There's a fair amount of background information in this game's feelies:

A newspaper article, describing how Freeman Linder was absent from a charity event due to his wife Virginia's suicide
Mrs. Linder's suicide note, describing how she resents Mr. Linder and why she took up an affair with Ralph Stiles
A telegram from Mr. Linder, telling you he fears Stiles may kill him and summoning you to the house tonight
A matchbook from the restaurant The Brass Lantern, which has the phone number "Chandler 1729" written on it. (Doesn't look like a phone number, you say?)

You have 12 hours, until 8:00 AM, to solve the crime. (This walkthrough arrives at an arrest around 1:00 AM.)

 

Look at your inventory. Drop the telegram and your Colt handgun (you won't need it, unless you'd like to shoot someone and end the game prematurely). Go north twice to the front porch. Ring the bell. Phong will lead you into the entry. Wait. Phong, the butler, will lead you on into the living room. Wait. Linder will take you to his office.

Examine the window. Sit in the wooden chair. Read the note Linder hands you. Show him the matchbook. Wait twice. When Monica comes in, answer no when prompted to stop waiting. Ask Monica about Stiles, the affair, and Mrs. Linder. Wait, staying seated, until the gunshot occurs at 9 PM. (Does the description of the shot as "a flash and an explosion" seem odd to you, especially given what you observed about the window? Well, the whole thing is a setup!)

Stand up. Examine the window again. Take the wire and putty. When Phong arrives, ask him about the door bell (i.e., the one that rang just before Linder was shot). Phong, give me the keys. Examine the clock. Examine the keyhole. Examine the powder. Get the powder. Press the button, and notice that it makes something click in the clock. Sgt. Duffy shows up at 9:15. Have him analyze the powder.

Go west into the hallway, then north twice to the middle of the hallway. Open the butler's door (it's the west door, but you can't refer to it that way). Go west into the butler's room. Read the mystery book. Get the receipt. Examine it. Drop the mystery book. Go east twice, through the hallway, into Monica's bedroom. Search desk carefully. (Gameplay requiring adverbs? Really? *sigh*) Read the medical report. Unlock the back door and open it.

Go east into the back yard and south to the office porch. Examine the footprints. If Duffy hasn't yet returned with the gunpowder, wait for him. Analyze the footprints. This taking of a cast is immediate, so next analyze the medical report. Return north and west into Monica's bedroom. Go west into the hallway and north twice to the living room.

Show the note and matchbook to poor Stiles, who is "fastened to the davenport". (Notice that Stiles was offered money to go away from town and keep quiet.) Ask Stiles about Mr. Linder and the affair. Examine Stiles's shoes. Compare the back-yard cast to Stiles's shoes. (So, it was Stiles who ran away from the office into the woods, which lines up with Duffy's report that he caught him running out of the woods.) Drop the cast.

Open the bedroom door and go east to Linder's bedroom. Unlock the back door and open it. Around now, Duffy will return with the medical report. (Hmm, seems fishy, yeah?) Go east into the rock garden. Go south three times to the office path. Get the muddy handgun and examine it. Go west to the side yard. Examine the footprints. Analyze the footprints. Again, this is immediate, so next have Duffy analyze the handwriting on the matchbook.

Go west and north twice to the front porch. Unlock and open the front door and go east into the entry. Examine the shoe platform. Compare the side-yard cast to the boots. (So whoever wore these boots was carefully walking through the side yard, possibly to place the gun you found.) Drop the cast.

Go east and south to the end of the hallway. Unlock and open the garage door (the south door) and go south. Unlock the workshop door (the east door), open it, and go east into the workshop.

Compare piece to green spool. (Because both the spool and the piece can be referred to as "wire", you'll get stuck in a disambiguating loop if you don't use those specific nouns.) If Duffy hasn't yet reappeared with the matchbook, wait. Have him analyze the handwriting on the note. Continue to wait here until 11 PM, when Monica will arrive and fiddle with the junction box. Answer no when prompted to stop waiting. Show her the piece (if you attempt to use more adjectives, you'll get in a disambiguation loop), receipt, and report to Monica. By now Duffy will have returned with the note; have him analyze the putty.

Go west into the garage. Get the ticket stub. Feel the MG. (Since its hood is warm, it seems like she was really gone to the movies -- her alibi.) Go north and east to the office. Wait until Monica walks past you into the office, where she will see her father dead. (After this happens, the coroner will come pick up the body at about 11:30 PM.) Answer no when prompted, then follow her west out of the office, north down the hallway twice, and east into Monica's bedroom. Wait here for her to come back out of the bathroom. Show her the ticket stub.

Go east out the back door and south to the office porch. (When Duffy returns with the putty, have him analyze the wire.) Unlock and open the back door. Wait on the office porch until midnight. (When Duffy returns with the wire, analyze the ticket stub.) Look through the door. Repeat until you catch Monica coming into the office around 12:05 and doing something to the clock. (You can also accomplish this by entering the office and hiding behind the lounge.)

Go west into the office. Handcuff Monica to the lounge. Search Monica and you will find a key. Unlock the clock and open it. About now Phong will show up. Show him the matchbook, piece of wire, and receipt. Phong will leave, possibly in the middle of your trying to show him things. Go west, north twice, and west to find him in the butler's room. Ask him about Mrs. Linder, Mr. Linder, himself, and the boots. Accuse Phong.

Return east, south twice, and east to the office. Search Monica again and you will find the hidden handgun. Accuse Monica. (Um... odd. That response seems to assume she told you about the report rather than you finding it yourself...) Arrest Monica.

For Your Amusement:
Follow Mrs. Linder.
Read the scroll in the entry.
Drink the Scotch and bourbon in the living room.
Before Linder takes you to his office, try to lead him outside (such as by opening the bedroom door in the living room, going east to Linder's bedroom, and trying to unlock the back door).
When Linder asks you to sit, sit in the carved chair instead of the wooden chair.
Shut up Linder, both while he's still alive and after he's dead.
Take Linder's shoes, both while he's still alive and after he's dead.
On the living room phone, dial 0, the coroner, and the Brass Lantern. (This also works in the office, even though there is no phone in the room description.)
Look inside someone.
Follow an inanimate object.
Slap Monica. (You brute!)
Slap Linder, Stiles, or Phong. (all same response)
Slap an inanimate object. (Oddly, you also get this same response if you attempt to slap yourself.)
When indoors, look up.
Look in the mirror. (In a possible sin against mimesis, this command will work anywhere; there doesn't need to actually be a mirror in the room. Maybe our hardboiled detective is carrying a makeup compact...)
Look under a bed.
Kick someone.
Kiss someone.
Try swear words.
Shoot yourself.
Ask Duffy about himself.
Try to break down a closed door.
Catch Phong in the kitchen opening a can of worms, and examine the worms. (He begins a new activity in there each hour on the hour.)
Ask Phong about the broom. (What broom, you ask? It's in the storage closet, but you don't need to have seen it for this to work.)
In the kitchen, take the canned food or the cold food in the refrigerator.
In the dining room, eat a meal, or in the front yard, eat the vegetables. (same response)
Ask someone who you are.
Play something, other than the radio in the living room or the phonograph in Monica's bedroom.
In the bathroom, open the tub door, go east, and take a shower.

To try:

Throw an object at the gate.
Eat something inedible.
Open the fence.
Enter the bathroom when Monica is inside.
Say hello to yourself or to inanimate objects.
Fuck Duffy.
Break a window.
Steal the kitchen garden.

Extras

For further entertainment, you may be interested in:
Lists of bugs in Witness: Nathan Simpson, Graeme Cree, XyzzyNews
Posts about this game at The Digital Antiquarian, The Adventure Gamer, and SPAG
Source code

Last updated: 4/28/2021