FILE No.21Unsolved
At night, in front of a closed general store, the shopkeeper was stabbed with a knife. The only witness was one boy on the opposite pavement.
The boy did not see the culprit directly. The culprit was behind the shopkeeper, and all the boy could see was the culprit’s figure reflected in the shop’s glass door.
The boy testified, "The culprit in the glass held the knife in the left hand."
There are two suspects: Ono, who is left-handed, and Kawabe, who is right-handed.
Which one is the culprit?
If you get stuck, open the hints one at a time, in order.
Did the boy see the culprit directly?
What happens to left and right in an image in glass?
Which hand was the reflected "left hand" in reality?
Which one is the culprit?
Choose the answer closest to the truth.
Kawabe, who is right-handed
The answer is Kawabe, who is right-handed.
An image in glass is reversed left to right. The "left hand" the boy saw was actually the culprit’s right hand. Since the knife was in the right hand, it is natural to conclude the culprit is the right-handed Kawabe.
If you "believe what you saw as it is," you mix up left and right in a mirror image. When you hear a witness, first check whether they saw directly or saw a reflection.
The concrete statement "knife in the left hand" sounds as if it points to the left-handed Ono.
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