Day 4 Clues: Last Call At Smokey Joe's
Can You Solve A Murder?
CLUE BOARD - DAY 4 The Last Call at Smoky Joe's
Three Strikes
Original Story Here
From Nico's notes:
Went back to The Velvet Room's matchbook supplier—Romano's Premium Print Shop on Taylor Street. Old man Romano keeps detailed records of everything.
"Those black matchbooks with gold lettering? Custom job. Only print 'em once a month, 500 at a time." Romano flipped through his ledger. "Last batch went out three weeks ago."
"Who picks them up?"
"Usually their day manager, but three weeks ago was different. Had three separate pickups."
Three pickups. Three missing matches from the book in Lena's dressing room.
"First was the regular guy—their day manager. Second was that French fellow who's been hanging around. Fancy dresser." Romano squinted at his notes. "Third was unexpected—some local tough guy. Said he worked private parties there, needed matches for the tables."
"You remember what he looked like?"
"Dark hair, thick build. Had working man's hands but was trying to dress nice. Expensive cologne, but it didn't fit him, you know? Like he was playing dress-up."
Three people had access to those matchbooks. Three matches missing. Three suspects.
But here's the kicker: Romano's security camera caught all three pickups. The timestamp on the third pickup—the working man with expensive cologne—shows it happened two hours before Lena's murder.
I stared at Romano's ledger until the numbers blurred. Lena deserved better than this—better than being strangled in a back room while her killer walked away clean. She sang about justice in a world that had forgotten what the word meant. Someone thought they could silence that voice forever.
They were wrong.
Question for Day 4: If someone picked up those matchbooks just two hours before the murder, was this planned? Or did opportunity create the killer?
Tomorrow: A witness emerges from the shadows. What they saw will change everything.