Minute Mysteries [Detectograms] 60 – Ripley · Verses Across
Literature · Crime, Thrillers & Mystery
Minute Mysteries [Detectograms] 60Chapter 59
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Literature · Crime, Thrillers & Mystery
Minute Mysteries [Detectograms] 60
Chapter 59
RipleyEnglish
Number Twenty-Six
‘You fellows must remember that more often than otherwise the little, seemingly inconsequential trifles, placed together, lead to the solution of crime. Never take anything for granted; examine thoroughly what appear to be the most unimportant details. You didn’t do so well with your last lesson,’ said Professor Fordney, addressing his class. ‘Now try your wits at this one.
‘“I know it sounds fishy, Inspector,”’ continued he, reading from a paper, ‘“but I was walkin’ along Sixteenth Street mindin’ my business. When I gets in front of number 26 I hears a dame scream ‘Help! Murder!’ so I dashed up the steps to the house, pushed open the door, and rushed in. As I was halfway through the hall, a big guy steps out of a room and says, ‘Ah, there, Mr. Farrell, just in time!’ I asks him what’s goin’ on, and just then three coppers came in and takes me, this guy, and a woman, in. Neither one of them would talk to me on the way, so I don’t know what it’s all about.”
‘“I’m going around myself,” replied the Inspector. “I’ll talk with you when I get back.”
‘As Kelley turned the knob at number 26, the door was violently pushed open in his face.
‘“Sorry,” said Detective Bradford. “Just going back to Headquarters. Found plenty of dope all right. Here’s something you’ll be interested in,” showing Kelley a man’s hat initialed “D.F.” “There are three packets of cocaine under the sweatband.”
‘This story, of course, is fictitious,’ said Fordney, putting down the paper, ‘but it illustrates my point. There’s just one, small, unimportant detail that’s wrong. To repeat, you must learn to detect inconsistencies quickly, however insignificant. Quickly, now!’
Do you get it?
In the next few anecdotes you will see the Professor at work and at play, on cases both serious and amusing, involving pure deduction.
As in the preceding cases, however, every fact, with the clue necessary to the solution, is given. There is only one right and logical answer to each—to be deduced from the evidence presented.
Time yourself; see how long it takes you to deduce the answer. And then, after you have solved or missed them, try them on your friends. They make a fascinating game—and there are lots of people who don’t play bridge.
