(5-minute mystery) Who Hid the Medicine?

[Politicalbeast]

Who Hid the Medicine?



“When we have the first answer, we’ll probably get the second too. Or vice versa.” Christian Hawkes passed the transmitter from his left to his right hand and turned his back to the little group at the far end of the conference room. He spoke more softly.

“The thing is, I’m not even sure whether this is attempted murder or just mischief. Well, stupid mischief. Anybody who’d hide someone’s medication like that is either malicious or bananas. Over.”

The two questions to which Corporal Christian Hawkes of the RCMP was seeking answers were: who had hidden Kelly O’Miara’s asthma medication in an air duct high in the wall of the Territories Room at the Mountain Lake Conference Centre, and why had he or she done it?

“Are you okay?” The voice on the other end of the conversation wanted to know. “Is everything under control now? Over.”

“Yes, everything is fine now,” Christian replied. “The road is not open officially yet but you can see the odd car now without four-wheel drive, and the weather is certainly clear.”

Christian had come to the Mountain Lake Centre at dawn two hours before, via snowmobile because the road had been closed and unplowed owing to avalanche warnings. He was the only person at headquarters able to respond when the manager of Mountain Lake had radioed for help just before midnight. What had been needed was medication for Kelly O’Miara, who had been having an asthmatic attack, or, failing that, an ambulance or helicopter to take her to hospital. But weather and the closed road had ruled all that out, so Christian, with his paramedic qualifications and snowmobile expertise, was the next best choice.

“In fact,” Christian was still talking, “it was all in hand by the time I got here. The manager found her medication when the cover to the air duct fell off. Whoever stuck it back on did a lousy job. She just got the Ventilin in time apparently, and she is all right now.”

He changed the hand holding the transmitter again. “Look. I’ve got to go. They’re getting antsy to leave, and if we’ve really got a crime here I’m going to have to find out yes or no in the next few minutes. If the road opens send a truck for me and the snowmobile. I’ll call you in an hour. Over and out.”

Christian set the little transmitter into its cradle and walked to the other end of the long, narrow Territories Room with studied casualness. The customary sensitivity he knew was essential for interrogation was going to be especially important here. The suspect – if there really was a suspect – would be one of the group of handicapped people clustered around the sideboard that took up one wall of the alcove. They were militants the manager had said. “Chewy” was the word he’d used to describe them. “Didn’t seem to like anything or anybody.”

As he approached them, Christian looked at Perky Hinton sitting calmly in her wheelchair. She seemed confident. And well she might be, he thought. It probably wasn’t her; she couldn’t reach that high.

Perky, as though she could read his mind, piped up.

“It wasn’t me. I can’t reach up there. Besides what would I want to hurt Kelly for. I didn’t even know her till yesterday. I’ve got nothing against her.”

“None of us knew anyone before, you nit.” It was Val Horst. He held his white cane well out in front of him. “None of us knew….”

“I don’t like this,” a voice complained, just a bit wheezily. It was the older man that Christian had noticed before, rocking back and forth slightly on an overstuffed ottoman that was really too low to be comfortable. The man spoke very deliberately. One word at a time. “I don’t like this at all. It’s just like the institution. Too much arguing. I don’t like the arguing.”

“It’s all right,” Christian said. “No one is accusing anyone yet.” He turned to the two remaining gentlemen. The manager had made a special point of describing these two when he’d first arrived. Homer and Harry were identical twins, both deaf and so similar in appearance that had not Homer been wearing hearing aids, no one could have possibly distinguished him from Harry.

Christian looked at Homer and simultaneously using sign language, he said out loud:

“Are you the twin with speech?”

“Yes.” Homer replied in the slow, careful modulation of the deaf. Like Christian he signed at the same time. “Sometimes I help my brother. He doesn’t talk. But that doesn’t matter because everybody here can sign. You have to. It’s part of the deal.”

Harry nodded vigorously and rapidly signed that he was pleased that Christian could sign too.

Perky’s voice broke in. “Even if you didn’t, officer, it wouldn’t matter. Harry can read lips just about better than anyone.”

Harry smiled, proud of himself. Then his face grew serious, and he signed to Christian. “I didn’t put the medicine in the air duct. And my brother Homer didn’t either. We couldn’t have. We were in our room the whole time.”

Val Horst snorted. “You were down here yesterday afternoon at five o’clock because you came in when the five o’clock news was on the radio. That is hardly being in your room the whole time.”

“I’m afraid that’s right, Mr. Hawkes,” Perky Hinton added. “That’s the time I saw them too. But that doesn’t mean they hid the drugs.”

“No, it doesn’t, Perky,” Christian replied. “But it’s already obvious that there’s someone here who is not being completely truthful. Maybe if we get that cleared up first, we’ll get to the bottom of this caper.”


Of whom is Christian suspicious, and why?

[Flame]

Here's my guess.....


























HE's suspicious of Harry, cause when "percy's voice broke in" (implying Percy was not in the group) harry smiled, which indicated he heard what was said, and he's supposed to be deaf.

[Politicalbeast]

Here's my guess.....


























HE's suspicious of Harry, cause when "percy's voice broke in" (implying Percy was not in the group) harry smiled, which indicated he heard what was said, and he's supposed to be deaf.

No such indication

The deaf can read lips.

[LC EFA]

I'd suspect Val Horst.

If Val Horst is blind as the "white cane well out in front of him" implies ; How did he 1) Know it was Harry who entered the room when the 5:00 news was on , and 2) Know what Harry (the twin without speech) signed to Christian about being in his room all the time ?

[Chris_]

I'd suspect Val Horst.

If Val Horst is blind as the "white cane well out in front of him" implies ; How did he 1) Know it was Harry who entered the room when the 5:00 news was on , and 2) Know what Harry (the twin without speech) signed to Christian about being in his room all the time ?

Well ---

I would imagine the 5:00 news starts with a broadcaster saying "welcome to the 5:00 news."  But the second part is pretty good.