Solve the case before you read the solution at the end of the story.
You are the detective.
THE GREAT WATERMELON COVERUP
Thomas P. Stanwick had just stepped into Kreckman's Grocery Store in Baskerville to buy some tea and some pipe tobacco when the owner, Otto Kreckman, hurried up to him anxiously.
“Mr. Stanwick, I'm so glad to see you,” he said. “Come see what's happened!”
Kreckman led Stanwick down an aisle of the small shop. At the far end, several large watermelons had been knocked from a display table and lay smashed on the floor. Four ten-year-old boys stood nervously around the pulpy wreckage.
“These boys were fooling around back here,” said the grocer angrily, “and one or more of them knocked over my melons. None will admit doing it, though.
“The damage isn't much,” he told Stanwick privately in a low voice, “but whoever is guilty should learn some responsibility.”Stanwick, affecting a cold stare, silently looked from one boy to the next as he slowly filled and lit his pipe. They all lived in Baskerville, and he knew their names.
“Richard,” he asked abruptly, “who knocked over those melons?”
“Harry and Frank knocked them over,” Richard replied.
Harry and Frank angrily turned to him.
“I didn’t knock them over!” said Frank hotly.
Stanwick turned to the redheaded boy. “What do you have to say, Tommy?”
Tommy fidgeted uncomfortably. “Only one of us knocked the melons over.”
“How about you, Harry?”
“What Tommy and Frank said was true,” Harry replied sullenly.
Kreckman took Stanwick aside.
“They won’t tell me any more than that,” said the grocer. “Now, I know these boys. Tommy’s an honest kid, and I'm sure he wouldn’t lie to me. He's too loyal to his friends to tell me who's responsible, though.”
“Harry, on the other hand, is a different sort altogether and lies his head off anytime he's suspected of mischief. As for the others, I don't know whom to believe, and I can't pinpoint the culprits.”
“In that case,” said Stanwick with a sly smile, “I can be of some help. I know exactly who is responsible.” ---by Stan Smith
WHO KNOCKED OVER THE MELONS?
(Try to solve it yourself, and then read the Solution below!)
Solution
Frank alone knocked over the melons.
Since Tommy is telling the truth, only one boy is the culprit. Harry is lying, so Tommy and Frank are not both telling the truth. This means Frank must be lying. Therefore Frank, and only Frank, knocked over the melons.
As adapted from Five-Minute Whodunits by Stan Smith (Sterling Publishing, 1997)
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本帖最后由 miomio_la 于 2008-4-8 20:13 编辑]
