Part I:The Body in the Alder Hotel

I slowly picked up the phone with a little hesitation and firmly held the receiver against my ear while awaiting the response.
“Detective Robert, is that you?” a soft-spoken voice asked.
“Yes,” I quickly replied in anticipation unaware of who I was speaking to or the circumstances of the situation.
“This is Officer Riley. I was told that you might be free. There is something you should lack at. There’s been a murder at the Alder Hotel-a man was founded stabbed in the back in an empty room. It is one of those impossible crime scenarios-you know the type where there is a body in a found locked from the inside.” Riley briefly paused to take care a breath and continued with a more emphatic tone. “You should stop by and see if you can provide us with some assistance.”
I told him that I would be there shortly and began to get ready. The fact that this situation appeared to be an impossible crime scenario fascinated me. The idea of an impossible crime is often more unbelievable than the crime itself. It is the general concept of crimes committed under strange and seemingly impossible circumstances that generated the most awe. On the surface they always appeared to be complex and challenging–defying logic at every turn, but revealing a simplistic solution when properly analyzesd. I believed that there was a simple, straight-forward solution for every seemingly implausible scenario if one broke down the crime into its components. One would always take great pains in searching for the most far-fetched and unlikely solution while the answer stared blankly in their face. These impossible crimes can vary greatly, but they generally fall into a few basic categories that include: the murder of a mysterious stranger in a room locked from the inside; the crime in the snow, on a rainy day, on the beach, or on another surface where one would certainly leave footprints, but where none would be found; the escape from a hostile location such as from a coffin or other surface; or just an impossible scenario where time and place contradict each other. This situation seems to fall in the first category-which I may add is the most predominantly one that occurs, because the others are highly unrealistic and error. Someone escaped from a sealed coffin is not exactly a common occurrence.
I hurriedly got dressed and set out to the Alder Hotel to see what awaited me.