The Locked Room Mystery
Detective Liam Hartwell arrived at the mansion, summoned by a distressed maid who discovered the body of the wealthy patriarch, Victor Blackwood, in his study. The door was locked from the inside, and the windows were sealed shut. The only other person in the room was Victor's son, Alexander, who sat motionless in a chair, staring blankly at his father's corpse.
As Liam examined the scene, he noticed a few peculiar details: a shattered glass on the floor, a half-empty decanter of whiskey, and a crumpled piece of paper in Victor's hand. The paper revealed a shocking secret: Victor had disinherited Alexander in favor of his estranged daughter, Olivia.
Liam questioned Alexander, who claimed to have been in the room discussing business with his father when Victor suddenly clutched his chest and collapsed. Alexander said he tried to revive him but to no avail. When he realized his father was dead, he called for help, but the door was jammed, trapping him inside.
The detective interviewed the staff and Olivia, who had arrived at the mansion shortly after her father's death. Everyone had an alibi, leaving Alexander as the prime suspect. However, Liam couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't quite right.
Upon further investigation, Liam discovered that the whiskey in the decanter was laced with a fast-acting poison. The shattered glass on the floor contained no traces of the poisoned whiskey, suggesting that it had been planted there. Liam also found a hidden passage behind a bookshelf, leading from the study to Alexander's room.
In a shocking twist, Liam revealed that it was Olivia who had murdered her father. She had snuck into the mansion through the hidden passage, poisoned the whiskey, and waited for her father to take a sip. When Victor collapsed, Olivia quickly locked the door from the outside, trapping Alexander inside, and planted the shattered glass on the floor to frame him. Her motive? To inherit her father's fortune and take revenge on her brother, who had always been favored by their father.
With the mystery solved, Olivia was taken into custody, and Alexander was exonerated, inheriting his rightful share of the Blackwood estate. Detective Liam Hartwell had once again unraveled a seemingly impossible crime, proving that even in the most puzzling cases, the truth will always come to light.
