Marcia Taylor Metapuzzle

Matt Zinno

The suspect is a fashion model, and the flavortext of each puzzle mentions an article of clothing (except for the puzzle which is to be removed for Dossier 4, which contains the phrase "in the altogether"). These articles of clothing provide an ordering, from top to bottom as they appear on a person: glasses, earrings, scarf, tube top, obi, underpants, garters, leg warmers, mules (a type of shoe), cleat. Putting the ten puzzle answers, which are each ten letters, in that order gives this square grid:

PEDAGOGUES
LOSSLEADER
ARCADEGAME
YELLOWEYED
COFINANCED
HENRYFONDA
UNHABITUAL
THINBODIED
EDSULLIVAN
SIDDHARTHA

The first letters of the answers, reading down, reads PLAY CHUTES. Reading up along the last letters gives AND LADDERS. (Get it? Chutes go down, ladders go up.) This is also clued in the Dossier as "slid into my office" (chutes) and "long run in her stockings" (ladders).

You need to superimpose the 10x10 grid onto a Chutes and Ladders board, and take the digits of the telephone number provided in the dossier as spinner results that move you around ("Once I had the digits, I knew I was in position to make all the right moves.") Each time you land on a square (either by spinner, chute, or ladder), write down that square's letter.

Moves in the game:

• 1, ladder to 38 [S,H]
• 4, TO 42 [E]
• 4, to 46 [F]
• 4, TO 50 [A]
• 6, to 56, chute to 53 [N,C]
• 4, TO 57 [I]
• 5, TO 62, chute to 19 [E,D]
• 3, to 22 [H]
• 6, TO 28, ladder to 84 [I,S]
• 6, to 90 [R]
• 2, ending at 92 [E]
• 6, ending at 98, chute to 78 [D,C]
• 2, ending at 80, ladder to 100 [A,P]

The letters spell out the motive SHE FANCIED HIS RED CAP. Note that the suspect's lack of a hat is discussed in the Dossier, and it's also an article of clothing which is perhaps conspicuously missing from the earlier list.