24

"Which one of you is Grinchuk?”, Hans Nissemann repeated.

Wesley put the insulated glove on the table.

“This was dropped in the passage. Sir Basil, you were there.”

Coalridge took a step toward Basil. Basil raised one hand.

“Don’t,” he said. “You are quite right. I was there.”

He reached up, peeled off the moustache, then the wig. Under Sir Basil's disguise stood Dr. Kasparsnow.

A sound went round the room, half shock, half relief.

Kasparsnow nodded once. “I did not steal my own Star. I came back for it.”

He turned and pointed at the man who had been “Kasparsnow” all this time, standing by the hearth.

“That one arrived before you,” he said. “In my coat. In my house. With my name.”

The false Kasparsnow smiled. “Ingenious,” he said. “But late.”

Wesley moved toward him. Coalridge blocked the door. Snowell caught the man’s sleeve. The fabric tore at the collar and showed a thin edge beneath.

Wesley pulled, and the mask came away, revealing Grinchuk.

Grinchuk looked out at them, eyes bright with spite.

Hans made a short, disgusted noise. “Of course.”

Kasparsnow spoke quickly, as if ticking off a list he had carried for days.

“The letters signed S. N. Ow were mine,” he said. “A precaution. A tradition. I needed you three here, because the field was slipping.”

He tapped his own chest. “He took my place before you arrived. I could not walk in as myself, so I came in as a guest. The cases you saw were my tools.”

He looked at you. “That is why I repeated your line. I wrote it.”

He looked at Wesley. “The clock struck because I rewound it. It was my signal that the hall had emptied. He later said it had not struck in months because he did not know the house.”

He lifted the glove. “And this was mine. I was in the passage to stop him. I ran because I was still hiding.”

Grinchuk made a sharp movement for his pocket.

Coalridge’s hand closed on his wrist. The Evergreen Star slid out, caught before it fell.

Kasparsnow took it without ceremony and crossed to the cabinet. Snowell read the invitation phrases in order. Wesley set the levers. The Star went back into its mount.

One by one, the lights along the branches of the tree steadied, falling into a single, calm rhythm. The flicker in the hall vanished. Somewhere far below, the valley lamps answered, bright and sure.

Hans listened to his handset, then allowed himself a smile.

“The route is clear,” he said. “Abdusantarov is away.”

Above them, they could see the stars form a chess position.

Starting from the initial position, find a sequence of moves that reaches this position after Black's 6th move (6 moves for White, 6 moves for Black), where White can then deliver checkmate on the next move (move 7). Provide the complete sequence, including the final checkmating move. All pieces, both White and Black, are here displayed as black dots. Join our Discord server if you have questions.