my head, as she had just said, to have me overlook the possibility. Doubly
clever woman… and very nice try.
Smothering a smile, she robotically said, "Eight men enter a room in
which stands a padded gurney. Beside this is an intravenous tube that runs
underneath a cloth-covered table. There are two syringes on the table top;
you can see that only one of them is attached to the intravenous tube, but
by design which one is inactive is unknown to everyone, including you."
She raised her brow.
"I‘m good with that," I said.
"Five of the men are wearing identical khaki uniforms. The sixth man
is dressed in a business suit, the seventh in a white medical smock, and the
eighth in a prisoner‘s orange jump suit." She tapped the table to stop me
from getting lost in the descriptions. "The costumes mean nothing; they
are merely a way of distinguishing between individuals. Make them all
naked, if you like. It won‘t change a thing."
"Understood."
"Three of the men in khaki are restraining the struggling man in
orange. The man in the business suit nods, the man in orange is forcefully
strapped to the gurney by the three men in uniform. The business suit
nods, the man in the white smock inserts a needle into the orange man‘s
arm and he relaxes. The business suit man nods again, and the two
remaining men in khaki uniforms simultaneously push the plungers on
their syringes. A man dressed all in black, except for a round white collar,
enters the room and speaks under his breath, while motioning in a
ritualistic manner as the man in orange dies. The white smock man tests
for vitals. Got it?‘
"Locked in." I tapped my temple.
"How many murderers are in the room?" Bonnie said.
"Including the prisoner?" I cleverly said.
"Focus on the event as I described it; all other information belongs
outside of the room in the world of reason."
"Does logic exclude the man who pushed the empty syringe?"
"Which one is that?"
"I don‘t know," I shrugged.
"Neither did he. How many?"
"Two," I said with an =it‘s obvious‘ shrug.
"Look at the nature of each individual‘s actions," she persisted.
"The priest wasn‘t relevant," I stated categorically.
"Correct, which leaves you with how many?"
"Six."
