KEY CUPBOARD (Pages 52–53)

At first it seems that the keys on ‘Hook C’ belong to Mary Hawkins as the key tag appears to read “M. H.”. However this cannot be the case as we know she and Richard have 10 keys between them and Richard always hangs his keys on the bottom row. None of the numbers on the bottom row can be added to the 7 keys on Hook C to give 10. The initials on the key tag therefore cannot be “M. H.”. The initials are in fact “H. W.” but the key tag is hanging upside down. The keys on ‘Hook C’ therefore belong to Harriet Wheeler.

Earnest always hangs his keys next to Harriet’s and has either 4 or 5 keys so his must be the bunch on Hook D.

Sam has 4 or 5 keys and always hangs her keys next to her father’s and her father (Bill) has either 5 or 6 keys. There are only two sets of keys left hanging next to each other (Hooks G and H) that these could be. Sam has 4 or 5 so hers must be on ‘Hook G’, meaning Bill’s must be on ‘Hook H’. Elizabeth has 2 more keys than Bill (and we now know Bill has 6) so Elizabeth’s keys must be on ‘Hook I’ (the only bunch of 8). We know Mary and Richard have 10 keys between them and only two of the remaining bunches (on Hooks J & B) add up to 10. Richard always hangs his keys on the bottom row so therefore Mary’s must be on ‘Hook B’ and Richard’s must be on ‘Hook J’.

The only remaining unallocated keys are the ones on ‘Hook K’ which must therefore belong to Stephen.