The final chapter
The hearing convenes with a resignation where the defendant should be, and the town in the seats, because nothing in the rulebook says a hearing must be private and the county checked. Junior Pyle stands first, seventeen and shaking, and owns the note aloud. Then the evidence walks through on its own feet: the block capitals, the headset worn even, the burnished distance cords, the clean gossip jacks, the tolls paid from her wages, the patch the night boards run for the war's families, the hospitals at the end of every call, the telegrams each call followed, and the hearing itself, met with a list instead of a lawyer. Your word list is your nine clues. Find them in the grid, and when the last is crossed off, the letters left over, read left to right, top to bottom, spell out what the night operator was actually doing on the county's wire, all those small hours, all those years.
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.
armchairpuzzles.com · free large-print word searches
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.