FEBRUARY 1, 2003

MYSTERY

JOIN THE BEARTOWN CONSTABLE AS HE PRACTICES HIS ABILITY TO SORT OUT THE FACTS

#1  "Hi, John.  Let's meet at my office.  The building is on the north side of Main Street.  Turn left down the hall and take one of the elevators on your right as high as it goes.  Across the hall there is another elevator.  Take it to the sixth floor.  When you get out, turn left and look for a door on the right that says UP.  Go in, turn right up a short set of stairs, then turn left through the exit door at the top of the stairs.  Walk down the hall that goes to your right, and my office door is on the left."

What direction will John be facing when he knocks on the door?

#2  Jack:  Remember that book you lent me?  Well, I lent it to my mother, and she lent it to her sister, who gave it to her son-in-law, who thought his wife's maternal grandfather would like it.  He did, and lent it to his wife, who gave it to her son Henry.  Last night Henry dropped in and asked me to return it to his son.  So here it is.   Jill

How are Jack and Jill related?

#3  What single diget number, repeated many times (to form a long number), multiplied by the same exact long number results in a product of 12,345,678,987,654,321?

Check the next issue of Beartown News for the answers.

FROM LAST MONTH

"Who shot her?" cried Williams as he rushed into the Beartown Hospital only minutes after his ex-wife died from a bullet through her head,
"Just a minute, Mr. Williams," said the Beartown Constable.  "I'll have to ask you a few routine questions.  Although divorced for the past eight months, you have been living in the same house with your ex-wife, have you not?"
"That's correct," replied Williams.
"Had any trouble recently?" asked the Constable.
"Well, yesterday, when I told her I was going on a business trip, she threatened to commit suicide.  In fact, I grabbed a bottle of iodine from her as she was about to drink it.  When I left last evening at seven, however, telling her I was spending the night with friends in Montpelier, she made no objection.  While returning home this afternoon, I called my house and the maid answered." said Williams.
"Just what did the maid say?" asked the Beartown Constable.
"Oh, Mr. Williams, they took Ann to the Beartown Hospital half an hour ago.  Please go directly there."
"The maid was crying and I couldn't get any details from her; so I hurried here.  Where is she?"
"The nurse will take you." indicated the Constable.
"A strange arrangement," said the Doctor,  "A man and a woman living together after being divorced for eight months."
"A queer case indeed, Doctor," mused the Beartown Constable,  "I'll be arresting Williams momentarily.  If he didn't shoot her himself, I'm sure he knows who did."

DO YOU KNOW HOW THE BEARTOWN CONSTABLE CAME TO HIS CONCLUSION?

Williams could not have known that his ex-wife had been shot unless he had guilty knowledge of the crime.  The maid did not say why she had been taken to the hospital.  Yet Williams' first words on entering the hospital were, "Who shot her?"

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