I have branches, but no fruit, trunk or leaves. What am I?

One day, I thought of ways that can be used for creating a palindrome. So I decided that I will turn into a larger number by adding the reversed digits to the original number and keep doing it till I finally obtained a palindrome.

I am not sure if this process will always result in a palindrome eventually but I was able to produce a four-digit palindrome. Can you guess my starting number?

Take one out and scratch my head, I am now black but once was red. What am I?

Mr Black, Mr Gray, and Mr White are fighting in a truel. They each get a gun and take turns shooting at each other until only one person is left. Mr Black, who hits his shot 1/3 of the time, gets to shoot first. Mr Gray, who hits his shot 2/3 of the time, gets to shoot next, assuming he is still alive. Mr White, who hits his shot all the time, shoots next, assuming he is also alive. The cycle repeats. If you are Mr Black, where should you shoot first for the highest chance of survival?

An exterior architect is asked by a builder to plant seven trees in a manner that there are exactly six rows of trees in a straight line and each row has three trees in particular.

How will he do it?

John is found dead in a bare field. Nobody killed John,
John did not commit suicide.

Inspector Jacob found a bag just a few meters away from John which could save his life. What was in the bag?

A wealthy man lives alone in a small cottage. Being partially handicapped he had everything delivered to his cottage. The mailman was delivering a letter one Thursday when he noticed that the front door was ajar. Through the opening he could see the man's body lying in a pool of dried blood. When a police officer arrived he surveyed the scene. On the porch were two bottles of warm milk, Monday's newspaper, a catalog, flyers, and unopened mail. The police officer suspects it was foul play. Who does he suspect and why?

In the attached figure, you can see a chessboard and two rooks placed on the chess board. What you have to find is the number of squares that do not contain the rooks. How many are there?

There are five people. One of them shot and killed one of the other five.
We know following clues:
1. Dan ran in the NY City Marathon yesterday with one of the innocent men.
2. Mike consider being a farmer before he moved to the city.
3. Jeff is a top notch computer consultant and wants to install Ben new computer next week.
4. The murderer had his leg amputated last month.
5. Ben met Jack for the first time six months ago.
6. Jack has been in seclusion since the crime.
7. Dan used to drink heavily.
8. Ben and Jeff built their last computers together.
9. The murderer is Jack's brother. They grew up together in Seattle.

Consider yourself to be a famous detective "Sherlock Homles", Can you find the killer?

Can you name any English verb that becomes its past tense by simply rearranging the alphabets ?