Find the next number in the sequence

5 12 24 36 ?

When my father was 31 I was 8. Now he is twice as old as me. How old am I?

How far can you walk into the woods?

A Detective reviewed the information they had on the case so far.

A lady named 'Caterina' was found shot and they already had a list of suspects - Ankit, Tarun, Harish, Manoj and Manish.
The killer is a fan of challenges him by leaving notes ad various places.
* The first was found in a toilet room.
* The second was found in an art room.
* The third was in a restroom.
* the fourth in an underwater room.
* The fifth at the no-smoking room.

All of the notes read the same thing, 'The clues are where you find the notes.' Yet, nothing was found at any place the notes were.
Detective the genius, immediately solved the case.
Who was the killer?

Below, you can see some coding:
January = 1017
February = 628
March = 1335
April = 145
May = 1353
June = 1064
July = 1074
August = 186

Now deciphering the way it has been coded, can you find out how September will be coded?

Find The Missing Number In the Sequence.
6 25 64 ? 32 1

Begin with a word, five letters to my name,
Remove the first and last but I am the same
Take out my middle and still, I remain.
What word am I?

What goes up but never comes down?

The great emperor Akbar once ruled India. He was well known for his intelligence. But along with that, he was known for the Nine Gems in his court. One of the nine gems was Birbal, a quick witted and extremely intelligent man. The stories of his wit were widely popular.

Once a king ruling in a distant land heard of Birbal. To check his wit, he sent an invitation and called him to visit his land. Akbar allowed Birbal to go and he took off on the journey.

Upon reaching that kings kingdom, he was welcomed with flowers. He was then escorted to the palace of the king. Upon entering the palace, Birbal found that there were six people sitting in front of him adorning the same robe. They were also lookalike and it was hard to judge who the real king was.

After a couple of minutes, Birbal approached one of them and bowed in front of him greeting him.

That was the real king. How did Birbal know who was the real king ?

I am a type of word that is spelt incorrectly or used differently, on purpose for humour. What am I?
Hint 1: You can find me in a joke.
Hint 2: I am a play on words.