Was Mary dead at the time of the puzzle (as in, is her death relevant to the puzzle or does she just happen to be dead now?)
I guess the associated question is, was Mary a real person?
Was her phone a cell phone? A landline telephone?
Did she die of something other than natural causes?
I cry foul-- They DID know that he was the seller of the item.
I guess. He was using a fake name when interacting with people, but I guess it is possible they knew he was the head of the company.
Is the question why would it be unusual to plug her phone in before she went to sleep? Yes
[alternative why would it be unusual ot be untrue?]
Is Mary dead because she didn’t plug her phone in? No
Did Mary have a disability or illness? She had an illness, but it’s not very important
Was Mary dead at the time of the puzzle (as in, is her death relevant to the puzzle or does she just happen to be dead now?) Yes, quite relevant
I guess the associated question is, was Mary a real person? Yes
Was her phone a cell phone? A landline telephone? Landline
Did she die of something other than natural causes? No
Typically, one might assume the owner of a landline would simply leave the phone plugged in all the time, in which case it would be unusual to plug it in at any given time since there would rarely be any need to. Does that idea have anything to do with the answer you’re looking for?
Was having it unplugged part of her regular routine? Or would this have been a one-off situation?
Does the question of plugging her phone in arise from a situation in which she would have moved it from one room to another?
With a situation in which she would have wanted it unplugged for a period of time so it wouldn’t ring?
Was Mary herself the one who unplugged it?
Did someone else unplug it before she went to sleep and/or died? After?
Was Mary murdered?
Did the killer plug in the phone?
Is it a cell phone?
Typically, one might assume the owner of a landline would simply leave the phone plugged in all the time, in which case it would be unusual to plug it in at any given time since there would rarely be any need to. Does that idea have anything to do with the answer you’re looking for? One would think, certainly. But there’s one situation where having it plugged in at all would be quite odd.
Was having it unplugged part of her regular routine? Or would this have been a one-off situation? No
Does the question of plugging her phone in arise from a situation in which she would have moved it from one room to another? Yes
With a situation in which she would have wanted it unplugged for a period of time so it wouldn’t ring? No
Was Mary herself the one who unplugged it? N/A
Did someone else unplug it before she went to sleep and/or died? After? N/A
Was Mary murdered? No
Did the killer plug in the phone? No
Is it a cell phone? No
Was it a landline phone?
Did the headset portion plug into the base?
Did she unplug her phone so it wouldn’t ring at night?
Was it a landline phone? Yes
Did the headset portion plug into the base? Probably? I guess? Not important
Did she unplug her phone so it wouldn’t ring at night? No
Does this take place during recent years, when most people also have cell phones?
Did Mary also have a cell phone?
Did she die in her sleep?
Was the alleged phone-plugging-in a matter of moving the phone into her bedroom?
Like, is the rumor that she moved it in order to be able to call for help because she thought she might die that night?
Is there speculation that plugging in the phone could have in some way caused her death?
Does this take place during recent years, when most people also have cell phones? No
Did Mary also have a cell phone? No
Did she die in her sleep? Don’t know
Was the alleged phone-plugging-in a matter of moving the phone into her bedroom? No, but go on…
Like, is the rumor that she moved it in order to be able to call for help because she thought she might die that night? No, but think further…
Is there speculation that plugging in the phone could have in some way caused her death? No
Note: Most of these responses are making an assumption based on my own careless wording, but you’re now so close that I fear that correcting that assumption would give it all away. There is one word in my original post that I should not have used.
…was Mary deaf? Mute?
No
Did she commit suicide?
Did she want someone who’d call to get the not-a-busy-signal-and-not-even-a-dial-tone response?
That’s part of the fun of these puzzles!
Was Mary already dead at the time of the alleged phone-plugging-in?
Like, was she a ghost?
You say the whole plugging-the-phone-in thing wasn’t true, but
Was it, in fact, moved from one room to another?
Did the rumor come from people who actually knew Mary?
From public speculation at the time of her death?
From nebulous “legend has it” historical mythology?
Was Mary famous?
Was Mary elderly?
Does this story take place before 1960 or so?
Was this a wall-mounted phone?
Was Mary’s death an accident?
Did the phone and/or wall collapse?
Was the phone always in Mary’s house, just not always in the same location?
Was electricity involved?
Did she move the phone to the bathroom — maybe so she could get out of the tub and use it pretty quickly if needed — but unplugged, maybe because she didn’t want to die from a phone-in-tub accident? But “they” say she plugged it in, because “they” say stuff like that when they hear a woman is found dead in a tub with a phone nearby?
Was anyone else in the house at the time of Mary’s death?
Was the phone unplugged at someone else’s request?
Had someone else requested she plug in the phone at a time when she would normally have had it unplugged?