Find her before dark.
MONDAY, 14 JUNE
THE VERDICT
You solved all five cases, found the liar and turned the lie into the truth. One name is left. Type it exactly as it appears in the estate register: first name, then surname.
You out-reasoned 13,680 neighbors and one lying witness. If Linden Row kept you up past sunset, a short review helps the next detective find Maisie too.
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You're on the list, Detective. Thank you.
STUCK ON THE STAIRS?
Open only what you need. Each hint unlocks the next one, and the check-number tells you if your culprit is right without saying who it is.
Work through the location statements on the grid one at a time. 15 of the 24 pages survive.
Count vowels slowly: in Mr. Voss's code, Y is never a vowel, and a repeated vowel counts twice (Aaron has 3). The arithmetic statement is quick once you know the letter count: 12 letters need an age of 61 or more.
The culprit's age plus their floor number equals 84.
Work through the location statements on the grid one at a time. 15 of the 24 pages survive.
To compare the digits of an age, subtract the smaller from the larger. 18 works (8 - 1 = 7); 45 does not (5 - 4 = 1). The conditional statement only matters when the surname has an even number of letters.
The culprit's age plus their floor number equals 63.
Work through the location statements on the grid one at a time. 13 of the 24 pages survive.
You need the lift-stopper's floor and the length of their surname. A statement that starts with "if" can never rule out someone for whom the "if" part is false.
The culprit's age plus their floor number equals 49.
Work through the location statements on the grid one at a time. 13 of the 24 pages survive.
Doubled letters in first names are rare, so that statement does the most work. If a surname ends in Y or a vowel, the pharmacist's statement says nothing about them.
The culprit's age plus their floor number equals 86.
Work through the location statements on the grid one at a time. 12 of the 24 pages survive.
Count letters carefully: first name and surname must be equally long. Then count vowels in each and compare. The note-writer's wing and age both matter here.
The culprit's age plus their floor number equals 64.
The five witnesses' ages add up to 329. If your total is different, find the case whose check-number fails and go back over its statements one by one.
Line up the five witnesses' ages. The youngest is the liar. Write down their statement, then write its exact opposite.
The opposite of "the same, or one higher, or one lower" is "at least two away". The opposite of "the same as" is "different from". The opposite of "exactly as many as" is "any other number".
Once the lie is turned around, 15 pages across the estate stay in play. The age statements cut the field fastest after that.
The killer's age plus their floor number equals 70.