Sherlock Holmes received an urgent telegram from a client who felt certain that his life was in danger. Holmes and Watson hurried to his lodgings only to find that they were too late. The man had been murdered minutes before they had arrived.
"I found him lying there," said the landlady. "Before he died, he muttered something about belonging to a secret club and quoted the number 92."
"Damned strange thing to say, Holmes," said Watson. Holmes nodded in agreement. "Did he say anything else?" Holmes asked the landlady.
"I asked him who had done this terrible thing to him, but he just repeated the number 92!" she answered.
Holmes thanked her for her help and discharged her. He then proceeded to search the dead man's room, coming across a letter addressed to the man from the other three members of the secret club.
Their names were Wilson, Updike and Brown. In the top left of the letter was the name of the dead man, Smith (Code 69).
From this, Holmes deduced that he had been murdered by another member of the club, and that the number that he had uttered to the landlady was in fact the code number of the murderer.
Holmes then supplied the name of the killer.
Which of the three was the killer?
Wilson
Hmm. I immediately thought it was Updike, but now the 69 code number has sown doubts... I thought Brown was code 5 and Wilson was 74. But then Smith should have been 16.
ReplyDeleteCheck the hidden answer, Peter.
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