MOUNT MORTIMER HINTS: Michel Besson

Before starting the hints for each character, we would strongly recommend building a timeline of events as to when Dr. Achenbach was killed. If you get stuck trying to build the timeline of events, please follow the hints trail – “Timeline of Death”.

Who is Michel Besson? Firstly, familiarize yourself with Michel and what role he plays in the story. Read the Medical Report for Michel Besson.

Besson has fallen ill with hypothermia! The report then goes on to say “Dr. Achenbach instructed Besson to go to the fuel store…” It then goes on to say that “He (Besson) refused”. Dr. Fitz seems to have also pointed out to Achenbach that it was “…too risky…”. Revenge could be Besson’s motive. Could he have feasibly done it? Carry on reading the Medical Report.

Dr. Fitz says “It seems that the hypothermia has sent Besson into a comatose state.” The report was written on November 30th, how can we know what his condition was like on the night of the murder? Read Gary Dyer’s medical report and the statements.

In Gary Dyer’s report, Dr. Fitz says that “he’s (Besson) recuperating slowly but surely.” This report was written on December 3^rd. In Michel Besson’s statement, he claims to have been unconscious. Fitz also eludes to the fact that Besson was still in the infirmary and had asked to get Michel off of the mountain. Now turn your attention to the “observation monitoring” document. 

We need to establish who these readings belong to. Dr Fitz does claim to have had Gary Dyer in the infirmary, on the 3^rd December at the same time as Besson. Who does the heart rate monitor reading belong to? Read Michel Besson’s Medical Report.

Dr Fitz says “The Ziemans ZHR-2140 I’ve hooked him (Besson) up to will do fine…”. Where else have you seen this model name – Ziemans ZHR-2140? Pay close attention to the Observation Monitoring document.

At the bottom of the Observation Monitoring document, we can see the model number of the machine – ZHR-2140. We know this heart rate reading belongs to Michel Besson. What other piece of evidence can we pair with the reading to understand the data better? Read the Patient Guide about Altitude Sickness.

“The average resting heart rate is 60-100 BPM when awake, and when asleep, it is 40-50 BPM”. Use these facts to study the BPM on the heart rate reading.

Besson does appear to be asleep/comatose and then the heart rate rises to an ‘awakened state’ just after the time of the murder. We need to establish what happens to Besson just before/during when the murder took place! Why has the heart rate graph suddenly dropped? It looks like he is no longer attached to the machine! Read Dr Fitz’s statement.

Fitz’s statement says, “I was checking up on Michel when the facility went into reserve power mode.” What happens to the power at the SRS when it goes into reserve power mode? Read the Handbook and Besson’s medical report.

(If you do not want to proceed with the answer to this just yet, then we advise you to work on finding the alibi’s for the other suspects before revealing your answer below)

On page 6 of The Employee Handbook, it tells us that “Most of the facilities in the Station will not work in reserve mode”. This tells us that the heart rate machine would have stopped working. This is corroborated by Besson’s medical report when Fitz writes “The Ziemans ZHR-2140 I’ve hooked him up to will do fine for as long as the power holds, but since it’s just plugged in at the mains, it’ll be next to useless if the SRS goes into reserve power mode”. We can see that the heart rate is resting / asleep right up until the power outage which would explain the dip. Power is restored, and it’s not until around 22:21 that Besson slowly starts to come around, and his heart rate gradually increases to 60 bpm – this is after the murder! Besson was still in a comatose state during the time of the murder and whilst the Station went into Reserve Power Mode!