Post by MWGallaher on Mar 29, 2016 18:21:46 GMT -5
I think there are a lot of red herrings in this little story, which makes it difficult to be certain what solution they had in mind.
So let's look at what appear to be potential clues:
Page 1
Panel 1: We see an overturned ladder and a toppled paint can, which seems consistent with his story.
Panel 2: It was raining around the time of the murder.
Panel 3: He supposedly fell from the ladder at the same time Mrs. Lesh was (presumably) shot.
Panel 4: He has not yet changed his clothes, presumably including his shoes. He has paint on his arms, his shirt, and his pants.
Page 2
Panel 1: The masked man supposedly jumped the hedge in the rain with muddy shoes. They obviously want to draw our attention to the stuff on the shoes, which may be paint.
Panel 2: Nephew claims to have reached the porch and found her dead (Let's assume the absence of paint here is not intentional--he wouldn't have disclosed that in his testimony, so it can't be an intended clue, can it? Or do they want to plant a theory in our mind that will suggest the answer to the mystery?)
Panel 3: The ground is still soggy and the two men are either walking in mud, or trailing paint, or just standing by some puddles--who can say based on Trapani's lousy art and this crummy coloring? There are three mostly full and open paint cans surrounded by splashes of paint--or are those supposed to be footprints?--on the...porch? Not back by the garage? This is the most confusing panel for me, and it raises many suspicious questions: Why have three open paint cans...four, counting the one that spilled? Is this the garage? The dialog suggests they are still right by the body on the porch, but there's no paint in panel 2. Oh, and the nephew has not put the paint there (wherever "there" is), because everything is as he found it.
Panel 4: This dialog gives me a headache. Presumably, he's saying he was looking for one thing and found something unexpected instead. Or maybe he means that he confirmed the absence of something he suspected would be absent? And this is apparently right where the masked man supposedly hit the ground after jumping the hedge. But what is he seeing? Is it paint? Is it deep grooves? Probably not, because the detective would expect the hedge leap to result in some deep tracks in the mud.
OK, the one thing we can be fairly sure of is that the clue that confirmed the theory was on the ground on the other side of the hedge. Was it paint in the footprints as Rob suspects? Or was it the absence of signs of impact, invalidating the tale of the leaping masked man?
I assumed we could ignore the absence of paint on the nephew in the flashback, but can we also assume that there was no paint on the aunt? That would be unlikely if the paint-splashed nephew really touched his aunt on the porch.
So let's look at what appear to be potential clues:
Page 1
Panel 1: We see an overturned ladder and a toppled paint can, which seems consistent with his story.
Panel 2: It was raining around the time of the murder.
Panel 3: He supposedly fell from the ladder at the same time Mrs. Lesh was (presumably) shot.
Panel 4: He has not yet changed his clothes, presumably including his shoes. He has paint on his arms, his shirt, and his pants.
Page 2
Panel 1: The masked man supposedly jumped the hedge in the rain with muddy shoes. They obviously want to draw our attention to the stuff on the shoes, which may be paint.
Panel 2: Nephew claims to have reached the porch and found her dead (Let's assume the absence of paint here is not intentional--he wouldn't have disclosed that in his testimony, so it can't be an intended clue, can it? Or do they want to plant a theory in our mind that will suggest the answer to the mystery?)
Panel 3: The ground is still soggy and the two men are either walking in mud, or trailing paint, or just standing by some puddles--who can say based on Trapani's lousy art and this crummy coloring? There are three mostly full and open paint cans surrounded by splashes of paint--or are those supposed to be footprints?--on the...porch? Not back by the garage? This is the most confusing panel for me, and it raises many suspicious questions: Why have three open paint cans...four, counting the one that spilled? Is this the garage? The dialog suggests they are still right by the body on the porch, but there's no paint in panel 2. Oh, and the nephew has not put the paint there (wherever "there" is), because everything is as he found it.
Panel 4: This dialog gives me a headache. Presumably, he's saying he was looking for one thing and found something unexpected instead. Or maybe he means that he confirmed the absence of something he suspected would be absent? And this is apparently right where the masked man supposedly hit the ground after jumping the hedge. But what is he seeing? Is it paint? Is it deep grooves? Probably not, because the detective would expect the hedge leap to result in some deep tracks in the mud.
OK, the one thing we can be fairly sure of is that the clue that confirmed the theory was on the ground on the other side of the hedge. Was it paint in the footprints as Rob suspects? Or was it the absence of signs of impact, invalidating the tale of the leaping masked man?
I assumed we could ignore the absence of paint on the nephew in the flashback, but can we also assume that there was no paint on the aunt? That would be unlikely if the paint-splashed nephew really touched his aunt on the porch.
