The Locked Room Murder
Detective Sarah Thompson arrived at the crime scene, a lavish mansion on the outskirts of town. The victim, a wealthy businessman named Robert Hartley, had been found dead in his study, the door locked from the inside. The only other person in the house at the time of the murder was his wife, Olivia Hartley.
Sarah examined the room, noting the lack of forced entry and the single bullet wound to Robert's chest. The gun lay on the floor beside him, and the window was closed and latched. Olivia claimed she had been in the kitchen when she heard the gunshot and rushed to the study, finding the door locked. She had to call for help to break it down.
As Sarah investigated further, she discovered that Robert had recently changed his will, leaving the majority of his fortune to his mistress, Valerie. Olivia had motive, but with the door locked from the inside, how could she have committed the crime?
The answer lay in the window. Upon closer inspection, Sarah noticed faint scratches around the latch. Someone had opened the window from the outside, shot Robert, and then closed and latched the window before escaping. But who could have done it?
The final piece of the puzzle fell into place when Sarah found a strand of red hair caught in the window frame. Valerie, the mistress, had distinctive red hair. Confronted with the evidence, Valerie confessed to the murder, revealing that she had used a ladder to reach the window and had worn gloves to avoid leaving fingerprints.
The case was closed, and justice was served, all thanks to Detective Sarah Thompson's keen eye for detail and unwavering determination to uncover the truth.
