Chapter 8 of 10
The depot's carbon file is the book of bad news: every telegram since 1941, flimsy sheets on a spike. Matching sheets to calls, the rhythm surfaces: a telegram, wounded, no further information; a day while waiting curdles; then at one the night board reaches east and holds fifty minutes. Mrs. Deel's is the fifty-minute call; an audit asks. On the porch, pointing at the kitchen telephone, she tells him: the army said wounded, and nothing else for six days. Her phone rang at one. A voice she knew said: Alma, I have the ward nurse, and I am staying on the line. She waits until he stops writing. That is all you get; the rest is mine. But tell your company: for fifty minutes the county had one wire that worked, and a girl held it open with both hands.
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 Night Operator, a mystery told in word searches. Each chapter leaves you one clue; the finale needs them all.
Prefer pen and paper?
Print The Night Operator 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.