The Tape Recorder

A cryptic story for you guys!


A man was found dead by a gunshot wound in his study at home.
He lay slumped over a desk, with a gun in his grip.

On the desk stood a tape recorder.
The detective pushed the play button:
"I cannot continue living anymore. I have no raison d'être,"
said the message, which was immediately followed by the sound of a gunshot.

As soon as the detective heard the message, he knew it wasn't a suicide but a murder.

Comments

Unknown said…
The detective just pressed the play button.

If it was suicide, then he needed to rewind the tape first before playing it to hear the "suicide message".
ally said…
Easy, the murderer forced the man to kill himself and the murderer was the one who stopped the recording after the man was dead. You couldn't possibly record the sound of the gun shot when you are dead because the tape would keep on recording.
Kitty said…
Either because it was pre-rewound (rewinded?) or because the recording ended after the gunshot.

Or, less obvious, could be something about the gunshot not necessarily being part of the recording
Anonymous said…
Shoot, you guys are so smart. I just figured it was a woman's voice on the tape or something. Now I fee dumb.
Nunu. said…
Hi Saya-san!!!!

I'm so happy to see a new post from you.

Anyway, this is definitely a murder , as if it's a suicide the detective will have to rewind the tape first.

If I remember correctly, a tape recorder will stop recording if it reaches the end of the tape. So even if this is a suicide and the man recorded at the beginning of the tape, and the recorder keep recording until it reaches end of the tape, the detective will still have to switch the side of the tape first and then only play.

-nunu-
Anonymous said…
*feel. Man. I'm really doing well on this page.
Unknown said…
This is a case for Detective Conan. Lol, that anime is the bomb and this post immediately reminded me of it.
jibeyan said…
Hi Saya, found your blog a while ago while doing some research, totally love it, just wanna thank you for all your hard work translating and posting those stories, vids, and pics, really enjoyed all those cryptic stories, horror and unexplained. btw, greetings from Malaysia.
I do like little short mysteries like this but I also suck at them T.T

Awesome one though!
Unknown said…
Thank you for the new story, Saya. :) The "raison d'etre" part reminded me a little of Ergo Proxy.

I figured you should probably know that after reading so many scary stories, none of them scare me anymore!...

Well, all except the ones on this site, which get me every time! Thanks for adding some spice in our lives with these stories. Nothing really ever compares. :)
Unknown said…
Hi Saya, silence reader for long time here. I really dig all of your stuff, esp riddle one.

For this case, yeah its seems murder, because the stop button things. However, if its legit, the detective must search for any physical evidence like; fingerprints, any shed of hairs, and foot prints that not belong to the victim (=murderer).

In my fantasy, i love to pretend that it's a neat type of suicide, that victim organized the tape recorder first. Maybe acting like he shot himself first (but in fact he just shoot w/o bullets), stop the record, then do actual suicide (shooting). Yeah...
A girl said…
Tell that person to deleted his/her posts him/herself! Saya isn't even free to make new posts for us as it is :'(
Anonymous said…
You can delete it yourself?!?
Unknown said…
@Chi Alejandro
you sir have a very good mind and are very smart. you figured this out when i spent an embarrassing amount of time trying to. and i predict that you will do well the in world.
Unknown said…
If he was really suicide
How could he pause or stop recording
The crytic doesnt have any thing say that the tape ends,but as a detective,you would listen till the tape end before conclude so quick like that
After the shot,if the record is stopped,it's a murder who turn it off.Or it's keep going till the tape end