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Blackmail in the Stormbound Hangar

Case 017 · 18 September 2026 · Easy

The storm had grounded every small plane on the field, pinning pilots and crew inside the old maintenance hangar while the wind screamed over the tin roof. Genevieve Haverford, who owned the charter company that flew from this strip, finally broke and called the police. For months, someone had been squeezing her for money, threatening to expose a past deal that could destroy her license and her contracts. Tonight, a new message arrived along with proof that the blackmailer was here in the hangar, moving among the fuel drums and tool benches like everyone else. With the weather cutting the airfield off from the main road, the blackmailer had nowhere to go.

Suspects

• Cecil Ravensworth

  freelance cargo pilot

  Cecil flies whatever will pay, from medical supplies to last‑minute parcels, and knows every shortcut over the nearby hills. He is behind on his hangar fees and owes Genevieve several months of fuel on credit.

  178 cm

• Magnus Gaunt

  airfield mechanic

  Magnus keeps the ageing planes airworthy, spending long nights in the hangar with only the radio and the rain for company. He resents how much of his pay disappears into debts from a failed business on the coast.

  185 cm

• Phineas Quill

  weather clerk and dispatcher

  Phineas files flight plans, watches the radar, and decides who can risk the skies. Quiet and sharp‑eyed, he has access to every schedule, cargo manifest and maintenance delay on the field.

  168 cm

Possible items

• the folded photograph

  A creased, glossy photograph showing a blurred meeting around a small aircraft, taken from a distance on the tarmac. Faces are half‑turned away, but the tail number of the plane is painfully clear.

  950 g

• the copied ledger page

  A photocopied page from Genevieve’s accounting ledger, with several fuel purchases and cash transfers circled in heavy ink. The dates line up with flights that never appeared on the official schedule.

  100 g

• the recorded voicemail

  A small digital recorder containing a saved voicemail, a distorted voice calmly describing exactly how Genevieve hid unsanctioned charter income off the books. The last seconds are lost under a burst of static.

  500 g

Places

• the tool bench corner

  At one end of the hangar, a heavy workbench is buried under spanners, rags, and oily parts, with a yellowed lamp throwing a hard cone of light onto the scarred surface.

  Indoors

• the fuel drum stack

  Near the hangar doors, blue and red fuel drums are stacked two high, damp with condensation and smelling sharply of aviation fuel, with drip trays and funnels shoved between them.

  Indoors

• the parts storage racks

  Metal shelving along the side wall holds labelled boxes of spare parts, coiled cables and propeller blades, forming cramped aisles that echo with each step.

  Indoors

Evidence & statements

1. Exactly one of these is true, never both: Cecil Ravensworth was the one carrying the folded photograph, or whoever was in the parts storage racks was carrying the copied ledger page.
2. The person holding the recorded voicemail was the tallest of the three.
3. Cecil Ravensworth spent the bad-weather delay in the tool bench corner.
4. A smear of fresh aviation fuel was found on the copied ledger page and matched traces already tied to the blackmailer’s movements: the blackmailer was the one carrying the copied ledger page.

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