Sun Light

Everyone gathered in the grand foyer to hear the detective’s address. “Well,” he said, “I’m glad you all could find your way here for this brief update. You see, I had been working on this case for many hours, and I had made no progress. Until I realized: the answer was right in front of my eyes. It was just obscured. By darkness.”

The assembled guests exchanged confused looks.

“Let me explain,” said the detective. “Ms. Timmins, you were the one to find the body of Mr. Donneley, the elusive billionaire, yes? Or, more accurately, you were the one who saw his hand sticking up from the dirt in the garden as you took your evening stroll across the grounds while thinking of all the ways your career on the screen might have gone differently, correct?”

“That’s right,” said Ms. Timmins, the failed actress.

“And yet, you said you took that walk at 9:45?” the detective said.

“Certainly,” said Ms. Timmins.

“So, how were you able to see the hand, if the sun had set nearly an hour before?” The detective had a glean in his eye. He thought, it was clear to all, that he’d caught Ms. Timmins in a lie.

But she seemed unconcerned. “It was near a garden light.”

“That’s interesting,” said the detective. “Because we dug up the entire garden and found no evidence of wiring. How is that possible?”

“It was a solar light,” said Ms. Timmins.

“Oh, and we’re supposed to understand that you, whose accumulated wealth adds up to a number in the negative, would be able to spot this strange product known as a–” and here the detective made air quotes with his hands–“‘solar-powered garden light’? Honestly? We should assume that you are familiar with something that, if it even exists at all, would certainly only be purchasable by a select few in the socioeconomic class of the aforementioned Mr. Donneley, may he rest in peace.”

“Uh, they’re really not that rare,” said Mr. Bradley, the washed-up tennis pro.

“Yeah, they’re selling a 12-pack of them today on Meh for only about 20 bucks,” said Mr. Fillmore, Mr. Donneley’s estranged cousin with gambling debts.

The detective smiled his knowing smile again. “That certainly sounds reasonable, except, do you really expect me to believe a retail website would call itself something so degrading as ‘Meh’?”

The guests all groaned in unison. They could tell they were going to be here awhile.