A mystery in five envelopes.
Nothing to install. Progress saves in your browser so you can stop and come back. Keep a pen and a sheet of paper handy for the timeline. Every good detective does.
One of the seven photographs in the file. Look at the shoes.
You play a two-person private investigation outfit out of San Antonio, hired by mail by the victim's older sister, a retired schoolteacher with very good handwriting and very little patience. She sends you everything she can get her hands on, one sealed envelope at a time. Each opens with a four-digit code you earn from the one before.
Envelope 0, The Retainer. Her first letter, the newspaper clipping, a wine label, a hand-traced map of the property, and a worksheet, for which she apologizes. Once a teacher.
Envelope 1, The Sheriff's File. The incident report, eight witness statements with photographs, the evidence inventory, three scene photographs, the tank log, the phone directory, the guest list, and the preliminary autopsy.
Envelope 2, The Cellar Office Cabinet. The victim's private ledger, a letter of intent that changes everything, an insurance letter, a threat, a phone bill, two pages of an address book, three index cards, and a barrel inventory.
Envelope 3, Rack 9, Barrel 3. What was hidden behind a barrel, the medical examiner's final report, a pharmacy label, a traffic citation, and four handwritten notes.
Envelope 4, The Second Roll. The deputy's unprinted second roll of film, what was in a safe deposit box, a boot order, and the accusation form.
The Solution. Sealed. Opens only when you accuse the right person.
Some people want a table covered in documents. All five envelopes are here as printable PDFs, US Letter, ready to seal: print the envelopes. Hints and the solution stay in the browser version, so nobody at the table can peek. Accuse there when you are ready, and print the solution once you are right.
Every one of the five innocent suspects is cleared by a specific document you can hold up and point to: a phone bill, a traffic ticket, a signed agreement, a lab report, a note in the victim's hand. The killer is cleared by nothing. If you are torn between two names at the end, you have not found the paper yet.
A weather box in a newspaper, a count on an inventory, a phone directory card. Things you skim in the first ten minutes will be the whole case in the last ten. Keep everything open.
Each envelope's code and the final accusation have three tiers of hints: a nudge, the mechanism, and the answer. Take what you need. The first pair to play this needed exactly one.
Every solve can be entered here under a name or a pair of initials. Two numbers matter: how many accusations it took, and how long the case file was open. Fewest accusations first, then the clock. Hints are listed but do not count against you. Nobody is watching.
Add your name when you close the case, share the solve, and take 15% off your next one.
