Note: Last time Colorado Joe chose a HARD mystery.
The Case:
At an airport luggage carousel, Cathi strikes up a conversation with Liz Perry. Liz tries to avoid Cathi, but Cathi insists on talking. Later, Liz takes a taxi home, while Cathi boards a plane to Paris. A week later, Liz dies at home. On returning to the US, Cathi is charged with her murder.
The Mystery:
How did Cathi kill Liz, and why?
The Solution:
Before their chat at the airport, Cathi and Liz had never met. But they did have a common friend – Liz’s husband, Ed. Cathi recently had an affair with Ed, and went crazy when Ed broke it off. The unsuspecting Liz, a frequent traveler on business, figured prominently in Cathi’s plan for revenge.
On their final tryst at the Perry house, Cathi sneaked into Liz’s bathroom and dropped a dose of strychnine into her cough medicine. That same day Cathi purposely set out to catch a cold. By the time Liz arrived at the airport after a business trip, Cathi was coughing, hacking, and sneezing up a storm. She tracked Liz to the baggage carousel and struck up a conversation with her. Liz tried to avoid the chatty, infectious stranger, but Cathi coughed on her until her bags came down the chute.
The next week, Cathi was in Paris with an alibi while Liz was pouring herself an odd-smelling dose of cough medicine. At first police suspected Ed – just what Cathi had planned for her double revenge. It was only after Ed confessed to his affair with the crazed Cathi that police began looking for the person who gave Liz her cold.
Hint #1: Theirs was a five hanky conversation
Hint #2: Revenge is a dish best served cold
Note:
You’re free to ask anything, (please keep it to one question a post for simplicity’s sake,) but Jurd can only answer your questions with:
- Yes
- No
- Yes and No
- Irrelevant
- I don’t know
- Rephrase your question
- Define what you mean by…
Disclaimer: Monday Mysteries are culled from the 1993 Milton Bradley game, Crack the Case – but don’t go peeking.
Skinner Co. makes no claim to the intellectual property presented here, we’re just a number of friends playing a board game in a digital living room.
Did everyone end up with their own luggage?
Yes
Is what Cathy said relevant?
No
Is either Paris or the US city relevant?
No, only that Cathi and Liz were well apart from each other when the death happened.
She had covid, didn’t she.
Covid alone isn’t enough for a murder charge, otherwise every idiot I see wearing their mask beneath their nose at the grocery store would be facing a lineup.
Agreed.
Was Cathty a sneaky poisoner at the luggage carousel?
Yes! But how did Cathi get the poison into Liz?
Edit: I should clarify, she did sneak poison, but not at the carousel.
Did Liz die of poisoning?
Yes! (But see above)
Did Liz die of an infectious disease?
Yes and no
Did Liz die because she stopped taking needed medication?
No
Did Cathy give Liz anything?
Yes
Wow, you guys are on the right track way faster than I expected.
Did Cathy slip poison into her toiletry bag.
Yeeeeeessssssss…. I mean, she didn’t just dump a bunch of arsenic in.
Did Cathi give Liz a business card?
No
Did she give her the zombie virus?
Yes, but it wasn’t what killed her
Was the poison on an object given to the victim?
“On” is a tricky sort of word.
Did Liz and Cathy know each other before meeting at the airport?
Yes and no
I had to update this answer because – well, because. 😉
Replace the tricky word “on” with “in”?
I mean.. yes and no. Cathi did somehow give Liz poison.
Did Cathi say something that made Liz cry?
No
So the poison was on a handkerchief, that was given to the victim because they were crying?
Nope
Was Liz having an affair with Cathy’s partner?
No, Liz was not having an affair with Cathi‘s partner.
Did Cathy give Liz a cold but switched the pain meds in her toiletries to poison pills?
That would at least explain the week delay (incubation period).
Wow, nailed it!
Yes.
How did Cathi kill Liz, and why?
Was Cathy a flight attendent?
Nay
Was Cathi selling or giving away cosmetics?
Nay
How did Cathi kill Liz, and why?
So, Cathi was having an affair with Liz’s partner?
Yes!
Did Cathi complain that she had a headache, and ask for pain medication?
Close!
Did Cathy give Liz a cold but switched the pain meds in her toiletries to poison pills because she was having an affair with Liz’s partner and wanted him/her all to herself!
Nailed it!
I’ll post the full solution as soon as I’m out of this meeting – do you want an easy, medium, or hard puzzle next time?
Medium please! (I’m not that cocky )
Nice job, Melissa (and all)!