The Dean's Prerogative
An independent investigator is called to Hargrove College following the discovery of the Dean's body in the faculty parking lot. The campus, governed by mid-century analog systems and steeped in genteel propriety, presents a series of conflicting physical traces and testimonial accounts. The objective is to untangle the timeline of events from the available evidence.
Initial Crime Scene
The sodium-vapor lamp buzzes overhead, casting a sickly yellow glare over the frost-slick asphalt of the faculty parking lot. The air smells of cold stone and distant chimney smoke. A single, polished brass plaque reading 'DEAN' marks the reserved spot. The heavy, leather-bound parking logbook lies open on a nearby ledge, its columns filled with looping script. A distant, rhythmic ticking comes from a clock somewhere inside the darkened academic hall.
Crime Scene Environment
The campus operates under a stifling, genteel atmosphere, with lighting provided by sparse, buzzing sodium-vapor lamps and warm, isolated pools from desk lamps. The humidity is low, the air dry and carrying the chill of an autumn night, acoustically dense with the hum of distant institutional machinery and the whisper of wind through ivy-covered stone.
Investigation Constraints
Mid-century analog systems: paper sign-in logs at the faculty gate, mechanical punch-card time clocks for custodial staff, rotary telephones, handwritten inter-office memoranda, carbon-copy receipts from the campus bursar, and simple alarm clocks. No digital records, security cameras, or computerized databases exist.
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