"Surely There Is a Simpler Explanation Than the Impossible"

"Inside the Box."
By Edward M. Lerner (born 1949).
First appearance: Asimov's Science Fiction, February 2008.

Reprints page (HERE).
Collected in Frontiers of Space, Time, and Thought: Essays and Stories on the Big Questions (2012).

Short short short story (4 pages).
Online at Archive.org (HERE).

     "It was where something had happened. Only it couldn't have."

In a quantized universe, murder is so much easier . . .

Characters:
~ Thaddeus Fitch:
  "Now you claim that my grandson traveled through time to kill me . . ."
~ Mr. McDowell:
  "Professor, the black board has a bullet hole."

Resources:
- Edward M. Lerner collaborates frequently with fellow hard-SF author Larry Niven; see Wiki-pedia (HERE), the SFE (HERE), the ISFDb (HERE), and his own website (HERE). If you're a regular ONTOS habitué, you know that we've already dealt at length with Niven's criminous-SFF mashups (HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE).
- Few felines, real or fictional, have been as famous as Professor Schrödinger's imaginary cat; see Wikipedia (HERE) for the full story.

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