The gameboard is still open, so examining things in greater detail would be appropriate.
I maintain that since the compound was closely guarded and only Snell had a keycard with which the roof could be accessed, it seems unlikely that anyone other than Snell himself could have set up the glass pane on the roof for months without detection. If the glass pane was on the roof all these months and the mysterious pane pusher only moved it on top of the window and off it, then surely Snell would’ve found the glass pane on the roof one day, unless he never went to the roof during all those months. If the pane had to be smuggled into and out of the compound every time, then surely the cameras would’ve picked some suspicious individual entering and leaving with a box or something to carry the pane with, day after day. Unless Snell blindly believed that this was divine revelation and somesuch and didn’t try to find a mundane cause for the letters to appear, he would’ve surely discovered the trick eventually.
Additionally, I believe we have a red stating that the glass pane was on the roof at the beginning of the day of the murder. This suggests that the glass pane was stored on the roof and simply moved onto the window whenever appropriate, which means that unless Snell never went onto the roof, he would’ve discovered the pane. Who would use a plan to trick Snell into believing superstitious nonsense that hinged on the unlikely scenario of him never visiting the roof? Moreover, as the General’s testimony implied some plan that Snell had apparently been working on for months was finally coming to fruition, wouldn’t it make sense that this plan of Snell’s was something that was at least hinted at in the story, instead of something that happened completely offscreen? The only thing that would’ve taken months of effort from Snell that can be found from the story is moving around the glass pane.
So, I’m pretty confident in the conclusion that Snell orchestrated the glass pane act himself. If we assume this charade was indeed a part of the plan that Snell had been executing for months, and the General believed Snell was a man out for blood, it would seem the glass pane charade would somehow help Snell hurt someone. The only reason to go to such lengths that I can think of is that it somehow allows him to manipulate someone to do something, which allows Snell to murder them. My working theory has been that it was done to convince professor Wren to go study the letters so that Snell can murder him with a bow. Wren seems like the only character who might care about some mysterious letters of light.
What should be considered is the murder weapon as well. It was an arrow inscribed with “the wrath of Ra” in ancient Egyptian - not just any arrow. It would not have been used unless using it held some special meaning for the murderer. Wren is the only character who has a history with Snell connected to Egypt and archaeology. Using an arrow like this seems to make sense only if one of them sought to murder the other. I suppose it could be a red herring used by the murderer with no other purpose than to confuse the investigation, but it seems a bit too specific to be that. It isn’t like you can purchase arrows inscribed with ancient Egyptian from the nearest Walmart.
The testimonies combined with the red truth about each person meeting Snell only once causes an issue. According to Dr. Arnold, he entered the waiting room at around 10:00, and was called in near 10:30. He saw Wren and Hartmeyer in the waiting room, but made no statements about when they were called in. Wren states he came to the waiting room at around 10:00, and was admitted almost immediately, and also left almost immediately. Hartmeyer says he showed up at around 10:00 like the other two, but was only admitted in near 11:30. What is problematic is that Hartmeyer claims that he saw both Wren and Arnold go in and out. If everyone met Snell only once, this would suggest that only Hartmeyer, as the last person to meet Snell, could have killed him, as @Karifean said.
However, with the Reds given, is it possible for Hartmeyer to be the murderer, either? After all, we know that…
Dr. Snell was murdered between 11:50 AM and 12:00 noon of June 19, 19XX, as told in the narrative; this will be referred to as “high noon” in subsequent Reds.
No one else existed inside the living room during the period from the beginning of high noon till the camera infallibly saw Dr. Snell dead, with the arrow piercing his heart!
The arrow did not pierce or touch Dr. Snell’s skin before high noon! This includes fringe cases of strange contraptions or mechanics that would allow the arrow to take an inordinate amount of time to actually hit him after being set in motion. The arrow both was initially set in motion and pierced his skin at high noon!
The cameras confirm that everyone had left the room by 11:45, which makes it impossible for anyone to have been in the room as Snell was murdered. If we discount the possibility that Snell was stabbed with the arrow outside his living room and then somehow thrown into the room through the door, which sounds ridiculous, the only way Hartmeyer could’ve killed him is by shooting him through the front door. Without Snell opening the door to the roof, he couldn’t have gotten there to shoot him through the window. I suppose that none of the red truths directly deny the possibility that Hartmeyer shot Snell dead through the front door to his living room, but one would assume that if he did so, the cameras would’ve picked up something incriminating, even if the front door was not directly watched. If he had a bow, he would’ve had to carry it with him when he left the compound, for example.
It’s getting a bit late, and I have an early morning tomorrow, so I’ll stop here and continue discussing this tomorrow. One final thought before I call it a day - Snell’s inner sanctum contained more rooms than only the living room. Is it possible that Wren (or Arnold) entered the living room, but never “met” Snell?
Well, I’m back to make this post even more long-winded than it already is.
First, let’s discuss some of Karifean’s points. When it comes to the different impressions Dr. Arnold and Hartmeyer have of Snell, namely that Arnold speaks of him as an irreligious man and Hartmeyer brings up how they met through church activities, I believe this could be explained by Snell taking Arnold as his personal doctor only after his injury in Egypt, which according to Hartmeyer made him bitter and angry. Perhaps it was this injury that also made Snell’s attitude towards religion more dismissive? If that is the case, and Snell hired Arnold only after the incident, then it would make sense that Arnold would speak of him as an irreligious man whereas Hartmeyer, who has known him for years, would speak of how Snell knew his religion and such.
This conclusion also has the side-effect of making Arnold less likely to be an accomplice to any murder plan concocted by Snell, since Snell had started working on his revenge plan likely around the same time he hired Dr. Arnold. Would he have chosen some doctor he had only recently met as an accomplice when he started the whole glass pane charade? And would he have started an endeavour that lasts months before having a clear picture on what exactly he is going to do when the trap is sprung? It is still possible that Snell adapted Arnold into his plan after getting to know him better, but I consider this unlikely.
Regarding religion as a motivation for Hartmeyer to murder Snell… It sounds plausible, but there’s something about it that makes me wary about that theory. Perhaps it is that it doesn’t seem to mesh well with the theory that Snell orchestrated the appearance of the letters of light himself. I can’t think of a good reason why someone who would’ve murdered Snell would’ve given a testimony that says Snell had some revenge plan going on that was apparently coming to fruition. Regardless of whether the testimony was true, it seems like it’d only complicate things for the murderer and make the police investigate the affair in more detail. Hartmeyer’s testimony about his meeting with Snell feels reliable, since it fits together with someone moving the glass pane every day for months and there seems to be little reason for him to lie about something like that. If Snell indeed was planning to take revenge on someone, if Hartmeyer’s motive isn’t related to that, then the whole thing becomes a large red herring, which doesn’t feel right. If Hartmeyer’s motive was related to Snell’s revenge plan, why would he inform the police of something that was key component of his reason to murder the man? Unless my theory about Snell planning to take revenge on someone is completely wrong, this just doesn’t seem to add up.
I think the reason why Snell’s stronghold is so fortified is either that he was afraid of being attacked, or he wanted to create a place where he could perform an impossible murder. If he was afraid of being attacked, I don’t believe it is Hartmeyer he was afraid of - rather, I believe it was professor Wren who he was wary of. During his time in Egypt, he suffered a major injury that left him with chronic back pains and made him bitter and angry. What could this injury have been? It is perfectly plausible that it could’ve been some random accident, but wouldn’t his reaction - bitterness, security consciousness - make more sense if someone caused this injury to him deliberately, and he knew of it? Furthermore, if he had some reason to hate professor Wren enough to plot his murder… it paints a rather clear picture of what could’ve happened in Egypt years ago.
My perception of this case is heavily based around my theory that Snell was planning to murder Wren. There seems to be so much that supports that view - the murder weapon, the glass pane charade, the letters being a curse for a man to die in a fire that forever burns, Hartmeyer’s testimony… Even professor Wren’s testimony seems to me like the most suspicious of all. The others gave information freely and went into detail about their thoughts on Snell, whereas Wren was basically like “Went there, left immediately, nothing happened. Can I go now?”. My theory seems to tie everything neatly together… except that Hartmeyer testified that Wren was called into Snell’s living room, and it has been confirmed in red each suspect met Snell only once.
I put forth the idea that Wren could’ve entered the living room but still have not met Snell, as it could’ve been possible that Snell was in a different room in the inner complex for all the time Wren was inside the living room. However, this seems to make little sense - if Snell didn’t want to see Wren face to face, why would he have called him in in the first place? One reason I can think of is that Snell was afraid that if he didn’t call Wren in, Wren would get suspicious and leave and his murder plan would go to waste. Yet, he didn’t trust he could stay composed when faced with the man he hated enough to kill, and as such arranged it that he was, for example, in the restroom during his “meeting” with Wren. I shall state this in Blue: Wren entered the living room, but Snell was elsewhere in his inner complex during this time, meaning that they never met by the definition given in the Red that stated everyone met Snell only once.
This does seem like a bit of a stretch, but should my previous blues have been correct, it would be understandable if our witch was feeling rather cornered, and stretched the limits of plausibility a little to find some way to defend the illusion of magic. This whole “everyone met Snell only once” -thing may not have been a part of the original plan, but a diversion thought up on the spot to confuse the detective.
There is one other explanation, which is less likely than the blue above - Hartmeyer was mistaken, and Wren never entered the living room. Perhaps someone else entered when professor Wren was called in, with Hartmeyer mistaking this person for Wren, as he hadn’t met Wren before. But I don’t believe this is reasonable. Snell would likely have been less confident about the upcoming fruition of his long game if he hadn’t met Wren at all and someone else barged into his room when Wren was supposed to be coming. It is more likely that he did meet Wren and confirm that Wren would study the letters of light when they appear, which gave him a reason to be so certain of his plan’s success.
…And that would be more or less all I have to say about the case for now. If anyone actually bothered to read through all of my lengthy rambling, you have my appreciation.
