Brain Teasers
The Intruder
Mystery
Mystery teasers are little stories where you need to figure out what happened based on the given clues.Mystery
Emily was sitting at her study table, home alone, on a cold and stormy night. Her parents had taken a flight earlier in the morning to Australia as her grandmother had passed away. She had wanted to follow her parents but she had an important English examination the next day which she could not miss.
The storm was getting heavier by the minute and the wind was howling outside. All this noise made it very hard for her to concentrate. She was on the verge of dozing off when she was shaken alert by a sudden "THUD!" She dismissed it as a window which had been slammed shut by the wind.
She tried to concentrate on her books when she heard faint footsteps. Emily got out of her room and looked around when suddenly, without warning, she was grabbed by the neck. She tried to scream but it came out as a mere whimper as the intruder was pressing hard against her throat with his arm. She tried to free herself from his grip but to no avail.
"Give me all your money!" growled the man who had grabbed her from behind.
"Th-there is none h-here! Please ll-let me go!" cried Emily.
"Don't LIE TO ME!" screamed the increasingly agitated man. She felt the man strengthen his grip around her neck. She said nothing and a few seconds passed by in silence. Suddenly the phone rang which alerted both of them.
"People will get suspicious if I don't answer the phone," said Emily, with a controlled voice. The intruder let her go.
"Alright, but NO funny business, or ELSE!" said the nervous intruder. Emily walked toward the phone. She took a deep breath and calmed herself. She picked up the phone.
"Hey Em! How's the revision going?" said the caller.
"Hey Anna. Thanks for the call. Hey you know those Science notes I lent you last week? Well I really need them back. It would be a great help to me. It's an emergency, so if you could give me them tomorrow it would be great. Please hurry in finding the notes. I need to get back to my books now. Bye," Emily said. She hung up the phone.
"It was wise of you not to say anything," said the intruder, although he was more than a bit confused by her conversation.
"Now TELL ME WHERE THE MONEY IS KEPT!" screamed the thief.
"It...it's...in my dad's room. The first room on the right. Third drawer," said Emily.
"SHOW me!" said the man, and removed his grip around her neck. She took a big gulp of air and nearly fell. She swallowed hard and said a silent prayer. She walked slowly, in silence, toward her father's room. All of a sudden, they heard police sirens. The intruder froze in his footsteps. He ran to the nearest window and jumped out of it.
Emily ran outside in time to see the intruder being escorted into the car. She saw Anna and she ran toward her and hugged her.
"Smart kids," said the policeman.
What had happened?
The storm was getting heavier by the minute and the wind was howling outside. All this noise made it very hard for her to concentrate. She was on the verge of dozing off when she was shaken alert by a sudden "THUD!" She dismissed it as a window which had been slammed shut by the wind.
She tried to concentrate on her books when she heard faint footsteps. Emily got out of her room and looked around when suddenly, without warning, she was grabbed by the neck. She tried to scream but it came out as a mere whimper as the intruder was pressing hard against her throat with his arm. She tried to free herself from his grip but to no avail.
"Give me all your money!" growled the man who had grabbed her from behind.
"Th-there is none h-here! Please ll-let me go!" cried Emily.
"Don't LIE TO ME!" screamed the increasingly agitated man. She felt the man strengthen his grip around her neck. She said nothing and a few seconds passed by in silence. Suddenly the phone rang which alerted both of them.
"People will get suspicious if I don't answer the phone," said Emily, with a controlled voice. The intruder let her go.
"Alright, but NO funny business, or ELSE!" said the nervous intruder. Emily walked toward the phone. She took a deep breath and calmed herself. She picked up the phone.
"Hey Em! How's the revision going?" said the caller.
"Hey Anna. Thanks for the call. Hey you know those Science notes I lent you last week? Well I really need them back. It would be a great help to me. It's an emergency, so if you could give me them tomorrow it would be great. Please hurry in finding the notes. I need to get back to my books now. Bye," Emily said. She hung up the phone.
"It was wise of you not to say anything," said the intruder, although he was more than a bit confused by her conversation.
"Now TELL ME WHERE THE MONEY IS KEPT!" screamed the thief.
"It...it's...in my dad's room. The first room on the right. Third drawer," said Emily.
"SHOW me!" said the man, and removed his grip around her neck. She took a big gulp of air and nearly fell. She swallowed hard and said a silent prayer. She walked slowly, in silence, toward her father's room. All of a sudden, they heard police sirens. The intruder froze in his footsteps. He ran to the nearest window and jumped out of it.
Emily ran outside in time to see the intruder being escorted into the car. She saw Anna and she ran toward her and hugged her.
"Smart kids," said the policeman.
What had happened?
Hint
Read the conversation carefully and think outside the box.Answer
Emily had used the mute button during her conversation with Anna so that all Anna heard was: "call...help...emergency...please hurry". Anna, sensing something was wrong, called the police and told them Emily's address. The police were able to come to Emily's house in time to catch the perpetrator.Hide Hint Show Hint Hide Answer Show Answer
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Comments
easy but good
Thanks. It's my first attempt in this category and I made it up myself.
Fun story and good answer. I thought maybe they had a safety system where if you say emergency and hang up without saying you aren't in an emergency, the other person must call for help.
Yeah I thought of that possibility too. It could have worked as well, I guess.
Very interesting teaser. Of course, if that had been me, I wouldn't have even thought about that!
It was fun!
It was fun!
great teaser
Awesome! I didn't even come close to getting it. Good job!
She is wise
very good! I thought it might've had something to do with her saying emergency in the call.
This is very easy and it is nice
I thought that she may have used a different inflection of her voice-like thanks for the CALL, the notes would be a great HELP...something like that. But I liked your answer too. Our stupid phone hangs up if you press mute. I have hung up on many of my friends doing that!
Great answer! I never would have thought of it. I thought that, since she was doing an ENGLISH paper, maybe the "science" note "emergency" was a code word, or something like that. Great teaser!
Great puzzle, but I dismissed that answer as too obvious, because Agatha Christie used it in one of her stories.
Excellent Teaser
smart!!! thats a good thing to teach kids to do!
Excellent Teaser.
Excellent Teaser.
Loved this; neat trick. Kicked myself when I didn't get it. Super funny.
I really liked this one. Furthermore, it was excellently written. Kudos.
Thanks for all the positive feedback guys. I was hesitant to submit this teaser in the first place...I was reading it and thought to myself - is this even any good? It was my first venture into the Mystery genre so I wasn't sure but I took a chance and submitted it. Didn't realise it would be so popular. I might try to think up another mystery teaser one of these days. So be on the look-out.
That was a great teaser! I had a felling that it was something to do with the word "emergency," but I had NO idea that she had hit the mute button
A really difficult teaser! i knew it had something to do with the word "emergency".
I figured something was up when Emily said "emergency." But why would Emily have been so nervous if she had a plan?
Without looking at your answer, this is my guess................She has an English Examination and when the caller called, she asked that person for science notes and said its an emergency......So mayb thts how the caller came to know sumthin was wrong and sent the police i guess.............is it right???????? i havent seen the answer yet..........i swear ta god
wow nice one!!
I thought that they had a special code. Great teaser.
how fast is she talking?
Can she press the mute button that fast without making any interruption in her pace or moving her hand?
that's awesome skill to have
Can she press the mute button that fast without making any interruption in her pace or moving her hand?
that's awesome skill to have
Good one!
I didn't really get it other than it seemed to me that the friends probably didn't have science together and the word "emergency" would alert the friend, but I sure enjoyed the read.
I didn't really get it other than it seemed to me that the friends probably didn't have science together and the word "emergency" would alert the friend, but I sure enjoyed the read.
Brilliant - I didn't get it! i thought maybe she said 'science' knowing that she was supposed to be doing english. Great stuff
May 28, 2010
Aw, darn! That was really smart of her! I was on the right track, but gave up. I knew it was something like that.
that was nice i liked it at first i was confused but when i read the hint, i kind of thought about the phone and about maybe the mute button
WOW . I lvoe these kine stoories
WOW! That was really hard - great stuff!
Jul 31, 2010
I thought it was the fact that she was studying for an English exam & mentioned Science in the conversation. Plus her exam was tomorrow. So, why would she need the notes tomorrow? But, that's a good tip.
Wicked! Like, I thought it's something to do with science notes and banknotes.
really clever
This is such a good teaser!!!
I love it! I wish I was that smart
Great Teaser!
I got it even though I thought I was wrong.
Good Job!!!
I got it even though I thought I was wrong.
Good Job!!!
WONDERFUL! That can actually come in handy in you ever find yourself in a situation like that.
I thought. . . ENGLISH exam. SCIENCE notes. Good teaser.
bubbubfilt, I got the same as you, ahaha. Still works, but good job on the teaser!
I thought it was because she asked for the notes the next day, but the test would be the next day. Awesome!
This is pretty clever i thought it had to do with the fact that she was talking about science notes when seh had a english exam and because the exam was the next day and she wanted them the next day. Also I thought that saying "emergency" had something to do with it. It's a really good brainteaser though and your answer does make sense although it would take a lot of skill to make that sound just right.
Jun 04, 2013
Very interesting yet easy... All I missed was the mute.
wow , i though it was fake note and science things , but never though about mute the phone , its really smart
That was stupid tbh you cannot talk while muting the phone without having an interruption, which would more than likely tip the intruder off.
My guess was that she had a pre-arranged system with the friend. Code word: Anna (not her real name). System: Only use every word following a word with "EA" in it. Decoded message: NEED HELP PLEASE HURRY. It leaves the word "emergency" out, but it could get the point across.
Well, I was close to the answer indeed.
When I heard "Emergency" and "Please hurry", I was almost close to the answer.
PS: My parents keep visiting Grand ma in Australia, too . I am safe in London, tho
LOL
When I heard "Emergency" and "Please hurry", I was almost close to the answer.
PS: My parents keep visiting Grand ma in Australia, too . I am safe in London, tho
LOL
That's pretty smart!
Especially for the author coming up with it himself!
I must say that I'm surprised that the crook wasn't bright enough to figure out what was going on...
Especially for the author coming up with it himself!
I must say that I'm surprised that the crook wasn't bright enough to figure out what was going on...
Wow! This actually is very creative, What i came up with was that since her parents were going to be gone for a while, They set up a plan if someone would happen to break in. I know my parents would do that for sure. They also maybe shared the plan with her friends so that if she was to call the victim would just mention the science notes in the drawer so that her friends would get the message and she would call the police for help.
I think the actual answer was a bit more creative then mine but this teaser actually got me to think.
I think the actual answer was a bit more creative then mine but this teaser actually got me to think.
theres a mute button on a phone????!!!!
mute button!?!?
mute button!?!?
oooops
Smart.
My thoughts were around the fact that she asked for Science notes when it was likely known that she was prepping for an English exam. Plus the short message and abrupt ending of the call makes the entire call suspicious. Using a mute button is smart, but I just don't get how anyone managed to think about that lol, maybe I'm the dummy tho
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