A Matter of Time

     The scene of the crime was a room at the Last Gasp Motor Lodge, a dingy place with damp towels and a broken TV.  The room itself was a mess - torn sheets, a smashed lamp, and the body of the victim sprawled on the floor like a rag doll - all indicating a violent struggle.  There were no fingerprints and very few clues.
     Detective Dumbrow, whose shoe size and IQ were pretty much interchangeable, was at his wit’s end until it occurred to him to call me.  Once I materialized he went over the facts in his methodical manner, then sat back hoping I could provide the solution.
     The clerk in the lobby remembered seeing the victim return to his room on the second floor at eight o’clock that night.  The clerk also recalled seeing the other guest, a Mr. Rellik, return and go upstairs at 10:30.  Then the clerk fell asleep.
     Rellik would have been picked up but for one little detail.  Dumbrow knew that the murder must have occurred at 10:11.  When I asked how he had arrived at this precise fact, he pointed to the digital clock lying in the corner of the room.  It was one of those flip-over affairs that got smashed during the struggle because the numbers were stuck at 10:11.
     That meant that Rellik had not gone up the stairs until after the murder was committed.  At least that was Dumbrow’s thinking until I noticed his mistake and set him straight. 
     What do you think I did?


Nano Solution_____________________________________________

     “Well,” you say, trying to take your time and not rush into a trap, “you pointed out that the clerk committed the murder.”
     “Interesting theory,” Nano says.  “And why do you say that?”
     “Because I can’t think of anything else,” you confess.
     “I see,” Nano says, sighing wearily.  “The fact is that Dumbrow was looking at the digital clock upside down.  He hadn’t bothered to pick it up and, as usual, didn’t know which end was up.  When I had him place it correctly, it proved that the time of the murder was not 10:11, it was 11:01.  After Rellik was seen going upstairs.”

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