Just for funzies

On Tuesday we had a comprehension exercise that was hard to comprehend. Not so much because of the French, but because of the exercise. You can find it in French here:

http://ecole.toussaint.free.fr/lafouine/lafouine.htm
Click on "par numéro" and then choose #56.

This is one of those classic who-done-it stories that often have flaky endings. My dad thoroughly enjoys reading them, deliberating on them for several minutes, reading the answer, and grumbling loudly and with much feeling about how the given answer is far too simplistic. I also enjoy this past time. This story, however, is a little too much for me.

It is copyrighted, so I can't translate and repost it here in English. However, you can copy and paste it into google translator at

http://translate.google.com/

and I will correct the errors that will come up :-)

The biggest one is that Google translator sometimes translates names into English equivalents and sometimes doesn't. The characters in this story are Lafouine (the inspector), Jean, Louis, Benoit, Paul, and Lawrence

1) The French have no word for "it." They use the word for he or she. Google translator therefore sometimes translates he or she as "it," as in the start of the second sentence.

2) The four people with his phone number are Lewis, Benedict, Paul, and Lawrence.

3) You will notice that French is often backwards. "You know all of them?"

4) He gave Paul his phone number, not his actual phone.

5) Louis - "I have got nothing to do with this story [...] it was me who picked up the phone [when it rang]."

6) Benois (Benedict) - "he must have been gone." Also, the proper translation would be, "I certainly did call Jean..."

7) Lawrence, who is mute, used signs...

"Lafouine found the culprit"

... but I haven't. What a convoluted mess! If Louis was at Jean's house, why didn't Jean say so? And why on earth did he mention Louis as one of the people who had his number? If Laurent is really mute, why would Jean have included his name as one who could have called and made a death threat? The stories of Benoit and Paul do almost nothing for us unless we get a chance to corner Jean again, because I'm pretty sure he looks like the most suspicious one of the lot! Louis isn't the brightest bulb in the pack either to say he has nothing to do with the story and then follow it up by saying that he is the one who picked up the phone.

So, you tell me. With what we've got, is there any possible way to explain their responses? I'm thinking several of them are guilty of attempting some kind of plot and failed to communicate with each other what their story was going to be. If that is the case, which of them are innocent?