The Hacker's Encyclopedia 1998/hackers_encyclopedia.iso/pc/softdox/suspect.txt

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SUSPECT
 Part 1
 The problems that arise in solving SUSPECT involve an array of
costumed and peripatetic guests, a somewhat lackadaisical
detective, and numerous red herrings, all of which play hell
with the timing of the game.
 The characters traipse about constantly, and in Ashcroft Manor,
this is more than simply disconcerting. Every person in the game
seems to be involved in some way, however obscure. Ask anyone
about anyone or anything else, and motives magically become
grains of sand: plentiful. You can spend a lot of time showing
evidence to certain individuals, or you can spend a lot of time
conversing with the characters. In both cases, timing suffers,
at least early on when it is most important.
 Sergeant Duffy is his usual self: dedicated to his job and his
superior. (He also has a grip of iron.) The detective, however,
is another matter. He moves around, checking this and that and
searching here and there. (He also spends a great amount of time
"weighing evidence.") Since the murder weapon flings suspicion
on you right away, something has to be done to divert him. There
is only one way to do this (although you'll remain a suspect),
and that is to give him whatever you find. Certain clues *must*
be turned over to him or you'll be in the slammer before
Halloween Night ends. And the party starts promptly at 9:00 p.m.
 You'll be unable to make an arrest if the detective doesn't
have the evidence. The problem with this is that he doesn't seem
to make much of an effort. Not only do you have to give him a
clue you find, but in some cases, you have to tell him what to
do with it!
 All this influences the timing. You *can* make the game last
until 9:00 a.m. simply by giving the detective the clues
necessary to keep him off your back. However, even if you've
managed to keep him and Duffy at bay while you show evidence to
the guests, events which have to do with timing will have been
lost, as well as what you would have uncovered had you witnessed
the event. It is also wise to remember that Sergeant Duffy has
wraithlike qualities; once he has you in his grip, the evidence
you then try to give him may or may not be accepted and passed
along to the detective.
 False trails abound, timing is critical, and there are far too
many suspicious characters to consider. What I've done in this
walkthru, then, is deal strictly with the persons and events
which solve the crime.
 The clock has struck nine and it's time to begin! We will pay
attention to only one conspicuous event in the ballroom. There
are more subtle factors at work elsewhere.
 Go NORTH. UNLOCK THE FRENCH DOOR. Veronica will spill a drink
on her fairy costume, throw the glass on the ballroom floor, and
stalk off to repair the damage. Go EAST to the Patio. Make note
of the rain. It is a downpour. Go SOUTH twice, and you'll reach
the Circular Driveway. The rain is now just a drizzle. Go NO%8H
to the Front Porch. It should be 9:15 p.m. WAIT. At 9:19 p.m.,
Alicia Barron will arrive and greet you. According to her, she
parked her car behind the horse barn, then walked around to the
Front Porch. During this several-minute interval, the rain was
but a drizzle. So why is her overcoat soaking wet? WAIT. Smythe
(the butler) will open the door and lead you into the Entry
Hall.
 Go WEST to the Morning Room and NORTH to the Hall At Office. A
random factor in the game puts either Richard, Veronica's sullen
brother, or Linda, Richard's spacey wife, in the vicinity.
Ignore either or both of them and go NORTH into the Farm Office.
 The Farm Office is the scene of the crime. Veronica is dead,
strangled with your lariat, which you grew tired of toting
around and hung in the coat closet. Resist your initial urge to
search for clues or hide Veronica's body. CALL THE POLICE. You
should do this at or before 9:30 p.m., in order to keep the
timing straight. (There is a different timing method that can be
used to accomplish what must be done here, but it leads to a
wild goose chase for some nonexistent keys.)
 LOOK IN THE BASKET. TAKE THE BUSINESS CARD (there is a
duplicate in the game package). EXAMINE THE MANILA FOLDER. There
you will find an unsigned agreement between Sam Ostmann and
Veronica Ashcroft concerning the purchase and sale of Ashcroft
Manor. TAKE THE SALES AGREEMENT. READ THE CARD. TAKE THE FAIRY
MASK THEN EXAMINE IT. The fairy mask covers the entire head of
whoever is wearing it. LOOK INSIDE THE FAIRY MASK. You will find
a dark hair. COMPARE THE DARK HAIR TO VERONICA'S HAIR. They
don't match. Now, WAIT FOR THE POLICE. (If you want to do more
searching in the office, feel free.) The police (including the
omnipresent Sergeant Duffy) will arrive at 10:10 p.m.
 GIVE THE AGREEMENT TO THE DETECTIVE and GIVE THE BUSINESS CARD
TO THE DETECTIVE. From these items, he will divine a suspect and
a motive. GIVE THE FAIRY MASK TO THE DETECTIVE. He will wonder
aloud about the value of the mask, so say DETECTIVE, LOOK INSIDE
THE FAIRY MASK. He will see the discrepancy, but just to be safe
tell him to COMPARE THE DARK HAIR TO VERONICA'S HAIR. These
three clues (fairy mask/dark hair, business card, and sales
agreement) will keep Duffy and the detective out of your way. Of
course, you could get in their way.
 WAIT. Michael Wellman, Veronica's husband, Colonel Marston,
confident administrator of Ashcroft Trust, and William Cochrane,
boozy owner of King's Point Realty, will crowd into the office.
It should be 10:17. Timing is now of prime importance: A chain of
events is about
to transpire. We will have to move from one end of Ashcroft
Manor to the other, and we will have to do it fast.
 Part 2 After Michael leaves the Farm Office, Go NORTH to the Covered
Walkway. Go WEST into the Garage. HIDE BEHIND THE MERCEDES.
WAIT. Michael will stop here. It should be 10:26. Keep WAITing,
and Michael will open the trunk of the BMW, do something which
you'll be unable to see, then close the trunk. When Michael
shuts the trunk, go EAST. This will startle him, but it won't
get you out of the Garage, so go EAST a second time. (Had you
waited around until Michael left, you'd have missed at least one
of the following events.)
 From the Covered Walkway, go SOUTHWEST to the Farm Office,
SOUTH to the Hall At Corner, SOUTH to the Morning Room, EAST the
Entry Hall, and EAST into the Library. HIDE BEHIND THE VICTORIAN
CHAIR. WAIT. Keep WAITing until Colonel Marston stops here. It
should be 10:52. Keep WAITing until Michael arrives at 10:56.
Michael will give Marston a piece of paper, which the Colonel
will read avidly. Both men will grin then head off to the north.
 Waste no time now, the chase is afoot! Go NORTH three times
then go EAST. You will be at the South Entrance. You'll see
Marston make an odd movement while he warms his hands at the
Fireplace. Go EAST to the Fireplace. TAKE THE PAPER. Got it just
in time! It should be 11:04.
 We can slow things down now. In fact, we *must* slow them down.
The detective will not go where we need him until the guests are
gone and only the suspects remain, sometime after 1:00 a.m. We
still have more evidence to get. Before we go any further,
though, let's speak with the guests. Marston should be here (at
the Fireplace), so ASK MARSTON ABOUT THE TRUST. ASK MICHAEL
ABOUT MARSTON. (If Michael has walked off, WAIT until he comes
back to the Fireplace.) They get along well, don't they?
 There will time later to chat with the other guests. For now,
let's go back to the Garage, get more evidence, then try to sort
this mess out.
 Part 3

 From the Fireplace, go WEST twice then NORTH twice. UNLOCK THE
GLASS DOOR. Go WEST into the Garden, where you will be greeted,
with some unfriendliness, by a Doberman Pinscher. WAIT.
Eventually, the dog will go back to the doghouse. Go SOUTH to
the Walkway and WEST to the Garage.
 OPEN THE TOOL CHEST. TAKE THE CROWBAR. OPEN THE BMW TRUNK WITH
THE CROWBAR. TAKE THE TRUST FOLDER. (Since we need to waste sometime,
CLOSE THE BMW TRUNK, PUT THE CROWBAR IN THE CHEST, and CLOSE THE CHEST.)
 EXAMINE THE TRUST FOLDER. READ THE DOCUMENTS. Contained in the
documents is a letter from an accounting firm. It seems 20% of
the Ashcroft Trust has been siphoned off into four poor-risk
companies. The Southeast Planning Corporation, which is handling
all this, lists Robert Marston as the executive officer. Reading
the documents also notes that the last page has been torn off,
and the corner of the missing page is still under the staple.
EXAMINE THE PAPER you pulled out of the Fireplace. Aha! A
corner is missing! READ THE PAPER. It's a list of investors in
Southeast Planning Corporation. Some list! Marston and Wellman
each own 50%.
 The business card and the unsigned sales agreement pointed to
Cochrane, or so the detective thought. The trust documents and
the list of investors point to Marston and Wellman. And there's
the unresolved matter of Alicia. Since we can't count on the
detective to do anything more than wait for us to solve the
crime, let's head back to the Ballroom.
 Go EAST to the Walkway, NORTH to the Garden, then EAST to Long
Hall North. SOUTH twice and EAST twice brings us to the
Fireplace. Marston is here. (So is the detective, "weighing
evidence.") SHOW THE DOCUMENTS TO MARSTON. He's feeling cheated,
poor guy. GIVE THE DOCUMENTS TO THE DETECTIVE. He'll want to
know where you found this important evidence, so by all means
ignore him. GIVE THE PAPER TO THE DETECTIVE, and he won't care
where you find anything, so long as you give it to him.
 Now go EAST to the Bar. ASK ALICIA ABOUT VERONICA then ASK
ALICIA ABOUT MICHAEL. She seems anxious to seal her doom, so
we'll help her along. Go WEST four times. You will be in the
East Coat Closet. EXAMINE THE WET OVERCOAT. TAKE THE WET
OVERCOAT. Go EAST three times, to the Fireplace, and GIVE THE
WET OVERCOAT TO THE DETECTIVE. He won't know know what to do
with it now, but we'll tell him later.
 Go EAST then NORTH three times, and you'll be in the Kitchen.
TAKE THE BASKET. SOUTH three times then WEST to the Fireplace.
SHOW THE BASKET TO THE DETECTIVE. Again, he'll be baffled, so
say DETECTIVE, FINGERPRINT THE BROKEN GLASS. He will give the
order to Sergeant Duffy. The broken glass is the same glass
Veronica threw on the Ballroom floor many hours ago. WAIT FOR
DUFFY. Michael and Ostmann and Smythe pace the floor
continuously, so you will be asked if you want to keep waiting,
until Duffy actually returns. When he does return, he will hand
the detective an analysis of the broken glass. The detective
will read it then give it to you. READ THE GLASS ANALYSIS for a
real surprise: The fingerprints on the glass are not Veronica
Ashcroft's! We've got her now! Well, not quite.
There's one more bit of proof we need to close
the book on Alicia. Unfortunately, we need the detective for
this, and he will be occupied until all the guests have
departed, and only the suspects remain. The last revelers will
stagger out after 1:00 a.m., after which Marston and Duffy and
the detective will adjourn to the bar, which is right where we
want them.
 DETECTIVE, COMPARE THE DARK HAIR TO ALICIA'S HAIR. He will
notice the similarity. DETECTIVE, ANALYZE THE DARK HAIR. He will
send Duffy off again. TELL THE DETECTIVE ABOUT THE RAIN. He will
now know why you gave him the wet overcoat. WAIT FOR DUFFY to
return. When he does, READing THE HAIR ANALYSIS will show that
the dark hair had either been pulled out or had fallen out.
Since Veronica's hair is short and blond, someone else wore her
costume for a while. If you like, you can show the hair analysis
to Alicia. She has a good excuse. The detective, however, is
convinced. DETECTIVE, ARREST MICHAEL AND ALICIA.
 Michael Wellman and Alicia Barron will be handcuffed and carted
away by Sergeant Duffy. With your testimony, both will be
convicted of the murder of Veronica Ashcroft. Marston will be
convicted of embezzlement and grand theft for siphoning fundsfrom the Trust.
 And you will receive a Pulitzer Prize (not to mention movie and
book club sales) for your syndicated, twelve-part series about
the sordid and tangled events at Ashcroft Manor. SUSPECT
is published by Infocom, Inc. This walkthru is copyright (c) 1986
by The Doctor's Office. All rights reserved.