The cases for 2026-08-08

The Verlaine does not lose — so when the books came up light, the house locked the doors. A row of private rooms, a floor of practiced faces, one forged chip. Unmask the forger, room by room. The file names 4 players; Jasper Quaid's statement sits on top of the pile.

1. 1. The dominoes player and whoever stacked the amber chips are the same person.
2. 2. Émile Tournier was in a lower-numbered room than whoever stacked the turquoise chips.
3. 3. The solitaire player and whoever stacked the rose-gold chips had exactly 1 room between them.
4. 4. Cordelia Frost was right next to whoever stacked the rose-gold chips.
5. 5. The dominoes player was right next to whoever stacked the rose-gold chips.
6. 6. Émile Tournier was in the room right before whoever stacked the scarlet chips.
7. 7. The craps player was in a lower-numbered room than whoever stacked the scarlet chips.
8. 8. Émile Tournier and the craps player are the same person.
9. 9. Cordelia Frost was in the room right before Émile Tournier.
10. 10. The craps player was in the room right before the baccarat player.
11. 11. Cordelia Frost was in a lower-numbered room than the baccarat player.
12. 12. Émile Tournier and the solitaire player had exactly 1 room between them.
13. 13. Jasper Quaid and the baccarat player are the same person.

The house lights came up on an empty jewel case and a company of performers who can all cry on cue. Each waited out the search in a separate dressing room. Walk the corridor and place them, door by door. The file names 5 performers; Serafina Locke's statement sits on top of the pile.

1. 1. Cordelia Strauss and the performer in the crimson gown had exactly 3 dressing rooms between them.
2. 2. Reinhold Faust was in a lower-numbered dressing room than the performer in the mourning veil.
3. 3. Lucien Beaumont and the performer holding the tin crown had exactly 3 dressing rooms between them.
4. 4. The performer in the emerald shawl and the performer holding the hand mirror are the same person.
5. 5. Thaddeus Crowe was in the dressing room right before the performer holding the hand mirror.
6. 6. Thaddeus Crowe was in the dressing room right before the performer in the emerald shawl.
7. 7. Lucien Beaumont and the performer holding the glass vial are the same person.
8. 8. Reinhold Faust and the performer in the emerald shawl are the same person.
9. 9. Lucien Beaumont was right next to the performer holding the letter scroll.
10. 10. Serafina Locke was in the dressing room right before the performer holding the tin crown.
11. 11. The performer in the peasant smock was in the dressing room right before the performer in the mourning veil.

Every dome on the ridge logged the eclipse; only one logged a theft. The star map was there at totality and gone by dawn. Place each astronomer under the right dome. 5 astronomers, 5 domes, and no two accounts that quite agree — start with Dr. Halley Vance.

1. 1. Lena Ostrov was in a lower-numbered dome than the astronomer tracking the star cluster.
2. 2. The astronomer using the sextant was right next to whoever was drinking the spiced cider.
3. 3. The astronomer using the prism box and the astronomer tracking the nebula are the same person.
4. 4. Bram Sutcliffe was in the dome right before the astronomer using the prism box.
5. 5. The astronomer tracking the eclipse was somewhere after the astronomer tracking the morning star but before the astronomer tracking the star cluster.
6. 6. The astronomer tracking the morning star was in the dome right before the astronomer tracking the nebula.
7. 7. Whoever was drinking the lemon water was in the dome right before whoever was drinking the spiced cider.
8. 8. Cassia Moreau was in the dome right before the astronomer tracking the red planet.
9. 9. The astronomer using the sextant was right next to the astronomer tracking the nebula.
10. 10. Lena Ostrov was in the dome right before whoever was drinking the peppermint tea.
11. 11. The astronomer tracking the red planet was in the dome right before the astronomer tracking the star cluster.
12. 12. Bram Sutcliffe and whoever was drinking the cocoa are the same person.
13. 13. Dr. Halley Vance and the astronomer using the reflector scope had exactly 1 dome between them.
14. 14. Lena Ostrov was right next to the astronomer using the field glasses.