The Long Context - Interactive fiction driven by an LLM

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Welcome, Detective Faurot, to the bustling streets of Soho, New York City, February 23rd, 1911. The crisp morning air bites at your face as you step out of the police wagon, summoned by Officer Fitzpatrick to the scene of a suspected burglary at M. M. Bernstein and Brother, a garment factory at 171 Wooster Street.

Your goal is to identify the perpetrator of this crime using your cutting-edge forensic skills, specifically, your expertise in fingerprint identification. The future of forensic science in America may hang in the balance. You must correctly identify the suspect in less than ten actions. Remember, you can use one action to ask me for help, historical context, or biographical information at any time.

Officer Fitzpatrick, a burly man with a walrus mustache, greets you with a nod. "Morning, Inspector. Looks like we got a slick one here. Broke in through the abandoned loft on the third floor, cut through the ceiling into the sweatshop above, and made off with a haul of corsets and embroideries. Didn't leave much behind, I'm afraid."

You have 9 actions remaining. What do you do?

look for anything glass

Fitzpatrick grunts. "Glass? Why would you be looking for glass, Inspector? Unless you think our thief was carrying a mirror..." He trails off, clearly skeptical of your methods.

You ignore his skepticism and begin your meticulous examination of the scene. The third-floor loft is dusty and deserted, the remnants of old furniture and discarded mannequins scattered about. The hole in the ceiling, roughly cut but effective, testifies to the burglar's skill. You climb through the hole into the sweatshop above, where the air is thick with the smell of cut cloth and machine oil. Here, amidst the chaos of overturned sewing machines and scattered garments, you notice something glinting near the door. It's a pane of glass, propped against the wall, seemingly out of place.

You have 8 actions remaining.

look at pane of glass

You pick up the pane of glass. It's surprisingly clean, except for a few smudges that look suspiciously like… fingerprints. They're faint, almost invisible to the naked eye, but your trained eye picks them out. This could be your breakthrough. The thief, in his haste, must have removed the pane to disable the alarm system and left his prints behind.

A quick historical aside: At this time in 1911, fingerprinting was still a relatively new technique, viewed with suspicion by many in law enforcement. The Bertillon system, which relied on body measurements, was the prevailing method of identification. Your advocacy for fingerprinting, inspired by your visit to Scotland Yard in 1906, has been met with resistance, but cases like this could prove its worth.

You have 7 actions remaining. What do you do next?

take fingerprint from glass

Carefully, you dust the glass pane with a fine camel hair brush dipped in fingerprint powder, a technique you perfected during your time at Scotland Yard. The whorls and loops of the fingerprints become more visible against the glass. You have brought along your portable kit, containing a copper slab, printer's ink, a hand-roller, and photographic equipment. You carefully ink the prints on the glass and transfer them to a card, creating a clear record of the fingerprints.

You have 6 actions remaining.

compare fingerprints to suspects

You carefully pack the glass pane and your fingerprint cards, and head back to the Identification Bureau at 300 Mulberry Street. The Bureau, a cramped and cluttered room filled with filing cabinets and overflowing boxes, is a far cry from the modern forensic labs of the future, but it's your domain. Here, amidst the "Rogue's Gallery" of criminal photographs, you've begun building your own collection of classified fingerprints, meticulously organized and filed.

You have 5 actions remaining. What do you do next?

compare fingerprints from crime scene to filed fingerprints

You retreat to the relative quiet of the darkroom to develop and enlarge the fingerprint photographs. Back at your desk, under the flickering gaslight, you begin the painstaking process of comparing the crime scene prints to your growing collection. You employ a variation of the nested search algorithm developed by Alphonse Bertillon, though adapted for fingerprint analysis. It's a tedious process, requiring intense concentration and a keen eye for detail.

You have 4 actions remaining.

find matching fingerprint

Hour after hour, you pore over the fingerprint cards, comparing the loops, whorls, and arches. The gaslight flickers, casting long shadows across the room. Just as your eyes begin to tire, you find it: a match. The fingerprints on the glass pane are a near-perfect match to a set in your files belonging to one Charles Crispi, a known burglar with a prior arrest for breaking into a Soho loft.

You have 3 actions remaining. What do you do next?

arrest Charles Crispi

Based on the fingerprint match, you issue an arrest warrant for Charles Crispi. Officer Fitzpatrick, initially skeptical of your methods, is now impressed. He dispatches officers to apprehend Crispi, who is found at his usual haunt, a dimly lit tavern in the Five Points neighborhood. Crispi is taken into custody without resistance.

You have 2 actions remaining.

interrotage Crispi

Crispi is brought to headquarters for questioning. He denies any involvement in the Bernstein burglary, claiming he was elsewhere at the time of the crime. You present him with the fingerprint evidence, explaining the science behind your identification. Crispi remains defiant, but the evidence is overwhelming.

You have 1 action remaining.

take evidence to court

You’ve successfully identified and apprehended Charles Crispi, the perpetrator of the Bernstein and Brother burglary, using your pioneering fingerprint identification techniques! Your meticulous work and dedication to forensic science have paid off. The case of The People of the State of New York v. Charles Crispi will become a landmark legal case, solidifying the use of fingerprint evidence in criminal trials and cementing your reputation as a pioneer in forensic science.

You won with one action to spare! Hit refresh to play again and explore different paths through the investigation.