[여름특집] Whodunit? - 7탄

[Hermes]

THE PLUM VALLEY MAZE
By Hy Conrad

There are plenty of mysteries that might be described as mazes. But this was the only one Monk knew that had actually been committed in one. The Plum Valley Maze was a roadside attraction that had seen better days. Motorists with nothing better to do were lured into paying four dollars to get lost in the confusing pathways of the ill-kept hedges.

Lieutenant Disher led Monk past the ticket booth and into the high, wandering hedges. Two right turns brought them to a dead end. Literally. Complete with corpse. Captain Stottlemeyer was standing over the body of Kyle Turner, a knife stuck between his ribs. Three living men and a woman were also there.

"Kyle, my husband and I came into the maze," said the woman between sobs. "We split up. After a few minutes of wandering, I wound up outside the maze. I was going to try again. I called out for Kyle, to see how he was doing. That's when I heard it - some scuffling, like a fight. Then Kyle screamed."

"I heard the scream, too" said the tallest man. "I'm Bill McQuire. I was on a bench at the center of the maze. I didn't hear any scuffling, probably because the fountain there drowned it out. I hurried out of the maze and found this woman, Mrs. Turner. The two of us went back in and discovered the body together."

"I'm the owner," said a short, disheveled man. "I'm Paul Moran. These people were the only three customers in there. After taking the Turners' money at the ticket booth, I went into the office. Abe, my electrician, was rewiring the system. I switched off all the breakers for him. Then I walked around picking up trash. Abe was still working when I heard the scream."

Abe, the electrician, was the last to speak. "What Paul said is true. I was in a crawl space under the office the whole time, redoing the wiring. I didn't see anything or anyone until the scream."

Stottlemeyer had just completed his inspection of the body. "No wallet. Maybe it was a botched robbery," he said looking at the three men. His gaze wandered to the wife. "Or maybe a love triangle. We're waiting for forensics to show up now."

"I don't think we need forensics," Monk said. "You want to hear my theory?"

WHO DOES MONK SUSPECT?
HOW DID HE DEDUCE THE TRUTH?

Reedited by Hermes

'푸른 색의 단어나 구' 위로 마우스를 가져가면 아래 상태표시줄에 한글 뜻이 나타납니다.

[the_phantom]

Bill did it.

[Amaryllis]

You got it, Richard. I wonder why Bill could hear the scream of Kyle but scuffling.