The Ink That Stayed
Bellwick University, Caldmere
The name that Caldmere forgot — or chose to forget — is Nolan Vetch. He came to Bellwick University in the autumn of 2019 as a visiting manuscript scholar on a fellowship from a foundation in Edinburgh, assigned to the Whitfield Library's rare books collection. He was fifty-one, unmarried, and possessed of a reputation that preceded him like weather: Vetch had spent two decades authenticating…
Everyone has something to hide.
Hosted the dinner Vetch left early. Oversaw the Whitfield acquisition. Has a gambling problem no one is supposed to know about. His professional reputation rests on that collection's authenticity.
Was at the Greystone Books meeting. Can't recall a reference title she supposedly helped locate. Liang's protégée with everything to lose if her mentor falls.
Argued visibly with Vetch outside the library. Her grant documentation was apparently tied to the disputed manuscript's provenance. Principled and relentless — or hiding something beneath that reputation.
Found the body. Gave two inconsistent accounts of the time. Has spent thirty years tending a decommissioned lighthouse with no clear record of who visits or why.
No apparent connection to the university or Vetch. Yet a key-cutting record at Harbor Lane Hardware places him checking out keys to the lighthouse caretaker's cottage the week Vetch died. He has never explained it.
Can you name the culprit?
Read the case file, interrogate the suspects, and make your accusation — five guesses to crack it. The deduction board and the solution are for detectives only.
Caldmere, Maine.
A small town on the Maine coast where everyone knows everyone, and nothing is quite what it seems. Explore the locations and characters behind every case.