Who is the smartest person in the room?

Mr. Anderson, a retired forensic expert at FBI, was dead for a start. His body, as discovered by his Butler, lay lifeless in the luxury suite of his private yacht. Mr. Anderson had a special liking for this private yacht which was gifted to him by his son. The murder weapon, an iron rod smeared in blood, lay 2 feet across the body.

‘Mr. Anderson was killed by someone very close to him’, Detective announced. ‘Close all the doors, and make sure no one leaves the private yacht’, he told the Butler.

‘I am Detective Dallin, FBI’, he said showing his badge. I am the only officer on this yacht authorized to undertake a murder investigation. So until we reach the next stop, I will be conducting the preliminary investigation. I expect you full cooperation for the same. 

 

‘As you all know, one Mr. Anderson was killed sometime yesterday night. His dead body was found in the early hours of the day. A murder weapon, an iron rod,, was also recovered from the crime scene. Only the five of us were invited for the dinner, which is when the murder took place’

‘This implies that the killer is in this very room. So, as of now, all the four of you are the prime suspects’, he paused and looked at everyone.

‘I have checked the crime scene very meticulously and I found a key evidence. The murder weapon, this iron rod, has the finger prints of the murderer. But here’s the catch. I paid a visit to Mr. Anderson’s forensic lab in the yacht. He has the equipment (fingerprint powder) to only test 2 sets fingerprints’, he said even as he placed his FBI badge and his service revolver on the table.

‘I have two options to choose the 2 people whose prints should be checked. The first option: I interrogate everyone personally and choose the 2 most likely people who could be the murderer and match their finger prints with that of the rod. The second option: You guys nominate two people who are the most likely people to murder Mr. Anderson. I am giving you the second option because all of you know Mr. Anderson and each other better than me’, he continued.

***

‘My vote is against Mr. Charles!’ the Butler started the round of acquisitions.

‘Yesterday, when I went to Mr. Andersons’s room to serve him his late night coffee, he was having a heated argument with Mr. Charles’, he continued.

‘Mr. Charles owes Mr. Anderson two hundred thousand dollars. Mr. Charles lost all the money in gambling, and now he is not in a position to repay him. The arguments must have been about the debt. That sounds like a pretty good motive to me’, the Butler said.

‘That’s only half the truth! I did owe him money. And yesterday Mr. Anderson was insisting on getting his money back as soon as possible. But it was just a healthy discussion, not an argument. And I would never kill anyone for money’

‘And moreover he was about to pay him back’, Estelle, Mr. Charles fiancé, came to his recue. She had a glass full of wine in her hand.

‘In fact, we are quite sure that it is the Butler who killer Mr. Anderson. Yesterday when I was in Mr. Anderson’s room, I couldn’t help but notice that his blue pendent was missing. The blue pendent was being passed on in his family since generations. It is believed to bring immense wealth, luck and happiness to its owner. It was his most prized possession. He was searching for it when I had arrived. I am sure the Butler stole it from him and when Mr. Anderson caught him, the Butler decided to eliminate him’, Mr. Charles said taking a sip of wine from his glass.  

‘I don’t have the diamond pendant. Mr. Anderson’s age got the better of him. He doesn’t remember things easily these days. He must not have left it at his home’

‘I have been helping him with all his chores since 20 years. My loyalty cannot be bought by any money in the world, let alone a small diamond pendant’

Mr. Charles gave the Butler a deaf year. ‘I vote against the Butler!’ he declared.

‘I vote against the Butler too’, Estelle agreed with her fiancé conveniently.

‘So, its 2 against Butler and 1 against Mr. Charles’, Detective announced. ‘Ms. Felicity, whom are you voting against?’

‘My vote is against this bitch’, she said in a drowsy tone.

‘She is the reason why Anderson divorced me. He had an affair with her. And now she is pregnant’, Felicity continued. ‘Anderson would never accept her child. She did not consider abortion as an option. She wanted this relationship to be a secret because it would jeopardize her engagement with Charles. Hence she killed Anderson’

Mr. Charles was furious at the ridiculous acquisition made at his fiancé. He believed not a word of it. ‘Estelle will never betray me’, he thought.

    

‘She is drunk and blabbering nonsense. Not a bit of it is true’, Estelle clarified.

‘Yes, I am drunk. Where the hell is my glass! Butler, get me another glass of wine’, she exclaimed.

By the end of the first round of acquisitions, the Butler had the majority against him.

Detective went into the Forensic lab in the yacht along with the Butler to get his finger prints matched with that on the murder weapon.

After 15 minutes of inspection, Detective declared that the finger prints were not a match.

‘Butler, now that you are proved to be innocent, you won’t participate in the next acquisition round. You can leave’, the Detective said. 

Mr. Charles, Estelle and Felicity; the three of you must nominate one person whom you think is the murderer.

‘Isn’t it obvious now? It has to be Felicity! Mr. Anderson divorced her. Moreover, Mr. Anderson was contemplating on getting his will changed. This could make Felicity a pauper. So, before he could do that, she killed him. Now, she is the sole owner of all of Mr. Anderson’s property’, Estelle exclaimed.

‘I agree with Estelle. It has to be Felicity! If she had really loved Mr. Anderson, she would have shown some remorse on his death. But here she is, getting drunk; not an iota of grief is visible on her drowsy face’

‘Your right! I am not sad. In fact, if given a chance I would kill my infidel husband myself. But someone did me a favor by killing him for me’, Felicity retorted.

Since the odds were stacked against her, Felicity had to give her finger prints for the tests. The detective took her finger prints and went into the Forensic lab to get them matched.

‘This doesn’t look good. All the three of us have alleged motives to kill Mr. Anderson’, Felicity said, even as they waited for the reports. ‘But, we have to agree that all of us have benefited from his death’

‘The Detective will spoil everything. If this ridiculous game continues we will be forced to give out the killer who is hiding amongst us. I know I didn’t kill him, but the person who did, did me a favor. And I am willing to return the favor. We will have to find a way to stop playing this game’

After having a deep thought, Estelle stated, ‘The detective could be the killer too. He could be playing this game just to frame one of us’

‘We all told our stories and all our motives are clear to him. But we know nothing about him. We are forgetting the fact that he too was in the same private yacht when the murder had happened. What was he doing here? He could be the killer as well’, she continued.

‘Let’s kill the Detective’, she finally suggested putting down the glass filled with wine.

‘Are you even listening to yourself? You guys are planning to kill a police officer on duty! Do you even fathom what will happen if we get caught’, Mr. Charles exclaimed.

‘Listen to me darling’, Estelle said. ‘We won’t be caught. We will say that Detective Dallin had confessed that he had killed Mr. Anderson and he was trying to kill us too, so we killed him in self-defense’.

‘The court always buys the self-defense argument. Nothing will happen to us’, Estelle hugged him. After a lot of persuasion Mr. Charles bought the idea they were selling. ‘But how are we going to kill him?’ he asked.

Felicity’s eyes fell on the service revolver of the Detective which lay on the table.

When the detective returned from the lab with the reports. He was greeted by a bullet. The minute bullet met his chest, blood started oozing out leaving a red stain on his white shirt. The last thing Detective saw before dying was the face of the man who killed him.

After making sure that the Detective was no longer moving, Charles moved closer to make sure the bullet did its job. He noticed a folded paper in the Detective’s lifeless hand.

Mr. Charles's curiosity got the better of his fear. He took the paper from the Detective’s hand and opened it. When he read what was in it, he narrowed his eyes and after a couple of minutes of deep thinking he burned the paper with his lighter and moved on.

***

             Who is            
the smartest person in the room?

an art, by
Shashank