they dial my number. A lot of the time the people who get wasted in Manhatten have it coming to them big-time. But no matter how low the low-life is that winds up in the morgue, I have to figure out who stiffed them. That's my job.

It was late - after midnight - and the rain was coming down like there was no tomorrow when I got the call. By the time I reached the scene I was wetter than a trout in the Hudson River, and about as cheerful. Krapovitz had beaten me there, which just made me madder - he knew this was a job for us and not for the Feds, but he just can't help sticking his goddamn nose into other people's business. In this case, mine.

"What are you doing here Krapovitz," I shouted, so's to be heard above the torrential rain; "ambulance chasing?" "Just doing your job for you, Schultz," he replied. "I was in the area."

"Was that before or after you heard the call on the radio?", I asked, but it went straight over Krapovitz's stupid head. "Suicide, third floor", he told me, though I don't remember asking. "Shot himself in the head - not pretty."

I pulled myself up the stairs, my clothes dragging me down, they were so wet. The building was cheap - mostly rented apartments, I guessed. The shabby stairwell was covered in spray paint graffiti - looked like it hadn't seen a paintbrush in about 30 years, though it was hard to see just how bad things were, what with the 15-watt lights that the cheap landlord had put everywhere.

There were eight bulbs in the hallway, two on the stairs going up, and another six on the first landing, though one was dead. I kept on walking, trying not to touch the walls with my shoulders, or put my hand on the stair-rail. I see some gruesome sights in my line of work, but I hate nothing more than dirt.

Panting heavily, I reached the third floor. I didn't like to admit it but maybe my boys were right. Maybe I did need to lose a few pounds. Thinking of food, my stomach rumbled. It had been at least four hours since I had grabbed the last chilli hotdog - hell, a cop just has to grab what he can, when he can. He never knows when he's next going to get the chance to eat.

Forcing all thoughts of food to the back of my mind, I pushed the door open and entered the apartment. I didn't have to ask which one it was; Krapovitz already had some goons there, my goons as it happened , from the station. "Hey!", I shouted. "How come you guys turn out so fast when Krapovitz calls?"

"A neighbour reported a gunshot - they called 911. Krapovitz was already coming down the stairs when we got here," Dorkins said. He knew I liked Krapovitz just as much as I liked dieting and going to the gym.

The apartment was number 314 and was brighter than the stairwell, and cleaner too. The corpse was male, 50 to 55 years and Caucasian. Around 5'11", I guessed. He was smartly dressed in grey flannels and a check sports jacket with black shoes. That was all I could see; he was face down on the floor.

The room looked like it had been used as an office. It had a desk, a nice one too, files, bookcases, and that kind of stuff. The stiff had a revolver in his right hand, and the right-hand side of his head - the side I could see - was a mess. The blood had run down his face and was staining the grey carpet in a crimson arc. The chair was pushed well back from the desk, at an angle.

"Any note?", I asked Dorkins. He shook his head. "Keep looking - there'll be one somewhere." There always was. I have seen a hundred suicides, and there was always some kind of note.

I stood between the body and the desk, where in my thinking he would have sat, because I guessed he would have written a last farewell from there. I don't know why, but I pressed the Play button on an old Dictaphone that lay on top of the desk. I'd seen the model before; I used to have one just like it. We found the good-bye we we were looking for straight away.

"I just can't stand it - I can't go on any longer", I heard a frightened voice say, followed by a single shot and the sound of someone slumping to the floor.

I studied the desk. There was a blotter in the centre of the desk, but I couldn't make out any indentations from anything he had written resting on it. he'd been a tidy man, though; everything was neatly laid out - papers in a tray top right, telephone to the right of the blotter, the old Dictaphone below it, paper clips and rubber bands in a little pot next to that, old-fashioned ink pen and ink pot just to the left of the blotter, and a telephone note pad, with a pencil still in the holder, just to the left of that. Nothing looked like it had been disturbed or knocked about, no reason to suspect a struggle of any sort had taken place here.

There are times when I wish I'd been a banker, or a gambler, or a shoe-shine boy - anything other than a cop. This was one of them. I studied the lights in the room, two lamps on the desk, both on, and a central rose hanging from the ceiling, turned off. I flicked the switch on the wall momentarily, on and off again, and the light flickered.

"Dust the whole place, top to bottom for prints," I told Dorkins. "It's homicide."
"Oh, and pull Krapovitz's prints from the records," I added as an afterthought.

a) Why does Schultz suspect Krapovitz?
b) Why was Schultz so sure it was murder and not suicide?

Title: Re: Whodunnit? (Internal Affairs)
Post by mikedagr8 on Oct 6^th, 2007, 1:20am

A)[hide] I suspect that when people are trying to commit suicide, they try to not be disturbed, so the door would be closed. If Krapovitz was already leaving, it implies that the door was open, so he was inside when the shots occured, and he was there before anyone else was.[/hide]

B)[hide] When listening to the tape, he heard someone turn it off, hence it was murder, otherwise it would have continued.[/hide]

[edit] forgot to hide the answers originally [/edit]

Title: Re: Whodunnit? (Internal Affairs)
Post by JiNbOtAk on Oct 6^th, 2007, 1:27am

a) [hide]Because he's the first one there ? [/hide]
b) [hide]The arrangement on the desk would suggest the guy to be lefthanded, whereas he was shot on the right hand side. Although that's not very conclusive, as he could be ambidexterous. My money is on the Stop/Rewind button of the Dictaphone. [/hide]

Though he should start first by checking if Krapovitz is wearing a glove that night.

Title: Re: Whodunnit? (Internal Affairs)
Post by denis on Oct 6^th, 2007, 4:48am

b) [hide]Not sure about wether the dictaphone automatically comes back to the beginning after leaving it on to the end of the tape but the fact that the chair was pulled far from the desk would make it impossible to turn it on in the first place.[/hide]

Title: Re: Whodunnit? (Internal Affairs)
Post by gotit on Oct 6^th, 2007, 7:18am

b) [hide]The pen and the pencil holder were on the left side of the table and the phone was on the right. This suggests that the man was left-handed. But he had the gun in his right hand[/hide].

Title: Re: Whodunnit? (Internal Affairs)
Post by gotit on Oct 6^th, 2007, 7:20am

b) [hide]The pen and the pencil holder were on the left side of the table and the phone was on the right. This suggests that the man was left-handed. But he had the gun in his right hand[/hide].

Title: Re: Whodunnit? (Internal Affairs)
Post by JiNbOtAk on Oct 6^th, 2007, 8:35am

on 10/06/07 at 07:20:48, gotit wrote:

b) [hide]The pen and the pencil holder were on the left side of the table and the phone was on the right. This suggests that the man was left-handed. But he had the gun in his right hand[/hide].

Yup, heard you the first time. ;)

Title: Re: Whodunnit? (Internal Affairs)
Post by denis on Oct 6^th, 2007, 10:47am

Schultz, Krapovitz..... T&B, you like names ending in tz?
Btw, nice narrative.

a) [hide] Krapovitz was dry and without umbrella when he came out suggesting that Krapovitz avoided the rain storm and was at the scene *before* the call came in.[/hide]

b) [hide]Something missing on the dictaphone message: no sound of the torrential rainstorm points to a fake suicide note[/hide]

Title: Re: Whodunnit? (Internal Affairs)
Post by denis on Oct 8^th, 2007, 8:52am

Or maybe: a) [hide] Either Schultz gave/sold his old Dictaphone to Krapovitz a while back or Schultz is trying to frame Krapovitz[/hide]

Title: Re: Whodunnit? (Internal Affairs)
Post by Grimbal on Oct 8^th, 2007, 9:49am

a) [hide]He doesn't. But he hates "the Krap". He would do anything to push the murder on him.[/hide]
b) [hide]He believes it is suicide, but that doesn't matter, because of a).[/hide]

Title: Re: Whodunnit? (Internal Affairs)
Post by JiNbOtAk on Oct 10^th, 2007, 6:18pm

T&B, any comments on our answers ? ::)

Title: Re: Whodunnit? (Internal Affairs)
Post by william11141 on Oct 17^th, 2007, 2:15pm

that guy sounds like Monk, except he would have NEVER went in the building :o

Title: Re: Whodunnit? (Internal Affairs)
Post by ThudanBlunder on Oct 18^th, 2007, 4:00pm

on 10/10/07 at 18:18:03, JiNbOtAk wrote:

T&B, any comments on our answers ? ::)

Sorry, I've been having connection problems.
Will reply soon.

Title: Re: Whodunnit? (Internal Affairs)
Post by denis on Oct 19^th, 2007, 1:35pm

T&B,

You give us this nice juicy beautifully constructed riddle but leave us hanging in suspense for over two weeks!

Title: Re: Whodunnit? (Internal Affairs)
Post by iono on Oct 24^th, 2007, 9:45pm

2) the tape in the recorder has to be rewinded, but all the detective had to do was press play. someone had to be there to rewind the tape after the guy recorded his "suicide" note. ;D

Title: Re: Whodunnit? (Internal Affairs)
Post by ThudanBlunder on Oct 31^st, 2007, 9:44pm

on 10/19/07 at 13:35:24, denis wrote:

T&B,

You give us this nice juicy beautifully constructed riddle but leave us hanging in suspense for over two weeks!

As I said, I have just moved house and have been having connection problems.

I think you have collectively nailed it.

a) [hide]Krapovitz was there first, even before the uniforms.[/hide]
b) [hide]The pens, and more importantly, the telephone notepad and pencil were to the left of the blotter, yet the gun was found in his right hand. Also, dead men don't rewind tapes.[/hide]