CAN YOU SOLVE THE MYSTERY OF THE MISSING POCKETWATCH??

IT IS A RIDDLE THAT HAS STUMPED CLEVER INVESTIGATORS AND WILY INSPECTORS FOR AGES

THE CLUES ARE HIDDEN… THE WEB OF EVIDENCE IS TANGLED INDEED

TEST YOUR POWERS OF DEDUCTION

WITH THE MYSTERY OF THE MISSING POCKETWATCH

THE DUCHESS OF BRINDINFORD WAS INVITED TO TOWN FOR A DELIGHTFUL BRUNCH WITH SIR HUXLEY ESQUIRE

SHE AND FIVE OTHER GUESTS ATTENDED LOVELY HUXLEY MANOR-ON-THE-LAKE AT HALF-PAST TEN, THE BRUNCHING HOUR

TWO HOURS LATER HER POCKETWATCH TURNED UP MISSING!

THE GUEST LIST ALSO INCLUDED COUNT REXLAR, THE ELDEST SON OF THE ELDEST SON IN THE ESTEEMED REXLAR LINEAGE

BARON THEODORE ALEXANDER VONMERVINGHŒK, A MAN OF MYSTERIOUS PAST, UNUSUAL POSTURE, AND UNKNOWN HOLDINGS

DOCTOR PENELOPE EUSTICE GEARRINNGSSON, HEIR TO THE SWISS MANUFACTURING EMPIRE OF AUTOMATED TIME-TELLING DEVICES OF VARIOUS AND SUNDRY SORTS

"LUCKY" LEROY RADIMERE NABENOV, BRUNCHING ENTHUSIAST, CONNOISSEUR, AND CRITIC EXTRAORDINAIRE, WHOSE BRUNCH REVIEWS ARE READ AND ADORED BY BOTH COMMONFOLK AND NOBLEMEN ALIKE

AND GERALDINE J. JERICHO III, A LADY WHO OBVIOUSLY NEEDS NO INTRODUCTION.

ALSO PRESENT AT THE BRUNCH WERE THE EMPLOYED ATTENDANTS AND LIVE-IN SERVANTS OF THE HUXLEY MANOR

TO SAY NOTHING OF SIR HUXLEY HIMSELF OF COURSE

ANY OF THESE SHREWD SLY MINDS COULD HAVE HATCHED A PLOT TO ABSCOND WITH THE DUCHESS'S POCKETWATCH… OR COULD HAVE THEY?

THIS IS BUT ONE OF THE MYRIAD ENIGMÆ THAT MUST BE UNRAVELED

IF YOU HOPE TO SOLVE THE MYSTERY OF THE MISSING POCKETWATCH!

MANY CLUES HAVE BEEN REVEALED, CAN YOU SOLVE THE MYSTERY OF THE MISSING POCKETWATCH BY NOW??

WRONG

THE CORRECT ANSWER IS: "NO, I CANNOT SOLVE THE MYSTERY OF THE MISSING POCKETWATCH.

"FOR THE SOLUTION IS FAR TOO DEVIOUS. I WILL NEVER UNRAVEL THE CUNNING INTRIGUE THAT OCCURRED ON THAT BRISK OCTOBER MORN."

CONSIDER THIS, MY FRIEND (SHOULD ONE SO CONSIDER ONESELF AS SUCH): COULD IT PERHAPS BE THE CASE THAT THE POCKETWATCH WAS NOT STOLEN AT ALL? SURELY A STATELY LADY AS CLEVER AND RADIANT AS THE DUCHESS MIGHT HAVE AN HEIRLOOM SUCH AS THIS INSURED AGAINST UNTIMELY THEFT OR DESTRUCTION

YET COULD IT NOT ALSO BE THE CASE THAT ONE SUCH AS SHE—OR INDEED SUCH AS ANY OF THE FINE GENTLEPERSONS WHO SHARED THEIR DELICIOUS AND DELECTABLE BRUNCH—MIGHT BE BEFITTEN BY DEFAMING ANOTHER PRESENT FALSELY ACCUSED OF SUCH A FOUL CRIME

NEW CLUES HAVE BEEN UNCOVERED WITHIN THE MANOR ITSELF

IT SEEMS THAT SEVERAL HAIRS WHICH SEEM TO BELONG TO THE DUCHESS'S HIRSUTE MANSERVANT WERE SEEMINGLY DISCOVERED WITHIN THE PARLOR

HOWEVER HER MANSERVANT WAS NOT INVITED TO ATTEND THE FESTIVITIES NOR WAS HE PRESENT

OR WAS HE? NONE OF THE GUESTS HAS REPORTED SEEING A MAN AS LARGE AS HE IN ATTENDANCE NOR DID ANY OF THEM DETECT HIS PUNGENT ODOR

AND YET THE HAIRS REMAIN

HOWEVER INASMUCH AS THEY WERE DISCOVERED IN THE OSTENSIBLY UNRELATED INVESTIGATION OF THE UNTIMELY AND MOST FOUL DEATH OF COUNT REXLAR SAID HAIRS WOULD LIKELY PROVE INADMISSIBLE IN COURT BEFORE A JURY OF HONORABLE PEERS

YET SUCH CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE, IF IT BE EVIDENCE AT ALL, MUST INDEED BE WELL TAKEN NOTE OF BY ANY SLEUTH WHICH MIGHT WISH TO UNCOVER THE TRUE WHEREABOUTS, AS WELL AS IDENTITIES AND MOTIVATIONS OF THOSE RESPONSIBLE FOR SAID WHEREABOUTS, OF THE POCKETWATCH IN QUESTION (I.E.: THE DUCHESS'S).

SOME SKEPTICAL OAFS AND NE'ER-DO-WELLS HAVE MAINTAINED THAT THE SOLUTION AND SPECIFIC CIRCUMSTANCES MIGHT REMAIN FOREVER UNKNOWN DUE TO THE TRAGIC AND GRUESOME SLAYING OF THE COUNT ON THAT FOGGY BRUNCHFUL MORN AND CONSEQUENTLY THE LOSS OF HIS TESTIMONY

IT IS CLEAR FROM SUCH BRAZEN UNSLEUTHMANSHIP THAT THEY SUCH AS THESE ARE UNAWARE THAT COUNT REXLAR WAS INDEED CONTACTED FROM THAT ELDRITCH REALM BEYOND THE GRAVE IN A SÉANCE HELD WITHIN THE ANTECHAMBER OF THE REXLAR FAMILY CRYPT (SAID TO BE ERECTED UPON AN ANCIENT SÍDHE MOUND) ON THE NIGHT OF ALL HALLOWS' EVE

AT THE DIRE STROKE OF MIDNIGHT THE SPIRIT OF THE DEARLY DEPARTED MANIFESTED ACCORDING TO GHOSTWITNESS TESTIMONY OF ELEVEN OF THE THIRTEEN PRESENT IN THE CHANNELING CIRCLE.

THE TWELFTH INDIVIDUAL PRESENT AT THIS UNHOLY CEREMONY WAS ANASTASIA REXLAR, THE BELOVED BLOOD NIECE OF THE COUNT, BARELY FIFTEEN YEARS UPON THIS EARTH, WHO LED THE SÉANCE AS MEDIUM THROUGH WHOM HER UNCLE SPOKE TO THE LIVING WORLD ONCE AGAIN.

INDEED, HAVING NO MEMORY OF THE EVENT SHE WAS PERSONALLY ABLE TO NEITHER CONFIRM NOR DENY REPORTS OF WHAT CHILLING SUPERNATURAL DOINGS OCCURRED

THE THIRTEENTH MEMBER OF THE CIRCLE—THAT IS TO SAY THE SOLE OTHER SÉANCETEER TO FAIL TO CORROBORATE—WAS NONE OTHER THAN THE DUCHESS OF BRINDINFORD HERSELF, WHO HAS REPORTED THAT HER GROWING FATIGUE AND THE LATENESS OF THE HOUR FINALLY BECAME UNBEARABLE HALFWAY THROUGH THE PROCEEDINGS AND SHE FELL ASLEEP AND DID NOT AWAKEN UNTIL THE FOLLOWING MORNING WHEN SHE FOUND HERSELF INSIDE AN OPEN AND EMPTY MARBLE TOMB DEEP WITHIN THE CRYPT WHICH SHE DESCRIBED AS "DREADFULLY UNCOMFORTABLE" AND SPECULATED THAT HER POSTURE "MIGHT SUFFER THE ILL EFFECTS FOR A FORTNIGHT"

YET IN FACT SHE WAS ABLE TO RECOVER FULLY IN ONLY SIX DAYS.

PERHAPS SOME UNTOLD PRETERNATURAL CHIROPRACTIC FORCE IS OR WAS OR HAS BEEN INVOLVED??

OR MIGHT IT SIMPLY BE THE CASE THAT HER FAIR NOBLESHIP IS POSSESSED WITH A DIMINISHED CAPACITY FOR DETERMINING THE MEASURE OF A DURATION OF TIME FOR SOME REASON

THE SAME CAN BE SAID ABOUT DOCTOR GEARRINNGSSON BUT NOT BY ONE CURSED TO SPEAK ONLY IN TRUTHS: SOME HAVE BELIEVED THAT A CLUE MAY LIE ENCRYPTED WITHIN THE SWEET YET HOMELY PENELOPE'S ANNOUNCEMENT TO THE PRESS NOT HOURS AFTER THAT MYSTERY-LADEN BRUNCH OF INFAMY.

BUT TREAD LIGHTLY GUMSHOE FOR ALL THOSE WHO BELIEVED THAT ARE NOW DEAD OR MISSING OR DISCOVERED NEVER TO HAVE EXISTED IN THE FIRST PLACE.

"GOOD EVENING PRESS," SHE ANNOUNCED. "I AM PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE THE FOLLOWING."

DO NOTE AND GRAVELY SO THAT DR. P. E. GEARRINNGSSON CLAIMED IN HER OPENING REMARKS WITH A CASUAL CONFIDENCE THAT IT WAS CURRENTLY EVENING—BY THE FOLLOWING MORNING THIS CLAIM WAS DETERMINED TO BE FALSE BUT THESE AS YET UNPUBLISHED FINDINGS WERE QUIETLY AND QUICKLY REVERSED LATER THAT SAME DAY

COULD NOT ONE BE THUSLY ASSURED BY EMPLOYING THE AID OF AN ITEM NOT UNLIKE A POCKETWATCH?

PERMIT ONESELF A MOMENT TO INDULGE IN SPECULATION OF A DETECTIVELY MANNER IN CONSIDERATION OF WHENCE SAID CONJECTURAL ITEM MIGHT HAVE BEEN OBTAINED, AND FURTHERMORE IN WHICH MANNER: LICIT OR IL

SPRINGING SOON OR IMMEDIATELY TO MIND MIGHT BE THE FACT THAT THE DOCTOR OWNS AN INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION WHICH CREATES TIMEPIECES OF EVERY VARIETY INCLUDING SEVERAL STYLES OF POCKETWATCH. AND AS SUCH ONLY THE KEENEST OF INVESTIGATIVE MINDS CAN LOOK PAST THIS CONVENIENT TRUTH—MIGHT IT NOT EVEN BE…

TOO CONVENIENT?

NO, IT MIGHT NOT. FOR THE BURDEN OF INHERITING AN HISTORIC FAMILY BUSINESS IS A TERRIBLE RATHER THAN CONVENIENT ONE OR SO HAS ATTESTED PENELOPE IN SUPPOSED CONFIDENCE DURING A SORDID TRYST WITH SIR HUXLEY; INDEED SINCE SHE WAS A SMALL CHILD HER TALENTS TURNED NOT TOWARD BUSINESS MANAGEMENT BUT SLEIGHT OF HAND, HER ASPIRATIONS NOT TOWARD FOLLOWING HER FORBEARERS' FOOTSTEPS BUT CATBURGLARY.