The Signal Fire
Some secrets wash in with the tide. Others have to be buried with it.
The scene
A small fishing settlement on the Goa coast, Anjuna, December 1962. Twenty-six families, no electricity yet, the night lit by kerosene and by the cooking fires of a wedding next door. It is also the night of a small, clandestine boat landing in the cove.
The victim
Govind Mhatre, 44, a fisherman, found floating in the shallows at dawn, tangled in his own nets. The local constable has ruled it an accidental drowning.
The suspects
- Parvati Mhatre (Widow)
- Naguesh Pai (Prosperous Fishmonger)
- Babu (Boat Operator)
- Sitabai (Midwife)
- Constable Yeshwant (Local Officer)
Every one of them is hiding something, and their alibis form a single shared timeline. Somewhere in it, one statement cannot possibly be true. Find the contradiction and you have found the killer. This is as far as any file goes without spoiling it, the rest is yours to work out.