Was She Wrong?

[Kattrup]

Hi Kattrup,

Just like magic, I mention the Carrie Brown case and you appear.

The sad thing is though - haven’t you previously mentioned to me that it was a ‘spring lock’ ? And not that long ago?

No, I don’t think so, and the advanced search option verifies it. Must have been someone else

[The Rookie Detective]

Hi Herlock

The door locked automatically, the lock was described as “spring lock”.
so no key was necessary to lock it.

Whether the door could be locked or unlocked is besides the point, it's about how access could be gained to get inside the room.

The fact there was meant to be a key, but it was apparently missing, means that a key was needed to access the room.
The action of a pickaxe being used on the door means that the key wasn't there, not that a key wasn't needed.

The door must have been locked for a pickaxe to be used in the first place.

So a key would be needed in normal circumstances.

Unless of course there was no key to the room in the first place, meaning that anyone could enter the room at any point?

It doesn't matter how the killer got out, it's how he managed to get in without a key.

[Doctored Whatsit]

It doesn't matter how the killer got out, it's how he managed to get in without a key.

Surely the killer got in without a key because he was one of Kelly's clients.

[The Rookie Detective]

Either Kelly entered the room with her killer through the door, let him into the room with her already inside, the killer used the latch via the broken window while she was sleeping, or he had a key.

The latter option seems unlikely.

Using the latch through the broken window would have required the killer to have observed Kelly doing the same thing previously.

The issue is that when Kelly is witnessed entering her room with Blotchy, she uses the door and not the latch.

So Kelly must have had a key.

So where did that key go?

And was it the same key that magically reappeared?

[The Rookie Detective]

Surely the killer got in without a key because he was one of Kelly's clients.

But Kelly would still need the key regardless.

Blotchy was seen going in through the door with Kelly.

She never used the broken window

Why?

I believe the missing key anomaly is the clue.

[The Rookie Detective]

Of course, there is another scenario whereby the sighting of Blotchy entering Kelly's room with Kelly..

...simply didn't happen.

[Herlock Sholmes]

No, I don’t think so, and the advanced search option verifies it. Must have been someone else

Maybe I dreamed it Kattrup?

[Herlock Sholmes]

But Kelly would still need the key regardless.

Blotchy was seen going in through the door with Kelly.

She never used the broken window

Why?

I believe the missing key anomaly is the clue.

Maybe Kelly didn’t always bother to lock her room when she went out? And if she did sometimes lock her room (perhaps if she expected to be out for longer) she could open the door via the window.

[Kattrup]

But Kelly would still need the key regardless.

Blotchy was seen going in through the door with Kelly.

She never used the broken window

Are you sure of that and if so, how do you know?

There was only one key to the door, and Barnett and MJK had lost it some time previously.

[c.d.]

If Kelly simply let her killer in (and I think that was the case) then the whole key/window business is pretty much moot is it not?

And why would the killer try the window and possibly wake her up if he could be simply let in by her?

c.d.

[Herlock Sholmes]

The only ‘mystery’ for me is something that we can never know - when the key showed up where had it been? Whoever her killer was the likelihood has to be that she let him in believing that he was a client. As she wasn’t seen unlocking the door via the window when she entered her room with Blotchy Man then she couldn’t have locked the door.

[Herlock Sholmes]

Where might the key have been? Suggestions…


Maybe McCarthy found the spare and this was mistakenly taken to be the lost one?

Maybe Kelly had given her key to Maria Harvey or Lizzie Allbrook? Might it have been the case that she wanted one of them to have access to a roof over her head but it was the case that not everyone was tall enough to reach the lock from the broken window? Or maybe it was a ‘tricky’ operation that not everyone could manage?

Maybe Joe Barnett found it among his own possessions?

[The Rookie Detective]

Are you sure of that and if so, how do you know?

There was only one key to the door, and Barnett and MJK had lost it some time previously.

Mary Cox witnessed Kelly and Blotchy go through the door.

No mention of Kelly going around to the broken window on the adjacent wall to reach through and open the door via the latch.

If the door locked automatically like a Spring lock, then Kelly needed a key to get in.

But the key was already lost....apparently.


So how did Kelly get into her room as witnessed by Mary Cox?

[The Rookie Detective]

Maybe Kelly didn’t always bother to lock her room when she went out? And if she did sometimes lock her room (perhaps if she expected to be out for longer) she could open the door via the window.

The room locked automatically when Kelly left the room.

We are told the window was broken previously and that the room could be entered by reaching through the broken window and lifting the latch.

We are told the key was already lost.


Both of these are relevant.

The question is, what occurred first?


The lost key or the broken window?


If the key was lost first AND Mccarthy didn't have his own master key, then how did anyone get into the room?
Perhaps deliberately breaking the window was necessary to facilitate a lost key?

If the window was broken first and then the key, at what point did Kelly and Barnett realise they could enter the room by reaching through the already broken window?


The correct chronology is important to establish

[The Rookie Detective]

The only ‘mystery’ for me is something that we can never know - when the key showed up where had it been? Whoever her killer was the likelihood has to be that she let him in believing that he was a client. As she wasn’t seen unlocking the door via the window when she entered her room with Blotchy Man then she couldn’t have locked the door.

But the door automatically locked when leaving the room.

If it didn't, and the room was left unlocked, then why need a key?

The entire reason for a pickaxe being needed to get into the room stems from the door being locked.

But the type of lock meant it locked automatically and didn't require manual locking.

It was automated by default.