Whodunit: An Alarming Jewel Heist

The following is a Whodunit by Hy Conrad featuring Sherman Oliver Holmes, a mysterious crime solver and great-great-grandson of Sherlock Holmes. Can you solve the crime?

Meet Sherman Holmes

"Maybe now you'll stop bugging me," Zach Alban said as Sherman walked into his friend's shop. "See? I got that alarm system you recommended, wired straight to the police station."

"It's about time," Sherman replied. Alban Jewelers had just expanded its business and finally had some jewels worth stealing.

"Mr. Alban, I'm leaving now." Ricky Mayfield had finished clearing out the window displays, placing the felts of precious stones into their locked drawers for the night. The door buzzed as the young assistant raced out to catch his bus.

Melanie, Alban's second in command, was putting on her jacket and looking at the newly installed alarm panel. "Are you sure you don't want to give me the code, Zach? That way you won't always have to be here to open and close."

"Not right now. Maybe in a few days when I get more used to it."

"Whatever," Melanie said. A rumbling from the street announced the arrival of her boyfriend's motorcycle. "See you tomorrow." And she was quickly out the door, hopping onto the back of a Harley-Davidson.

Zach led the way into the back office, eager to show his friend the entire system. "Once I set the code, any broken window or open door will trigger the alarm. Twenty seconds, that's all the time I have to disarm it. Sam, why don't you go home, too?"

Sam Wells switched off the computer and wished his boss a good night. Seconds later they heard the front door buzz, signaling the last employee's departure. "Want to help me close up?" Zach asked Sherman. "I don't want to make a mistake. After your first false alarm, they start charging you a fine."

Sherman and Zach followed the instructions to the letter, then went down the block to Gil's Tavern. When they left an hour later, Sherman noticed a police patrol car parked in front of Alban Jewelers.

"Break-in and burglary," an officer informed the devastated storeowner. "The back alley window was smashed. We responded within two minutes. But the alley was empty and the crooks were already gone."

Sherman was surprised by the thoroughness of the burglary. The jewel drawers had been chiseled open and stripped of their contents. The display cases had also been broken into and ransacked, glass shards littering the hardwood floor.

"So much for my brand new alarm system," Zach said almost accusingly.

"Not so fast," Sherman said. "If it weren't for the alarm system I wouldn't know who the burglar is."

WHO ROBBED THE SHOP?

HOW DID SHERMAN KNOW?

Show Answer


The whodunit above was provided by American mystery fiction author Hy Conrad.

In addition to his work in mystery and crime puzzles, Hy was also one of the original writers for the groundbreaking TV series Monk.

Currently, Hy is working on mystery novel series "Abel Adventures" as well as the Monk series of novels, starting with Mr. Monk Helps Himself (published by Penguin, order from Amazon here)

Check out Hy's official website and Facebook page - and stay tuned for more whodunits puzzlers on Neatorama from the master of whodunit mysteries himself!


Comments (2)

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Maybe the pollsters neglected to properly factor in the large number of independents who are (oddly) free to vote for either party in NH primaries. I know if I lived in the state, I would register Independent so I would be always be free to vote for the opposing party's weaker candidate -- especially if my own party's race was not close.
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Maybe we need more polling to predict the accuracy of the poll... It's a shame we can't be satisfied with the actual results rather than allowing the media to create news by boosting up the soothsayer aspect of their biz.

As far as I'm concerned the 'weather team' has the monopoly on that area.

Here's an idea... let's John Edward and Sylvia Browne to contact the spirit world and tell us where each primary will go...
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Maybe it was a rigged election. Maybe somebody actually holds the controls to the voting machines. Maybe the primary is a better time to fake an election, since fewer people will look at it. The polls are never wrong, (cliche phone polling example aside) Obama won.
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It is well known that Diebold's machines can be easily hacked in about ten minutes, so anyone who had access to them for that amount of time (perhaps in the factory) could have decided the results months ago.

The totals from the hand-counted counties were VERY different from those that used machines, in many cases off by 7%, which is more than enough to give second-tier candidate the win.

There needs to be a real discussion in this country about this, but most people just dismiss the very concept of a rigged election as tinfoil hat conspiracy talk. All the while our freedoms are taken from us one by one by one.
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Polls and projections seem to have the effect of inspiring underdog voters to vote and/or, in the supporters of the sure-fires, blunting the sense of urgency to get to the polls.

Why polls anyway?

Primaries should be conducted nationwide in the same few hours.
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I never did understand the point of your primaries, anyways. Why not just vote for them all on one night?

I listened to Obama's speech after the vote - wow, he's a great speaker, with good writers.

Hillary's speech was lame, uninspiring.

I think people are so afraid of a fiery black man that they'll vote for the tired-out, wimpy white woman.
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Instead of looking at the pollsters, look at the ballot paper trail. The vast majority of impartial polling today is unimpeachable. If the polls are "wrong," you should smell a rat.
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There are serious discrepancies between the hand count and machine count districts, and there is a single company who is the chain of custody for all the machine counts. The company is owned by an avowed Republican, and a principle in the company has a felony conviction. All of this is circumstantial, but very, very, suspicious. Go to www.bradblog.com for the latest on potential vote fraud.
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