LAURINBURG — As it turned out, there’s no Sherlock Holmes in Scotland County, at least not among those who attended the Murder Mystery Night at Brick & Mortar in downtown Laurinburg on Saturday.
About 135 people participated in the event, a fundraiser for Scotland County Parks & Recreation, all of whom were treated to a steak dinner catered by Southern Way Catering in Gibson.
While the crowd consumed the dinner, a murder mystery at Porous Pines Country Club was laid out — complete with clues and the in-person testimony of several persons of interest, all provided by the Charlotte Murder Mystery Company.
The victim, identified as regional men’s golf champion Holin Wunn, was obviously disliked by each individual who gave their testimony, including his opponent on that fateful day, women’s champion Birdie Bigelow; his own caddie, Toten Klubs; Carrie Bagshot, the caddie for Bigelow; Macon Green, the groundskeeper at Porous Pines; Sandy Trapini, the president of Porous Pines; and Nemo Brandt, the CEO of Sadasi Sports Gear.
According to Sheriff Lawrence Law, Wunn fell dead as he was teeing off at the 18th hole after rallying for a one-stroke lead. The cause of death had been revealed to be poisoning from strychnine.
As dinner came to a close, guests were invited to take the opportunity to interview any of the persons of interest one-on-one to help their table arrive at a conclusion about who the murderer was.
After about 30 minutes of interviewing and collaboration, each of the 17 tables pointed their c0llective fingers at … the wrong suspect.
“A majority of the tables chose Macon Green, the groundskeeper,” a representative for Charlotte Murder Mystery Company, said. “Nobody chose the right suspect.”
The suspect who proved to be guilty of the murder was Toten Klubs, Wunn’s own caddie.
According to Jeff Maley, who helped to organize the fundraiser for Parks & Recreation, the event was under consideration for postponement right up to the 11th hour.
“We stayed in contact with County Manager Kevin Patterson on whether we should pull the plug or not,” Maley said. “Luckily, we didn’t have to do that — we’d already ordered food and all the final preparations had begun (on Saturday).
As of Monday, there was no indication on what the fundraiser had brought in.
W. Curt Vincent can be reached at 910-506-3023 or cvincent@laurinburgexch.wpenginepowered.com.
