The Puzzle of the Iron Key
Episode 3: The Night Watchman
Driving back through the rainy city streets to his workshop, Julian worked through the night to fabricate the custom titanium-brass key on his high-precision lathe. As the metal cutter shaved away the excess alloy with a high-pitched whine, a shadow passed across the frosted glass window of his ground-floor workshop. Julian stopped the machine, turning off the overhead lamps as heavy footsteps approached the front door. Someone was trying to force the deadbolt with a pneumatic pry bar. Grabbing a heavy iron wrench from his workbench, Julian crept silently toward the entrance. The wooden door splintered inward, and a masked intruder stepped into the dark workshop, raising a suppressed firearm. Julian didn’t hesitate; he hurled the heavy wrench across the room, striking the intruder’s wrist and sending the weapon clattering across the concrete floor. The intruder cursed, turning and fleeing back out into the rainy alleyway before Julian could apprehend him.
The Duplicate Cast
Examining the intruder’s dropped pry bar, Julian discovered a corporate logo belonging to an elite private security firm contracted by the bank’s deputy director, Victor Thorne. Thorne was part of the syndicate attempting to loot the central reserve before the federal audit could expose their years of embezzlement. Julian finished fabricating the custom titanium-brass key, slipping the finished instrument into his leather tool kit before returning to the central reserve bank at dawn. Arriving at the subterranean vault level, he found Director Arthur Pendelton and Deputy Director Victor Thorne waiting by the massive steel vault door alongside federal auditors. Thorne smiled coldly, crossing his arms over his chest. “Well, Mr. Vance? Have you managed to craft a toy that opens a fifty-year-old mystery, or are you going to fail publicly?” Thorne mocked.