Broken Mallet
Cases unlock in order, like levels. This is case 87 of 100.
La Brava Polo Club, Punta del Este, Uruguay, 1:40 pm. Tormenta, the home team's champion horse, was found trembling and sweating in his own stall, two hours before the final of the Summer Cup.
The vet arrived in time and Tormenta will survive. But it was poisoning, between 1:00 pm and 1:30 pm, and the horse is out of the final.
In town, a lot of money was riding on bets on the match. Three people were near the stables this afternoon. One of them is not telling the truth.
The club's trophy room, crossed mallets on the wall, the noise of the crowd drifting in through the window.
Suspects
Aníbal FerreyraTormenta's groom, 51
Horacio LabordeOwner of the club and of Tormenta, 63
Florencia ArrietaArgentine player on the rival team, 29
The real case
The horses killed for insurance
United States, 1982 to 1994
This case is a work of fiction. The characters, names, places and events in the game do not portray real people. The account below is a factual summary, based on public sources, of the case that served as inspiration.
In 1992, Sports Illustrated revealed that owners of show jumpers and show horses in the United States had been paying a man to kill insured animals, faking colic or accidents, and collect policies worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. The federal investigation that followed reached breeders, trainers and veterinarians.
More than thirty people were convicted. Many policies paid only in the event of death, not injury, which created the perverse incentive described by the killer himself.
The game borrows the clue of an insurance policy that pays only for the animal's death and the bankrupt owner. The poisoning, the bet, the characters and the outcome are fiction.
Sources
Case glossary
Words from this case you might not know.
- Punta del Este
- An upscale beach resort city on the Atlantic coast of Uruguay.