Moonmist (red version) - Infocom I knew something was up the moment I got Tamara's letter! Obviously she was scared for her life but - a ghost trying to kill her? Impossible ... or so I thought. I arrived at Tresyllian Castle and was admitted by pressing the eye on the wyvern carving by the gate. The butler asked my name and which was my favourite colour. Red, of course, the colour of my new sports car! Inside the gates, Tamara came flying out to meet me. We chatted for a while and I asked her about the ghost. She really was convinced the so-called White Lady was after her. Soon, she introduced me to Jack, her fiance. Strangely enough, when I asked him about the ghost, he said it is definitely a woman so it could be the ghost of Dee. Dee turned out to be Deirdre, his ex- fiancee, who drowned tragically in the castle well. The other house guests were Vivien Pentreath, Montague Hyde (a shifty customer if ever I saw one), Iris Vane, Ian Fordyce and Dr Wendish. Evidently they were all there for Lionel's memorial birthday dinner. Lionel was Jack's uncle and Jack had inherited the castle from him. The butler, Bolitho, showed me to my room. Before he left, I asked him about the ghost and he said he had seen it searching the carpet near the archway downstairs but it fled when it saw him. He gave me an aerosol that might help me and also said that if I wanted to check my appearance, the mirrors in the room would adjust. Too right, they did! When he left, I tried moving them and found a switch on the wall mirror. Behind it was a secret passage. After washing and changing, I wandered down for dinner. I noticed Bolitho placed a note on Jack's napkin so I sneakily read it. It seemed the servants, by arrangement in Lionel's will, were leaving the castle once the gong had been rung for dinner. One, Gladys, wouldn't be coming back. She had handed in her notice and left an explanatory note on the desk in the sitting room. I vowed to look for that later. The meal was just getting pleasantly under way when a voice came from the bust of Lionel that was in the room! I examined the bust and found it was hollow with a tape recorder in it. Obviously, Lionel had planned this evening well. He said that there was one valuable item he had brought back from his travels abroad hidden in the house. The first clue to find it was hidden under the punchbowl and Vivien had the second. I read them both. The first was of the King of Spades holding a sceptre. The second was a verse: Forbidden fruit tempted the very first lass, 'Twas once in a garden but now in a glass. The meal finished and, with the second clue on my mind, I wandered the castle till I came to the chapel. Thinking to find some peace, I entered. What should I find but a stained glass window showing Eve tempting Adam with an apple. And on the apple was another clue. This one said: Despite its appearance, the fruit was quite sour, One bite of the apple drove Eve from her bower. Hmm ..... bower ....garden! I headed for the hedge maze and found a garden with a pond in the centre. Examining the garden, I dug up a fourth clue! It read: Out of the sunshine, into the rain, The end of the story is Abel and CAIN. The word CAIN had been underlined. Reading the brochure about the castle, I noticed there was a mention of an elephant's foot umbrella stand in the foyer. Inside that, I found a cane which was shaped like a baseball bat but it had faceted bumps on it and the whole thing had been recently covered with paint. Scraping the paint, I uncovered a diamond-studded war club! Rushing to find Jack, I gave the missing treasure to him and he and Tamara were most grateful. Walking back towards the drawing room, I suddenly remembered what Bolitho had told me about the ghost searching the carpet. I searched it myself and found a small red jewel. Oh well, the time had come to do some serious sleuthing so I sneaked into everyone's room and searched the lot of them. Only Jack's room had anything interesting in it. There, I found a necklace with the same red jewels on. One jewel was missing but the one I had found fitted perfectly. Just at that moment, who should walk in but Jack himself. Boy, was I embarrassed! I apologised, and, like a gentleman, he forgave me. I asked about the necklace and he said it had been Deirdre's and the police had returned it to him after the inquest. But something was starting to smell a bit fishy to me. By now it was late and everyone drifted off to bed. I needed a lamp to explore the secret passage and luckily there was one in the kitchen. While I was wandering the passages, who should turn up but the ghost! On impulse, I showed her the necklace. The ghost spoke to me - it WAS Deirdre! She said Jack had tried to kill her and she had escaped by a fluke. She was convinced he had also killed poor Lionel and had been hoping that her ghostly appearances might give the evidence she needed to show he'd committed the crimes. She asked me to find the proof and fled. I returned to the sitting room to read the maid's note. It seemed she had found something dreadful while cleaning someone's room (no name was mentioned) and also said that she refused to stay under the same roof where "things" were going on. At the end of the note she said something about looking through keyholes; it sounded like a good idea to me! I went up to Jack's room and looked through the keyhole. Inside I could see a microphone with its wires going up to the crest on the door. The crest seemed loose so I moved it. Underneath was a small tape recorder built into the door. I played the tape and heard Lionel testing that it worked. Then I heard his voice as he told Deirdre he suspected Jack was trying to kill him. After a slight pause, I heard him talking to Jack and next, of all things, the sound of Lionel being smothered! Deirdre was right - Jack HAD killed Lionel. I knocked on his door and when he admitted me, I accused him. He made a lunge for me but who should turn up and save me but Bolitho. Seeing the game was up, Jack confessed. Poor Tamara - but it's better to have found out the truth now that to have married a murderer.