[Vote] The Impossible Espresso - Detective Game

 ☕ Elias hates espresso!!! Don't tell me you all didn't know this before ☕

📕Story Background

The renowned food critic Elias Cordell is found dead inside his private office at The Gilded Bean, an elite coffeehouse known for experimental brewing techniques. The shop was closed to customers that day, only four people were present inside the building.

Elias was found slumped on the sofa, a half-finished espresso on the table beside him.

Cause of death: acute caffeine overdose, far beyond a normal lethal dose.

Yet strangely… Elias never drank espresso. He hated it. Detective Rowan then arrived to investigate. THE SUSPECTS ARE:

Arlo – The Head Barista

• Coffee genius, perfectionist, obsessed with brewing.
• Admits he had a heated argument with Elias last week because Elias “ruined his coffee reputation” in a harsh review.
• Claims: “I didn’t make him espresso today. I brewed only filter coffee—all beans are logged and labeled.”

Mara – The Shop Manager

• Handles finances and operations.
• The shop has been losing money; Elias was planning to publish a column exposing mismanagement.
• Claims: “I stayed upstairs doing inventory. Never went into his office.”

Finn – The Intern

• New employee, inexperienced, clumsy but eager to learn.
• Was tasked with cleaning grinders, espresso equipment and storage cabinet that day.
• Claims: “I didn’t even TOUCH the espresso machine while Elias was here. I only cleaned parts in the morning!”

Lira – Elias’s Assistant

• Accompanied Elias to take notes for his food column.
• Claims: “I stepped out for a phone call. When I came back, he was already on the sofa looking unwell.”

After collecting information of the suspects, Detective Rowan examined the office and the coffee bar, and found the following clues:

• The espresso machine is still warm… but the grinder for espresso beans is completely clean, freshly washed, no residual grounds.

• The espresso cup beside Elias contains a very strong brew, stronger than a standard double shot—almost unnaturally concentrated.

• In a side cabinet, Rowan finds a jar labeled: “Cold-Brew Concentrate – SUPER STRONG – DO NOT SERVE DIRECTLY”. It’s 5× stronger than normal espresso. The seal on the jar is broken today.

Rowan carefully analyzed and connected these clues, and located the most suspicious person among them. Do you know who they might be?

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

🔍Known Clues

1. There may be thousands of reason to commit a crime, sometimes the physical evidence is the most important.
2. Security logs will record every attempt to open any equipment related thing along with the employee keycard, so no lie about this.

🕵️‍Questions and Discussions for YOU

1. WHO is most likely the real culprit? WHY is it, any speculation of the possible motive?
2. Do you like coffee? What type is your favorite? Share with us. (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

December 19, 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 (Hour You Sure About This?) -------

Correct Answer: Cuckoo chime was missing

The cuckoo clock was the key.

Since it chimed loudly at 7 PM, it must chime every hour. Therefore, during Monica’s 90-minute recording, at least one hourly chime should have been captured.

But the recording contains no clock chimes at all.

This means the audio was not recorded in the study or was edited, so the timeline implied by the recording is false. If the recording is fake, then it cannot prove Micks was present at the time of the scream.

Thus, it is by a very high chance that the recording was fabricated to frame him.

Link to the post: https://forum.gtarcade.com/topic/250882

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!!!