![[Witness Image]](Images/witness.jpg)
In The Witness, you are a police detective working near Los Angeles. The
year is 1938, and on this stormy February night a wealthy but frightened man
has asked you for protection. In spite of your best efforts, a death will
occur, and you will have twelve hours to solve the mystery and try to arrest
the killer. If you think you have enough evidence against one or more
suspects to convince a jury of their guilt, you can arrest them and conclude
the case. Your ever-helpful assistant, Sergeant Duffy, will assist you in
taking the accused into custody. (He will also offer help before the arrest
if you ask him for it.) You can expect to receive a letter from your
superiors about the outcome of the grand-jury investigation -- and, if the
District Attorney gets an indictment, of the trial itself. If the jury does
not convict, your higher-ups will probably tell you where you may have
erred, so that you can profit from your mistakes. Because the State cannot
win the case unless it can prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, you are
expected to establish the three traditional ingredients to an ironclad case
for the prosecution: the accused must have had a motive, a method, and ample
opportunity to commit the crime. There are many possible endings to this
case, and the one you reach is determined by your actions and by the
deductions you draw from the evidence you gather. But one ending fits the
facts better than any other, and you will know it when you reach it.
| Title | The Witness |
|---|---|
| Working Titles | Invitation to Murder / Witness |
| Author | Stu Galley |
| Difficulty | Standard |
| Product Code | IM2 |
| Release Date (Serial Number) |
Release Number | Z-Code Version |
|---|---|---|
| 830524 | 13 | Standard (3) |
| 830910 | 18 | Standard (3) |
| 831119 | 20 | Standard (3) |
| 831208 | 21 | Standard (3) |
| 840924 | 22 | Standard (3) ¹ |
| Rooms | 20 |
|---|---|
| Words | 715 |
| Objects | 22 |
| Opcodes | 8945 |
The re-release of The Witness used the standard box format which consisted of a grey box with coloured horizontal stripes. It contained the February 1938 issue of "Nat'l DetectiveGazette", Virginia Linder's suicide note, a Western Union telegram from Freeman Linder, a matchbook of "The Brass Lantern", and the February 1, 1938 issue of Santa Ana's "The Register".
The release of the Classic Mystery Library included The Witness, Suspect, and Moonmist each in their own standard box. The boxes were contained in a specially desgined trilogy slipcase.