[Vote] Watch Out, Recorder Underneath - Detective Game

📚 You know this is truly groundbreaking, when they trying that hard to steal 📚

📕Story Background

Company A had recently developed a groundbreaking software system for the Air Force's fighter jets—a highly classified national defense program. Foreign intelligence agencies were eager to get their hands on its secrets and were willing to go to any lengths, including bribing company employees, to steal information.

At 1:00 PM, a confidential meeting about the new software was held in the company’s conference room under strict security protocols. Halfway through the meeting, an engineer accidentally dropped his pen. As he bent down to retrieve it, he noticed a strange small box under the table. Upon closer inspection, it was revealed to be a micro-recorder, designed for eavesdropping.

The Chief Engineer immediately suspended the meeting and contacted the authorities. Inspector Moen arrived swiftly to investigate. He examined the recorder and played the tape. The recording began with silence, followed by the faint sound of a door closing approximately two minutes in. Ten minutes later, footsteps and the voices of people entering the room were audible. Based on the timing, Inspector Moen deduced that the recorder had been placed in the room around 12:45 PM.

After a thorough review, the Inspector identified three people who might have entered the conference room at that time before the meeting began. He and the manager then interviewed each suspect individually.

The Secretary. She admitted, “I entered the conference room at 12:40 to place some documents on the table and left immediately.” The manager, noticing her footwear, scolded her: “Company policy requires flat shoes at work. Why are you wearing high-heels?” Embarrassed, she replied, “I woke up late today and accidentally wore the wrong shoes in my rush to get here.”

The Cleaner. He explained, “I went into the conference room to wipe the table and left shortly after.”

Before Inspector Moen could ask further questions, the manager interjected: “Why are you wearing tennis shoes instead of the regulation flat shoes?” The cleaner stammered, “I… I played tennis during lunch and forgot to change back.”

The HR Specialist. She said, “I entered the conference room for an interview and left afterward.” Her heavy down jacket made a noticeable rustling sound as she walked, which drew disapproving looks from the manager.

After interviewing the suspects, Inspector Moen confidently turned to the manager and said, “I know who planted the recorder.”

Who do you think placed the recorder in the conference room? Use these clues to solve the mystery!

(This story is absolutely fictional. Any inconsistencies with common sense work for the plot)

🔍Known Clues

1. The perpetrator is in the middle of three people. They all have access to the conference room.
2. The secretary is wearing high-heels, the cleaner is wearing tennis shoes, and the personnel is wearing a down jacket.

🕵️‍Questions and Discussions for YOU

1. WHO was the one lying and placed the recorder? HOW can you tell?
2. I've heard that footsteps can reflect a person's character. Do you feel this way? (Open-ended)

🎉Participation Rewards

The FIRST user to successfully deduce the identity of the "culprit" and their motive in the comment, will receive a reward of 2,000 GT points! Other participants will earn 200-500 GT points based on the completeness of their submissions. 💰

📅Submission Deadline

January 10, 2025

Reminder: This is the submission deadline if you want to claim the reward with your vote, but after this date the vote will still remain open for a period of time, so please feel free to participate at any time if you want to test your skills, detectives!

----- Previous answer (The Masked Diviner) -------

The murderer is Yamamura.

Among the suspects who knew the face of the soothsayer were concubine Yoko and her brother Ryuichi.

In other words, there was no need to hide their faces for those to familiar people. The soothsayer was poisoned while having coffee with the visitor with his face covered. This means that the soothsayer received people who were not good at letting each other see their faces. In that case, the murderer can only be Yamamura, who came to seek divination. Yamamura was unable to pay off his debts, so he set his sights on a fortune teller who was on the rise and was sure to have considerable savings.

Link to the post: [Vote] The Masked Diviner - Detective Game – Gtarcade Discussion Forum Official Forum

We will be rewarding 200 GT points to all players who voted correctly, and additional points to some outstanding responses.

Congratulations and enjoy your juicy GT points reward!!!

🎁 Additional Reward Rule

We greatly appreciate everyone's willingness and time to participate in our new community discussion event, the Detective Game.

While there is only one "correct" answer we've prepared, we will reward anyone who comes up with a genuine deduction process and actively engages in this event with a random amount of EXTRA GT Points based on the quality of their answer.

We will carefully review and select the best comments, so don't worry detectives, join in and earn your points!

Note: We have now reclassified the Detective Game back under the Votes category to enhance event navigation and streamline the reward claim process using the VOTE function. (Please note that this change is not permanent and may be subject to future adjustments)