Clyde Stevenson just bought a brand new house. Everything in it was state-of-the-art; the refrigerator was stainless steel; the ovens were electric; even the windows were built to open from the inside only. Clyde was a very nervous man, and always kept his house locked up, especially this one, since it was new.
Clyde decided, since he bought a nice new house, he might as well break it in and plan a barbeque. He went to the store and bought some steaks, wine (it was his first party), and other things that he saw fit. He set the table, had the steaks marinating, and then began calling his friends to come over. He invited Stan, Eric, Helen and Pete.
They all came over and Clyde started the steaks. He finished grilling the steaks, and then broke open the wine and they started to eat. They talked about sports, the news, and gossiped about people in town. After a while, Stan started to get a little tipsy and was getting a little rude. Clyde asked him to settle down, in a civil manner, but Stan got furious and tried to fight. After quite a brawl, they got a taxi for Stan and everyone left.
The next day at 10:00 a.m., the police got a call that Clyde had been murdered. When the police arrived on the scene, they found Stan and Helen. The police officer decided to question them both at the station, to get the story straight.
When the officer questioned Stan, he said, “I was talking to Helen on the phone when I told her I should go over to Clyde’s to apologise (Stan told the officer what happened last night). She said that she should come with me in case things got heated again, and I said that was fine. I got there about ten minutes after Helen had done, and I noticed that the front door was locked. I decided to look through a window to see if they were there. When I saw Helen, blood soaked, tossing a knife into the sink. I quickly opened the window and crawled through, and called the police. Helen killed Clyde.”
When the officer questioned Helen, she said, “Stan called me and told me to meet him at Clyde’s so he could apologise about last night (She also told the story about what happened). I get there about ten minutes faster than Stan, so I decided to wait in the car for him. After a while, I got bored, so I decided to go in and tell Clyde what was going to happen. I noticed the door was wide open, and I thought that was strange because Clyde was a very nervous man. So, I rang the doorbell, walked in, and locked the door, because I knew that Clyde always wanted the door locked. I saw Clyde lying on the floor with stab wounds. I grabbed him to see if he was alive, but he was dead. I went into the kitchen to call the police when I saw Stan in the other room saying that I killed him, and that he had called the police.”
The officer put them in different jail cells and decided to look over the crime scene. He searched the entire area and discovered who murdered Clyde. Who was it and why?
Solution
Stan murdered Clyde. In the beginning, it is stated that the windows were new, and were designed to open from the inside only. If Stan had tried to open the window, he would have found it wouldn’t work, and he would not have been able to get through that way.
