CHAPTER I · BOWLAND COLLEGE

The Office

Hale's office is exactly as he left it: a desk buried in exam papers, a locked drawer, a framed department photo on the wall. On the blotter, a torn scrap of a grant application catches your eye. It's half a sentence in Hale's own hand:

"…cannot in good conscience allow E.M.'s work to go forward under my name at the conference…"

A Post-it is stuck to the monitor, the ink smudged but legible:

HODQD PDUVK

Every letter here has been shifted three places down the alphabet. Decode it, then check the department photo on the wall for the initials that match. Her office number is printed beneath her name.

CHAPTER II · THE CHAPLAINCY

The Confession

Chaplain Thomas Reed's hands shake as he speaks. "Hale knew what happened to me back in Durham. He used it: free counselling, favours, silence." A motive, certainly. But the visitor's log on the lectern tells a different story than Reed's alibi.

The log shows three sign-ins the night Hale died: 9:47pm, 10:15pm, and 10:52pm. Reed swears the ink has been tampered with. Two of the three times were altered after the fact to make the chapel look empty during the library's blackout.

Clues from Reed's memory:

• The one true visitor arrived caked in mud from the groundskeeper's path. That walk takes a full hour once the gates lock at quarter to ten.
• Reed lit the prayer candle the moment they sat down and remembers checking his watch as the chapel bells rang for the three-quarter hour.
• By the time that visitor left, the candle had burned down by only one notch. That's a bare twenty minutes, not the twenty-eight or thirty-seven implied by the other two logged gaps.

Only one of the three timestamps survives every clue. Enter it as four digits, no colon and no am/pm (e.g. 9:05pm → 0905).

CHAPTER III · THE SPINE

The Blackout

A campus security incident report, pinned crookedly to the noticeboard: the CCTV camera covering the Library's east entrance went dark for exactly twelve minutes the night Hale died. Those were the same twelve minutes he was killed in.

Three names, three alibis for that window:

• Sarah Whitmore was seen crying in the Chaplaincy at 10:47pm. That's the same true timestamp you already uncovered.
• Old Jack was locking the greenhouse toolshed; the electronic keypad log confirms he was there from 10:40 to 11:05pm.
• Dr. Priya Anand was overheard arguing on the phone in Alexandra Square, in full view of three students walking past.

Every suspect but one has a confirmed location during the dead camera window. Only one person's whereabouts were never placed anywhere on campus that night, inside the twelve dark minutes the report simply calls the _____.

CHAPTER IV · THE LIBRARY

The Crime Scene

A chair lies toppled beside Hale's usual desk. Something about the shelf behind it nags at you. Click the scene to look closer.

A clean gap in the dust on the shelf, exactly the width of a trophy base. On the corner of the desk, a faint crescent-shaped dent matches the same curve as a fellowship trophy's edge. Answer the riddle to name what's missing:

"I sit for years gathering dust and pride, until the hand that earned me was denied. What am I?"

CHAPTER V · THE LECTURE THEATRE

Name the Killer

Every clue you've gathered is pinned to the chalkboard. It's time to close the case. Choose the suspect, the motive, and the weapon. Get all three right, or the evidence won't hold.