The Thirteenth Passenger
Some debts are not collected until the lender has almost forgotten them.
The scene
A haveli in Katra Neel, the narrow cloth-merchant lanes of Old Delhi, December 1962. The Khanna household, refugees from Lahore since 1947, are celebrating the patriarch's son's engagement. Half the household is away at the bride's family in Karol Bagh.
The victim
Lala Devraj Khanna, 74, a refugee cloth merchant, found stabbed in the courtyard of his own haveli. Both doors framing the courtyard were bolted from the inside, and the killer left through neither.
The suspects
- Miss Sushma Madan (Upstairs Tenant)
- Amrit Khanna (Eldest Son)
- Mrs. Prem Khanna (Widow)
- Ram Lal Khatri (Carpenter Next Door)
Every one of them is hiding something, and their alibis form a single shared timeline. Somewhere in it, one statement cannot possibly be true. Find the contradiction and you have found the killer. This is as far as any file goes without spoiling it, the rest is yours to work out.