Tangled Webs

Tangled Webs is the seventh volume in the Literary Mosaic series. When Gunnarson finds himself stranded at a mansion during a snowstorm, the next morning he is forced to solve the murder of the kindhearted host who gave him shelter during the night. This story was inspired by the board game Clue.

Summary:

When Gunnarson's car breaks down, he finds himself stranded with a snowstorm on the way. Finding a mansion, he knocks on the door and is greeted by Dr. James Walker, the owner of the property. Greeting him warmly, Dr. Walker welcomes Gunnarson in, as he is familiar with the detective's work. Gunnarson is subsequently introduced to the other ten people in the house:

Colonel Thomas Brooks, and old friend who served in the British Army with Dr. Walker

Reverend Edward Dixon, the minister of the local church

Professor Henry Miller, an old friend and college Dr. Walker went to school with

Mrs. Ellen Clarke, a long time friend of Dr. Walker and his late parents

Ms. Emily Parker, Mrs. Clarke's stepdaughter and friend to Dr. Walker.

Ms. Samantha Ellis, Maid to Dr. Walker

Mr. Howard Ellis' Butler to Dr. Walker and Samantha's brother.

Sergeant Gordon Hamilton, a local policeman

Lady Sarah Goodwin, a distant cousin to the royal family

Physician Alice Warren, a doctor who went to medical school with Dr. Walker

After a wonderful evening, everyone goes to bed. The next day though, everyone is shocked when Dr. Walker is found dead in the cellar. Gathering everybody, Gunnarson explains that one of the ten has to be the murderer, based on the circumstances- the mansion is snowbound, so no one can get in or out. Referring to his trifecta of means, motive and opportunity, Gunnarson explains that the way to go about solving this case is to find out who did it, where and with what weapon- explaining that "who" will yield motive, "where" will reveal opportunity and the weapon used is means. Careful analysis of the house leads Gunnarson to conclude that the murder could have only happened in one of twelve rooms: Conservatory, Lounge, Kitchen, Library, Hall, Study, Ballroom, Dining Room, Billiard Room, Drawing Room, Master Bedroom or Trophy Room. Furthermore, given that these articles changed location during the night, he was certainly killed with one of the following ten weapons: Sgt. Hamilton's Pistol, Colonel Brooks' Revolver, Dagger, Sword, Rope, Wrench, Lead Pipe, Candlestick, Poison, or Fire Poker.

After some words are exchanged, Physician Warren volunteers to look at Dr. Walker's body for clues. Subsequently, Gunnarson interviews each of the ten suspects and finds out some bits of information from each of them. Once everyone is gathered again, Physician Warren announces that Dr. Walker was killed with a blunt object.

Another shock- suddenly there is loud knocking at the door. Gunnarson, Hamilton and Brooks go to investigate the door where the knocking is coming from. Gunnarson opens the door and a "white monstrosity" tumbles into the house. Colonel Brooks is horrified at what he sees and opens fire with his revolver. Hamilton stops him as Gunnarson proceeds to help the person up; revealed to be a middle aged man covered in snow. Everyone reconvenes and Physician Warren gets to work helping the man who was shot. It is revealed that he is Judas Law; the groundskeeper for Dr. Walker who lives in a hut separate from the main house. A while later, Physician Warren has stabilized Mr. Law, and Gunnarson interviews him. Gunnarson explains that though Law is not a suspect, he surely must have seen something that night. Law goes on to explain that he saw a lot of movement in the house from his hut during the night, and became concerned that something was amiss. When morning came, Law realized that he had run out of firewood, so he finally decided to go into the mansion. After questioning, Gunnarson lets Law rest and he returns to the suspects, where he reveals that each of the ten potential weapons changed rooms during the night, and he now knows where each one ended up:

-Sgt. Hamilton's Pistol- took it into his room when he went to bed, but was found this morning in the lounge.

-Colonel Brooks' Revolver- Took it into his room when he went to bed, but was found this morning in the dining room.

-Lead pipe- in the conservatory, then moved to the Library

-Spanner (wrench)- In the conservatory, then moved to the Study

-Candlestick- In the dining room, then moved to the drawing room

-Rope- In the drawing room, then moved to the billiard room

-Fire Poker- In the study, then moved to the Ballroom

-Sword- In the trophy room, then moved to the Hall

-Dagger- In the trophy room, then moved to the kitchen

-Poison- In the kitchen, then moved to the conservatory

When Gunnarson confronts Reverend Dixon about the poison, revealing that he found proof Dixon was the one who moved it, Dixon confesses that he was stripped of the cloth in response to heavy gambling and has been faking that he was still a minister for months. Once that revelation was out of the way, everyone goes on to confess their motives:

-Dr. Walker knew of Reverend Dixon's secret, and had paid off Dixon's debts. But Dr. Walker wanted Dixon to pay him back, and the Reverend took the poison from the kitchen and went to the Conservatory to kill Walker; but he couldn't bring himself to do it, so he dropped the poison and returned to his room

-Ms. Parker was jealous of Dr. Walker's relationship with Physician Warren; and took Sgt. Hamilton's pistol to go and ambush him. When she got into the lounge she fired three times at a figure she thought was Dr. Walker; when it was revealed to be Ms. Ellis, Ms. Parker ran back to her room, concerned that the noise would attract attention to herself.

-Lady Goodwin resented Dr. Walker for breaking off her engagement to another man that he suspected of not being truthful to her, and took the dagger from the trophy room to ambush him in the kitchen. When he never showed up and she saw others around the house, she dropped the dagger and ran back to her room

-Professor Miller resented Dr Walker because he stopped contributing financially to his research. Taking the rope from the drawing room, he went to the billiard room. However, he fell asleep before he could ambush Dr. Walker

-Physician Warren could not stand that Dr. Walker would not call her "doctor" as well, so taking the sword from the trophy room she waited in the hall to ambush him. One look at him and she realized she couldn't do it; so she dropped the sword and went back to her Room

-Mr. Ellis resented being paid poverty wages by Dr. Walker and not getting a raise in 12 years. Taking the fire poker from the study, he went to ambush Dr. Walker in the ballroom, but couldn't bring himself to do it.

-Like her brother, Ms. Ellis could not stand being paid poverty wages. She took the pipe from the conservatory and went to ambush him in the library, but he never appeared.

-Colonel Brooks was unwillingly made the guinea pig of a drug Dr. Walker was working on, so taking the wrench from the conservatory, he went to ambush him in the study, but he couldn't do it, so he dropped the wrench and ran back to his room

-Sgt. Hamilton had an affair with a woman, and Dr. Walker knew about this. Concerned he would tell someone else about it, he took the candlestick from the dining room and ran to Walker's room, and then the drawing room. Finding no one, he left the candlestick in the drawing room and went back to his room.

-Mrs. Clarke's husband lent Dr. Walker's father 15,000 pounds, but the elder Walker died before he could pay it back. Taking Colonel Brooks' revolver, she went to ambush him in the dining room; she fired at what she thought was him, but apparently it was the Reverend's jacket hanging on a post; the darkness threw her off.

After thinking it over, Gunnarson realizes that only four scenarios are possible, thus narrowing it down to four suspects:

.Mr. Ellis in the ballroom with the fire poker .Colonel Brooks in the study with the wrench .Ms. Ellis in the library with the pipe .Sergeant Hamilton with the candlestick in the drawing room

From here, there are two endings:

Ending A:

Gunnarson spends a few hours pondering the facts, and when it is mentioned that Dr. Walker has a twin brother, he realizes that Dr. Walker wasn't killed, it was his twin brother, because Dr. Walker had gambling debts and he decided to kill his brother to take over his life, then sneak out during the night. But the suspects ridicule Gunnarson and dismiss him as drunk; the theory makes no logical sense because, among other reasons:

-Ms. Ellis has not left the mansion in three weeks; even when she doesn't see someone enter the mansion, she knows how many people are in the mansion at any moment, and she knows there were only 12 people in the mansion that night- Dr. Walker, Gunnarson and the ten suspects.

-Mr. Ellis knows the mansion like the back of his hand; Dr. Walker could not hide his brother's body without him knowing about it

-Mr. Law points out the snow is too high and the gates are still locked; Dr. Walker could never have escaped.

Furious at Gunnarson, the suspects put their faith into Sgt. Hamilton, who offers to go search the four rooms it was narrowed down to determine who the real murderer is. The suspects feel they can trust Hamilton more than Gunnarson and agree with this idea.

A persistent Gunnarson eventually finds Dr. Walker hiding in his room. A series of complicated revelations reveals the scenario- the Ellis siblings killed Dr. Walker's brother, and apparently Dr. Walker put them up to it, promising them a great deal of money in exchange for the plot.

Though there are still holes in this plan, no one is able to debate them, as suddenly Detective Stein, and officers Conrad and Johnson appear, having been called here as back up.

Dr. Walker and the Ellis siblings are taken to jail, while the other suspects are assured no charges will be brought against them, in light of the circumstances.

An epilogue reveals that the Ellis siblings plead guilty to murdering Dr. Walker's brother, saying that they mistook him for Dr. Walker. Dr. Walker himself was acquitted, because although evidence was found proving the Ellis siblings involvement, not one piece of evidence could be found connecting Dr. Walker to the crime, and he was set free. He subsequently sailed to America to start a new life.

Ending B:

Deciding to go and search the four rooms again, Gunnarson finds key evidence that finally solves the case. The murderer is revealed to be Mr. Ellis, who had teamed up with his sister to kill Dr. Walker over the fact that they were being paid poverty wages for the amount of work they do. The fact that the fire poker and lead pipe, as well as Mr. Ellis' shirt and Ms. Ellis' apron were found covered in blood splatter seals their fate, and they are arrested as soon as the police arrive. At the funeral, the remaining suspects make peace with Dr. Walker, saying that despite his flaws, he was still a good man.

Victim:

Dr. James Walker; owner of the mansion

Murderers:

Howard Ellis and Samantha Ellis; his servants who killed him over being paid poverty wages

Trivia:

-This story was based on the board game, Clue.

-To date, it is the only LM with multiple endings. To get around this, in future entries when Gunnarson remembers this case, he will simply say that he "can't quite remember how that one turned out"

-When it comes to determining which ending is the canon ending, Frankthetriviaman argues that Ending B is the canon ending, pointing out that not only did ending A leave more questions than answers, it completely missed the point of the story. Since this was based on clue, the final solution was supposed to be "Who did it, where and with what weapon;" though Frank does concede that in another story, said twist would have worked out great, but for this story it did not work.