Case 104: Happily Ever After

Celest St. Claire's Notes

Hey,

As I mentioned in my note, I’m sure that my conclusions will match Sullivan’s. That being the case, if you’ve already asked him about these clues, you probably won’t learn anything new here.

If you do choose to use this site, you’ll still need to email Sullivan about the case’s Solution once you’ve figured out where Damien’s stalker is keeping him.

If you haven’t emailed Sullivan yet, you can visit SleuthKings.com/Case-104 to send him your first email. When you want to tell him where Damien is, just include the word Solution in the body of your email. 

If you need help using the door hanger to find Damien once you’ve solved Clues 1-4, you can send Sullivan a message with the word Location in the body of your email.

If you want to see my thoughts on any of the clues in your case file, just click the corresponding button below.

Did you notice the message on the front of the card that says the sender will “fix the space between us?” What if that’s telling us more than it seems, and the message inside of the card has been altered using spaces?

If that’s what’s going on, the trick to reading this might be to eliminate all of the spaces and then separate each word out individually.

Here’s what it looks like when you remove all of the spaces from the message on the inside of the card:

“Damienmyloveoneofthethingsilovemostaboutyouishowbeautifulyouare.”

Once I put all of the letters together, I started from the left and added spaces between any words that I could find. I made a few mistakes at first but, eventually, this is what I got:

“Damien, my love, one of the things I love most about you is how beautiful you are.”

Aw, that’s really sweet, isn’t it? Actually – maybe not, considering it’s coming from a stalker. Still, I’m pretty sure “beautiful” is one of the words that should help us crack the door hanger’s message. Even though we can’t do much with it yet, I’d still recommend writing it down until we’ve found the other words we need.

Don’t forget – if you need help deciphering the door hanger’s message after solving Clues 1-4, you can send Sullivan a message with the word Location in the body of your email. If you haven’t sent him your first email yet, you can do so at www.SleuthKings.com/Case-104.

I haven’t figured out what word is hidden on the mirror yet, but I have been able to use the letter’s message to replace several of the pictures with letters of the alphabet. The “Penguin” stands for “P,” the “Wave” for “W,” the “Raccoon” for “R,” the “Frog” for “F,” and the “Lion” for “L.”

The letter also tells us that the three hearts can be replaced with vowels, too.

After looking at the mirror a little closer, I’m pretty sure that we’re supposed to make a word out of the letters by figuring out which one to start with and then working our way around the mirror itself. Since cupid is pointing at the penguin, my guess is that we’ll want to start with “P.”

If we start with the letter “P,” we have two possibilities for how the letters can be arranged, depending on if we read them clockwise or counterclockwise. Here’s what each option looks like:

Option 1) P # W # R F # L

Option 2) P L # F R # W #

Other than a few obscure technical words, nothing really matches option 2. That being the case, we need to use option 1 and figure out which vowels we can use in place of the three missing letters in order to create a word.

I’m pretty sure that the stalker’s letter actually gives us a hint about which vowels to use. I missed it the first few times I read the letter, but the line that says they “might not have a i to offer…” is telling us not to use the letters “A” or “I” here. Since those two are out, that means we need to use “O,” “U,” and “E.”

I stared at it for a little while and tried several combinations, but the only word I could make using those letters is “powerful.”

I’m pretty sure “powerful” is another one of the words we need in order to make sense out of the door hanger. I’d recommend writing it down until we’ve found the other words we need.

Don’t forget – if you need help deciphering the door hanger’s message after solving Clues 1-4, you can send Sullivan a message with the word Location in the body of your email. If you haven’t sent him your first email yet, you can do so at www.SleuthKings.com/Case-104.

I think Sullivan was right – there’s no way the quantities in the ingredient list are correct.

Maybe we’re looking at this all wrong and the numbers aren’t quantities at all. What if they’re actually telling us to look at a letter or something in the line that they’re beside? If that’s the case, they might spell out another one of the qualities that Damien’s creepy stalker loves about him.

Good news – it looks like I was right; the numbers beside each ingredient aren’t quantities – they’re telling us which letter in the line to look at.

For example, “1 Cup Sugar” is telling us to look at the 1st letter, which is “C.”

If we follow that pattern for each number, we get:

“C,” “O,” “N,” “F,” “I,” “D,” “E,” “N,” and “T.”

That has to be it – “confident” must be another one of the traits that we’ve been looking for. We should be able to use it with the door hanger to help us figure out where Damien’s stalker has taken him. For now, you should probably write it down until we find the other words we need.

Don’t forget – if you need help deciphering the door hanger’s message after solving Clues 1-4, you can send Sullivan a message with the word Location in the body of your email. If you haven’t sent him your first email yet, you can do so at www.SleuthKings.com/Case-104.

So, I tried to fold the paper and bring the lines together like Sullivan mentioned in his Clue Analysis, but I still can’t tell what I’m looking at. It’s almost like the words are backwards or something.

Wait a second – do you think that we could read this if we look at it with the pocket mirror? I know it sounds weird but, if the words really are backwards, that’s probably the easiest way to read them. Try giving it a shot to see if the mirror can help you read this thing line-by-line as you fold it.

Don’t worry – I just finished using the mirror to read each line. Here’s what it says:

“Damien, do you know what truly made me fall in love with you? It was the blog  you used to write. It was so insightful. What I love more about you than anything else is your worIdview.”

The stalker got a little talkative here, but it sounds like what they love about Damien is his worldview. I’m pretty sure that means “worldview” is another word that we need for the door hanger. You should probably write it down alongside the other words we’ve found so far.

Don’t forget – if you need help deciphering the door hanger’s message after solving Clues 1-4, you can send Sullivan a message with the word Location in the body of your email. If you haven’t sent him your first email yet, you can do so at www.SleuthKings.com/Case-104.

Of course, if you know where Damien’s stalker is keeping him, you can send Sullivan an email to let him know. When you do, be sure to include the word Solution in the body of your email so he knows what you’re talking about. Once you’ve helped him find Damien, hopefully, Sullivan will be able to rescue him.

Good luck!