Chapter 4 of 10
Pearl sleeps over the kitchen, and hired girls sleep light. Tuesday, in the black hour before the stove is lit, light crossed the ceiling: a lantern in the yard. She reached the window as it passed the pump, low and steady, and vanished behind the barn's shoulder. It walked the yard like a room you could cross blind. She said nothing; hired girls who report lights get accused of inventing them. By Thursday the deed is missing and silence weighs. She tells Ivy at the clothesline, twisting a pillowcase to rags. A prowler, Ivy says carefully. Pearl shakes her head. Prowlers stumble at the woodpile and shy from the dog; the dog never barked and nothing stumbled. Whoever carried that lantern had crossed the yard ten thousand times, and she will not say the rest at a clothesline.
Use the arrow keys to move between letters. Press Enter or Space on the first letter of a word, then again on the last letter. Press Escape to cancel.
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About this case
A chapter of The Cider Press, a mystery told in word searches. Each chapter leaves you one clue; the finale needs them all.
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Print The Cider Press as one large-print booklet: every chapter and its puzzle, a clue ledger, and the ending sealed on the last page.
How a mystery chapter works
- 1Read the scene first.Every chapter opens with a scene from the case. The word list is drawn from it, and so is the clue.
- 2Find the words.Tap a word's first letter, then tap along to its last, or press and drag. Found words color themselves in and cross off the list.
- 3One listed word is not in the grid.Find the other nine and the word left over is the chapter's clue. Note it down, or let the case page keep it for you.
- 4The finale needs every clue.The last puzzle's word list is the clues you collected, and once you find them all, the leftover letters spell out who did it, and why.