ChaseKetchum2024.2

Mystery Weekend 2024 Solution

Greetings. As most of you know I am Texas Ranger, Ranger Chase Ketchum. Long ago I developed a relationship with the Langley Police Department as a consultant and I want to thank them for their assistance with this confusing mystery.

When I arrived Friday morning they gave me the carโ€™s registration and informed me that the owner, Claire Voyant, was missing. We quickly discovered that the car had been sold to Del Orien and Ed Sill but where was Claire? My interviews with those who knew her were disturbing. She had, for some days, been feeling an approaching darkness, an impending doom. I wondered if her premonitions had brought her harm. Fortunately, I was able to locate her at her sisterโ€™s home in Roslyn. We spoke and she told me the darkness, dread and anxiety had overcome her Thursday night and she fled town. Her credit card receipts confirm her story.

I found myself faced with 24 possible suspects and so started by eliminating those with solid alibis.

Ray and Electra Lux. The victimโ€™s parents. It didnโ€™t take me long to understand why Cy had broken off contact with them and changed his name. Keeping an open mind is crucial to detective work but two minutes into my interview with Ray I wanted to punch that smug, greedy, self-aggrandizing little narcissist in the face and jail him just as a public service.

Unfortunately security cameras at SeaTac confirm that Ray and Electra were both there at 8 a.m. Their limo was blocking several of the departure lanes while the poor driver unloaded and checked four large pieces of luggage. Meanwhile Ray and Electra were carrying on some sort of argument. Security couldnโ€™t get them to move. Traffic backed up. It was a mess. They seem to create bad feelings wherever they go but the bottom line is they werenโ€™t in Langley when their son died.

Blackie Beardsley and Tap Hopper were brought into town by the Luxes very recently and had no history with Cy before arriving, so they seemed unlikely suspects.

At least they did until I found out that Tap suffers from Metamfiezomaiophobia (Met-zam-feez-o-my-o-fobia)- a fear of mimes. Irrational fears do sometimes cause people to kill, however when Cy was around Tap just turned into a pile of quivering jelly โ€“ completely unable to function.

Blackie was quite a help to me. His background in robotics helped me understand that the car and controller would have required a line of sight. In order to guide the car the murderer would have need to see Cy. None of the people in town that morning had reported seeing a drone, and the car wasnโ€™t equipped with a camera, so the murderer must have been nearby.

Buncha Dufas Roofers. What a great bunch of kids. They were having a staff meeting nearby when Cy was killed and did what they could. Afterward they offered their recent drone footage and were happy to give statements. It did seem a little suspicious that the victim had just loaned Rufas Dufas, the business owner, money but Rufas himself told me that and explained his plan to repay Cy. There was no motive and the whole crew alibied each other.

The Dufas Roofers crew could also alibi Major Ira Tent and his wife Sunny who were walking into town for breakfast, paused to talk to Cy who was practicing his unicycle skills, and then witnessed his untimely demise. Neither had a motive to hurt Cy and neither have the skill set to work a remote control. I was hoping theyโ€™d seen something useful but Sunny was too shaken up to remember much and Major Ira Tent was too focused on his hunger. They are perhaps the oddest couple Iโ€™ve ever met but they didnโ€™t do it.

Patience Tweedsmouth, Josh Dโ€™Fax and Bee Hyves. I found each of these women delightfully daunting. They are smart, energetic, and fully engaged in making their community a better place each in their own way. I couldnโ€™t find a motive for any of them and they were all together at The Commons at the time of the accident. There is a theory called the Infinite Monkey theory, that says that a monkey hitting keys at random on a typewriter keyboard for an infinite amount of time will eventually type the complete works of William Shakespeare. This theory has come to my mind every time Iโ€™ve spoken to Ed Sill or Del Orien.

Ed Sill and Del Orien are clearly good with technology but Edโ€™s wife, Bee, and Delโ€™s son, Scooter, have to help them find their keys and shoes โ€” not to mention those controllers! I donโ€™t know how they function outside their shop, but somehow they have Lackey Valet nearly ready to manufacture and were hoping Cy would invest with them. Neither of them had a motive to kill Cy but their carelessness with their controllers was clearly a factor in his death.

Rooster Fixit Seems to have all the appropriate life skills to get through the day, but his demons have held him back professionally. In fact, Rooster is one of the few people to have an understandable grudge against Cy. Years ago Rooster worked for Cy at Shhh but was let go for his erratic behavior. Since then Rooster has straightened up his life but has still had trouble finding a steady job. Could his resentment be a motive for murder?

Rooster, Ed and some of the Braeburn staff were together on first street when they heard Sunny screaming immediately after the accident. Del and Scooter werenโ€™t there yet and donโ€™t have an alibi but Scooter says they were late because Del couldnโ€™t find his coat, and I believe Scooter. So 20 of our suspects have alibis

Mary Popkins doesnโ€™t have an alibi. Mary raised Cyโ€™s son and worked at the highest corporate levels of Shhh for years only to be dismissed when Reef left home. Almost everyone Iโ€™ve talked to liked Cy and his suddenly parting ways with Mary was out of character. Certainly, she was reasonably upset, but that was almost 10 years ago. Cy recently refused to give her a job reference. Could that have stirred old feelings?

Saffron Meadows doesnโ€™t have an alibi. Saffron had also worked at Shhh. When she felt she wasnโ€™t being promoted fast enough she thought initiating a personal relationship with Cy was the answer. After months of being rebuffed she tried to sue him for sexual harassment however her coworkers made it clear that she was the harasser, not Cy. Just last week Saffron had asked Cy for career help and heโ€™d refused her. How angry was she?

Salty Margarita doesnโ€™t have an alibi. She says she was still in bed asleep when the police called trying to locate Reef. Salty hadnโ€™t known Cy long but all indications were that they liked each other and had already become friends. Had she and Reef asked for money for their oceanic submarine venture? Had they been denied? They say no, but weโ€™ve only their word for that now. Would Salty kill to further her dreams with Reef?

Reef Lenzio doesnโ€™t have an alibi. Not a good one anyway. Reef is in the habit of going on a daily early morning kayak excursion. Security cameras at the docks show him going out but he could easily have rowed up to Whale Bell Park and come ashore. As Cyโ€™s only survivor his inheritance will be substantial, more than enough to fund his scientific dreams. However all evidence is that Reef and Cy had a great relationship, and that Cy would probably have given Reef money if he asked.

I found this murder a little hard to get a handle on. By all accounts Cy Lenzio was a pretty nice guy. Odd, yes. Kind of hard to get to know but generally friendly and unquestionably generous to his community. Everyone thought he was a good father who was involved and supportive. Honestly at first I thought it was an accident. A carโ€™s brakes let go and Cy was a victim of gravity. All those gizmos in the car changed that and I learned more than I ever wanted to about using remotes to control a full sized car.

Those remotes were easy to come by. Del Orien and Ed Sills are hopeless. But even if you got your hands on one would you know which part of the car it controlled? Youโ€™d have to have the RIGHT controller AND youโ€™d have to know how to use it.

Salty would not have the expertise to work the remote, and she had no motive. Reef and Mary played with remotes throughout Reefโ€™s childhood. Mary worked in technology. Did Saffronโ€™s web design work give her the skills needed?

So โ€ฆ Mary, Saffron, Reef Not only would you have to have the RIGHT controller, AND know how to use it, youโ€™d need to have a plan for when and where wouldnโ€™t you? But Cyโ€™s actions that morning were random. Heโ€™d never unicycled in town before. Who knew that would happen? Reef adhered to his regular schedule and couldnโ€™t have known what Cy was doing. Who did?

Saffron and Mary had been in Salty Sea Coffee together before the murder. In fact they had been in the shop when Cy came in, they had laughed at him trying to mime his coffee order and they had heard him say that he would be practicing his unicycle riding in the lot behind the post office. They left the coffee shop together and parted company. Saffron headed toward First Street, and Mary lost her mind.

Mary had probably found the remote days before and hadnโ€™t seen Ed or Dell to return it. It reminded her of all the good times she had with Reef and Cy in earlier times. It reminded her of the pain of being fired, ignored and denigrated by a man sheโ€™d thought was a friend.

As Mary headed uphill she probably saw the ladder and roofing materials around the Porter Building. Anger, sorrow, embarrassment, years of struggle and sudden possibility collided in Maryโ€™s mind and soon she was on the roof of the Porter Building summoning the Lackey car to the top of Third Street as she waited for Cy to leave the coffee shop.

Running him down was easy.

Officer please arrest MARY POPKINS!