An old watchmaker was found slumped over his workbench. The glass clock on the wall had stopped at precisely 3:15. The main door was bolted from the inside. Detective Hayes checked the clock's mechanical gears and realized the stop time was a staged deception. How did Hayes know?
The clock
A mechanical pendulum clock stops running when the weights run down or it is manually halted, but it doesn't spontaneously stop at an exact quarter-hour unless wound down or tampered with. Moreover, the watchmaker died of natural causes hours earlier, meaning someone manually moved the clock hands to frame a specific timeline.
About this riddle
Detective riddles are tiny mysteries. Look for the detail in the story that does not fit; it is usually the clue that solves the case.
Difficulty: Hard. More like this: Detective riddles with answers or try Truth & Lie Island for a different kind of puzzle.
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