Season 1: Case 3
The Old Wing
24 questions
Your job
Question the 2 suspects below. What they let slip lands in your findings. When you know the story, write your report: who did it, how, and why, in your own words. You have 24 questions. Use them well.
A fire gutted the disused old wing of the Hotel Meridian overnight and killed the night guard, Tomas Ruiz, who was not supposed to be there. The insurance men already whisper that it was arson. The hotel's managing director is Charles Lodge. He is smooth and well dressed, and he answers every question with a question of his own. The widow is Adela Ruiz. She gives you nothing but grief and anger. Between the smooth man and the angry woman lies a match, a motive, and a name nobody will say out loud: "Smoky."
The old wing, a black skeleton behind the hotel.
Tomas Ruiz, night guard. Married nine years.
The suspects
Charles Lodge
the hotel's managing director, smooth and hard to pin down
Adela Ruiz
the dead guard's widow, grieving and angry
What the police already hold
Tomas was not supposed to be there. The old wing stood shut and unmanned. The night guard died in a place no schedule put him. Nobody will say why he was inside.
The fire started twice. The fire investigator's report: two separate ignition points. Old wiring does not fail in two rooms at once. Somebody set this with intent.