A House of Cards (Solution)
It isn't necessary for each team member to play a role, but the puzzle is easier to solve (and more fun) if all four team members participate. Spade starts the conversation, and if everyone speaks exactly when they're supposed to (according to their scripts) it goes like this:
- Spade: In all my years of detective work I've never seen a stakeout go south like the mess we saw last night. Those moonshiners knew we would be there. We have a leak in our boat, gentlemen, simple as that.
- Heart: (someone mentions a leaky boat) Cool it, Spade! Let's not jump to conclusions. Only the four of us knew about the stakeout, and the odds of one of us ratting are thinner than a fresh coat of paint on a stormy night.
- Spade: (someone mentions a stormy night) Is that so? I don't know fellas, sounds like our friend here is trying to protect himself. I think you ratted on us, Hugh, and you're trying to blind us with more fog than San Francisco on a cloudy day!
- Club: (someone mentions your home town) You sure are quick to accuse, Spade. Maybe you're the one that ratted on us! We all know you've got reasons to leave this job. Maybe you finally fell for that mafia dame, the one with eyes blue enough to make a bishop kick in a stained glass window.
- Diamond: (someone mentions stained glass) So you saw that girl too? Join the club! I've known Sam longer than any of you, and he'd never fall for a girl like that. When it comes to women Sam here is as cold as a cafeteria dinner.
- Club: (someone mentions a cafeteria dinner) Is that so, Diamond? Everybody knows you would fall for her like a house of cards if you had the chance. Maybe you're the rat!
- Diamond: (someone mentions a house of cards) I only count cards, I don't fall for them. And you all know with my history I'm easier to frame than Whistler's Mother. But our friend Heart over here is being awfully quiet, isn't he? He's probably the rat, waiting for all of us to accuse each other!
- Heart: (somone mentions a famous piece of art) I've spent more years on the job than anybody here. Spade's the one that did it, I'm as sure as a tracer bullet.
- Spade: (someone mentions a Calvin and Hobbes character) And you told us not to jump to conclusions! Now I'm sure of it, Hugh. You ratted us out. You're such a bad detective you couldn't find a prayer in the bible.
- Heart: (someone mentions a bible) Aren't you all forgetting Club over here? He's a transfer, nobody around here knows him. He's a more likely suspect than a smoking gun!
- Club: (someone mentions a smoking gun) Listen, all of you! (take out the letter) Heart here is the one that did it, and I have the evidence to prove it! (open the letter)
Whoever played Diamond should have written down all mention of card suits. Every mention of a suit is bolded above, and they are named in this order:
SSCDHSCH
Whoever played Heart should have kept track of how many times each character was accused. Heart was accused 4 times, Spade 2 times, Diamond and Club one time each.
There are eight suits mentioned, and there are also eight characters at the end of Greenstreet's letter, ETDBXKPR. If you replace each suit with the number of times they were accused, and subtract that number from the character in Greenstreet's message, you get the answer:
SSCDHSCH => 22114214
22114214
ETFBXKPR
CREATION