You The Great (mysteries to solve)

Oh. Hello there. I have been expecting you. I have an important case for you. You say that you can solve mysteries and riddles in the blink of an eye? Well, let’s see about that. I have a couple of conundrums for you.

The first of these peculiar problems happened just last week. There were three gentlemen waiting in line at the pizzeria. The first man was tall. He was wearing a long purple scarf and was dressed in all black. His eyes were blue, and his dark brown hair was hidden beneath his gray fedora. As he stepped up to the counter, he smirked as he produced a five-dollar bill and asked the young clerk woman for the special of the day.

“A slice or a whole?” she asked.

“One slice,” he clarified.

She nodded and turned away into the kitchen, returning promptly with a small box that contained the young man’s order. After collecting his food and his change, he thanked the woman and turned away.

The next person to be served was a disgruntled old Englishman. His gray brows drew close and his mouth folded into a frown.

“Two slices of pepperoni pineapple peanut butter pickle,” he grunted, lackadaisically tossing seven quarters onto the counter.

The young woman’s eyes grew in confusion (and most likely also disgust).

“We carry no such thing here,” she informed him.

“Of course you do,” the man scolded, “I have been coming to this restaurant every Thursday for lunch for the last six months.”

“Well, I’m sorry sir,” the clerk giggled in embarrassment, “I am still fairly new. I only started about two weeks ago and I usually only work on Mondays and Tuesdays.”

“How should I know when you started and what do I care?” The man frowned and growled, “Just give me my lunch and make it quick.”

The woman nodded with a slight look of defeat and swiftly walked into the kitchen.

Moments later, she returned with a box.

“Have a nice day, sir,” she murmured as he snatched it and stormed to the side of the counter.

“Took you long enough...” he frowned as he opened the box to inspect his meal.

“Never mind him,” the last person stepped up and shook his head, “He’s a classic old grump if I ever saw one. I figure he acts this way all the time. I’ve never seen him before in my life and I wouldn’t mind if I never again beheld him.”

The clerk half giggled but quickly ceased as the angry man shot an offended look at the latest customer.

“Anywho, I’ll have my usual,” the gent continued, paying the elderly man no mind.

The clerk gave an awkward smile as she smudged her messy hands off on her apron.

″...in case you didn’t know, it’s the veggie supreme,” he whispered with a wink.

The clerk grinned and ran into the kitchen immediately. When she returned, he felt around his pockets and whispered an exclamation.

“I’m sorry. I must have forgotten my wallet,” he said, “Do you accept payment by mobile phone?”

The clerk nodded with a smile, motioning towards the card reader. The customer happily tapped his phone on the terminal and bade her good day. On the way out, the older disgruntled man snorted at him. If looks could kill, he would have been dead... well, he could be. Who knows? The man has gone missing and hasn’t been seen since.

What are your thoughts?

Oh wow. I’ll leave you to ponder that one for a while, but please don’t go. If only I could have a few more minutes of your time. I would love to see what you have to say about this next case.

Down the street from the pizzeria was a small, party store called Drucker’s. This father-and-son run store received shipments every day of the week. On Monday came the frozen goods; single-serve ice creams, microwave meals, and popsicles galore. On Tuesday, the baked snack goods arrived; cupcakes, danishes, pastries, and pies. On Wednesday, candy was delivered. On Thursday, water was delivered. And, on Friday, juice and soda pop was delivered. Each of these deliveries happened around noon, and the drivers were told that, if there were too many customers gathered in the front of the store, they were allowed to simply drop the goods off in the back alley behind the store.

Now, last Thursday was super busy for the convenience store. It seemed everyone had decided to go there to purchase snacks and drinks to go with their lunches. This prompted Tom, the water truck driver, to pull into the back alley and stack five 24-bottle cases of water by the door.

After the lunch hour, the son came out back to see if the water had been delivered. To his surprise, the plastic racks were strewn awry, and the wrapping was ripped, and there were bottles lying about everywhere. He looked around for some creature who could have done this thing, but it was the middle of the day and there were no raccoons or any other critters in sight. All that could be seen besides the mess of plastic and water bottles was a felled trash can, two banana peels, a cell phone with a screen that was shattered beyond repair, and a few smashed cardboard boxes. He immediately called Tom to complain about how carelessly he had left the goods, but Tom insisted that he had neatly and carefully set the stacks just to the right of the door.

What do you think happened here?

Wait. Where are you going! Don’t leave. There is one more mystery I need your help with.

Last Friday, morning, Mrs. Hamlet, owner of the beauty parlor a few doors down from Druckers and the pizzeria, discovered a body behind her shop. She had taken to the alley to pull the trash cans around for pickup when she saw a person lying on the ground. Their face was swollen and hardly discernable-- she couldn’t tell if it was a man or a woman. She figured it was a man by the rest of its body, but she was too afraid to touch the corpse. She screamed in horror and called the police immediately.

When the authorities arrived, they confirmed that the victim was indeed a man, but there was no form of identification on his person. In answering the police’s inquiries, Mrs. Hamlet revealed that she didn’t recall seeing him there yesterday, but she had closed her shop early that afternoon (around 1pm) due to a sudden family emergency. Her husband had called her and asked her to leave the parlor immediately.

″‘Meet me at the hospital! It’s Jack!,’ he told me, but it turned out to only be a false alarm. When I got there, our son had supposedly already been discharged, so my husband suggested we all take a nice walk through the forest, then grab some dinner and spend the rest of the day at home as a family,” Mrs. Hamlet informed them, “It all seemed very suspicious to me, but he often says I seem entirely too consumed in my work, so I figured he wanted to find an excuse for me to step away for the day. Never would I have imagined discovering such a gruesome sight this morning. I should have slept in as he suggested.”

How strange it all is. Have you the slightest clue of what occurred here?

Well, thank you for your time. Now. You can go about your day.

Huh?

What’s that?

You believe that they are all three connected somehow?

My word! Please elaborate!

....I see....

Astounding! I can hardly fathom the complexity of your mind. Brilliant! Simply brilliant! I applaud you. You, you truly are The Great.