A detective is in the middle of investigating a murder.

Here is what he knows:

Alec Crabtree was found dead at his desk in his study last night. He had been hit on the head
with a blunt object. He had been sitting at the desk with his back to the door, and was in the
middle of writing a letter. He was found by his wife at 11.15 p.m., when she went in to bring him
his bedtime cocoa. His watch had been smashed in the struggle and had stopped at 11.05 p.m.
The suspects are the people who were in the house at the time of the murder:

• Mrs. Crabtree (the dead man’s wife)

• Daniel Crabtree (the dead man’s brother)
• Mr. and Mrs. Fairfax (old friends of the Crabtrees)
• Susie (the maid)

Unfortunately the investigation is stucked now, because our clumsy detective dropped down all
the little cards containing his notes... The cards are mixed (irrelevant information with the
relevant ones, older notes with the new ones etc...).

This is the information we could retrieve from the cards:

1. A silver vase was missing from the room.

2. The bathroom is next to the study.
3. During college Mrs. Fairfax and Daniel dated.
4. Mr. Fairfax is Mr. Crabtree’s lawyer.
5. The window of the study was open.
6. A cigarette end was found by the body.
7. Two airline tickets to Paris were found in the drawer of Mr. Crabtree’s desk.
8. Mr. Fairfax and Mr. Crabtree got into an argument while playing cards.
9. Mrs. Crabtree is a tea drinker.
10. Everybody smokes except Mr. Crabtree and the maid.
11. A piece of red material was found on the window.
12. A silver vase (badly dented) was found in the flower bed.
13. Mrs. Crabtree, Mrs. Fairfax and Daniel were all wearing red.
14. A note was found in Mrs. Crabtree’s handbag. It said: “Alec, meet me in the garden at 11
o’clock, Alice.”
15. Susie had bought a silver vase for the study on the morning of the murder.
16. At 11.05 Daniel left the room and he went into the bathroom.
17. When Mrs. Fairfax sat down to watch TV, she had a flower in her hands.
18. Everyone was playing cards until 11 p.m., except Susie, who was washing up in the
kitchen between 10.30 and 11.15.
19. At 11 o’clock Mr. Crabtree got up and said he had a letter to write. He went into the
study.
20. Mrs. Crabtree’s name is not Alice.
21. Mrs. Fairfax went outside at 11 o’clock, saying she was hot and needed fresh air.
22. In the drawer of the desk there was a will. The will left $10,000 to Daniel.
23. The maid heard footsteps in the hall and the study door opening at just after 11 o’clock.
24. Daniel had debts of about $9,000.
 25. At about five past eleven, the maid heard the front door opening and footsteps in the hall.
It was Mrs. Fairfax coming in from the garden. She went straight into the living room.
26. Daniel and Mr. Fairfax started to watch a TV program after the game of cards finished at
11 o’clock. They were still watching it at five past eleven when Alice Fairfax came in
and joined them.
27. Alec Crabtree had been writing a letter. It began: Dear Anne, I don’t know how to tell
you this, but I am leaving you. Alice and I ...
28. At about ten past eleven the maid heard the front door opening again. This time it was
Mrs. Crabtree who came into the kitchen and started to make a cocoa for herself and her
husband.
29. Mrs. Crabtree’s name is Anne.
30. Susie has only been working at the Crabtree’s for four days.

Can you put the pieces of the puzzle together and fnd out what happened?