Mini Mysteries

by Acologic

The Shot In the Dark

‘A liar,’ Slipstar told the assembled at his talk on criminal psychology, ‘must be very careful when he tells his story. So often have I found within the details of even the least suspicious account an inconsistency that proves fatal.

‘Take the case of Straight Marks, who killed his friend Pebble for money. Marks and Pebble frequented the Everfree. Marks claimed that, on their last outing together, Pebble went searching for mushrooms but did not return. The forest grew dark. Marks became anxious and tried to find Pebble, but neither the stars nor the moon were out – he could scarcely see. The situation worsened when Marks dropped his torch; he struggled to return to the campsite.

‘Eventually, Marks stumbled upon the path and felt his way down it. Then he noticed a pair of eyes, shining at him in the dark. Terrified, he raised his rifle and called for his friend. When he received no answer, he fired, thinking it was a wolf. He heard a yelp and realised he’d hit his target. He managed to reach the campsite and resumed his search in the morning, only to find that he’d mistakenly shot Pebble the night before.

‘What was wrong with Marks’s story?’ Slipstar asked the crowd.

‘Pebble would have responded when he called,’ said one pony.

‘Marks could not have found the path without his torch,’ suggested another.

Slipstar nodded. ‘You’re going about it the right way, but the opposite of neither of these statements is impossible.’

What was wrong with Marks’s story?

Marks could not have seen Pebble’s eyes; equine eyes shine by reflecting light – in Marks’s story there could not have been any once he had lost his torch, for ‘neither the stars nor the moon were out’ and he ‘felt his way down’ the path.