The Campfire

An old summer camp by the lake · a twenty-year reunion · the last song around the fire · Difficulty: Officer 4 · 8×8

Twenty years after their last summer, five old friends came back to the camp by the lake for a reunion weekend. Verna, who had been their counsellor back then and ran the camp now, lit the campfire on Saturday night just like in the old days. One by one the logs around the fire emptied: someone went to the tents, someone to the mess hut, someone down to the jetty. When the cook came out with the hot chocolate, Verna was lying in the campfire circle, beside the fire. Everyone tells where they were – find the one who was alone with her.

Rules

1. Every row and every column holds exactly one person. As soon as you place someone, cross out their whole row and column.
2. “Beside” = directly left, right, above or below, and in the same area. Squares with objects (the tents, the stove, the table, the pines, the campfire, the canoe and the lake) cannot be occupied; the benches, the logs, the hammock and the rowing boat can.
3. The murderer was alone with the victim: nobody else was in that area.

Statements

• Autumn (former camper, now a vet): She was in the first column. She was alone with a woman.
• Brody (former camper, now a firefighter): There was exactly one other person in his area.
• Casey (former camper, now a songwriter): She was beside a tent.
• Dustin (former camper, now a banker): He was the westernmost person in his area. A log was somewhere in his column.
• Everly (former camper, now a teacher): The canoe was somewhere in her column.
• Flynn (the camp cook): He was in the Mess Hut.
• Grady (the park ranger): He was not in a corner of his area. He was in the Pine Forest.
• Verna (the camp director): The victim. She was found in the Campfire Circle, beside the campfire – alone with the murderer.

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