Crimzle › Previous cases › Case 020

Assault in the Fogbound Crossing

Case 020 · 21 September 2026 · Easy

Fog pressed against the ferry’s windows, turning the night outside into a dull, shifting wall. Somewhere below the passenger deck, the thrum of the engines mixed with the distant hum of voices and clatter of dishes. Shortly before midnight, the power failed without warning, plunging the corridors into darkness and confusion. When the emergency lights flickered back to life, Horace Whitlock was found unconscious on the floor below decks, his head badly struck and his papers scattered. He remembers only a rush of footsteps behind him and a blow in the dark; whoever silenced him knew exactly what that evidence could do.

Suspects

• Eleanor Blackwood

  cabin steward

  Eleanor Blackwood has worked the night ferry route for years, moving quietly between cramped cabins and narrow stairwells. Rumour among the crew says she once helped cover up a costly incident on board, and Horace’s questions tonight cut too close to that story.

  168 cm

• Ralph Sinclair

  shipping company accountant

  Ralph Sinclair claims he booked this crossing to check manifests before an upcoming audit. Horace’s dossier contained documents from an old marine claim in which Ralph’s signature appeared on figures that never quite added up.

  176 cm

• Miriam Crowhurst

  retired claims manager

  Miriam Crowhurst once supervised large insurance payouts on the same line Horace had been digging into. She was terse when he tried to speak with her earlier, and her past decisions could be questioned if his old case was ever reopened.

  183 cm

Possible weapons

• the wooden oar

  A short wooden oar kept among the emergency gear, light enough to swing quickly in a tight passage.

  700 g

• the sandbag

  A heavy sandbag used to steady loose cargo, its coarse canvas stained from years of use.

  1.9 kg

• the iron dumbbell

  A single iron dumbbell from the tiny exercise corner set aside for crew, solid and unforgiving in a strike.

  1.2 kg

Places

• the forward lounge corner

  A cramped seating nook at the front of the ferry, with low ceilings and windows fogged to opacity.

  Indoors

• the service stairwell

  A narrow metal stairwell used by staff between decks, echoing with every hurried footstep.

  Indoors

• the luggage alcove

  A recessed corner off the lower corridor where passengers’ bags are stacked and lashed in place.

  Indoors

Evidence & statements

1. Miriam Crowhurst was the one carrying the sandbag.
2. Several passengers remember that Ralph Sinclair spent the outage on the service stairwell, his voice carrying up and down the metal steps.
3. At least one of these is true: the lightest of the three objects was with whoever stayed at the forward lounge corner, or Ralph Sinclair was the one at the luggage alcove.
4. A clear print from an athletic shoe was found in a smear of machine grease on the iron dumbbell’s handle: the attacker was the one carrying the iron dumbbell.

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