A letter arrives from San Antonio.
Three tiers per gate: a nudge, the mechanism, the answer. Open one at a time. Hints for envelopes you haven't reached stay closed.
Dolores is waiting. Do not accuse until you can say who, how and why, and name the document that clears each of the others.
Dolores writes back:
"I read your letter twice and I don't believe it. Not because I don't want to, though I don't. Because it doesn't hold. Somewhere in that file there is a piece of paper that clears the person you named, and you have not accounted for it. Every one of them but one is cleared by something you can hold in your hand. Find it. Then write me again."
Dolores drove to Blanco on Wednesday with your letter and the sheriff sent a deputy to the cottage. The Solution envelope is open in the sidebar: Dolores's last letter, the evidence trail, and what became of everyone.