The Detective’s DeskDan North
Gardener
What happened from your point of view?
Leah’s muddy boots must have done it.
What should I check to test that account?
I watered the bed before opening the gate.
EASY · CASE FILE
Tracks beside the Flower Bed
Easy · A neighbourhood allotment
A muddy boot seems to identify the person who crushed seedlings. Check whether the track existed before the visitor arrived.
Read the case file below, or open the interactive desk to examine records, keep notes and submit your reasoning. These are the case materials, without the solution.
The scene
The crushed bed and its boot impressions are sheltered from rain. A volunteer photographed planting progress.
People and accounts
Osa Lane
Volunteer
What happened from your point of view?
I took a progress image just after watering.
What should I check to test that account?
Leah arrived later, during our tea break.
Leah Vale
Late visitor
What happened from your point of view?
I walked only along the gravel.
What should I check to test that account?
The bed was already crushed when I arrived.
Case records
Read each record on its own terms. A claim made by a person is different from a fact established by an independent record.
Case record · Gate
Gate arrival register
Leah arrives after the progress image. The gatekeeper and delivery entry independently confirm the order.
Case record · Flower bed
Boot sole comparison
Leah’s boots have a chevron sole. The preserved impressions have square blocks; they do not match.
Case record · Garden bench
Watering sheet
Dan’s watering task predates the damage photograph, but the sheet does not record who stepped into the bed.
Case record · Garden bench
Progress image
The crushed seedlings and the same boot impressions appear in the image taken before the gate opens.
Questions to resolve
Which finding can you support?
Who is established as the person who crushed the seedlings?
Use the interactive case desk to select your finding and cite the records that support it. The answer is checked there, and your progress stays in your browser.
Build your finding
Compare the records with each account. Work out what the evidence establishes, then separate that finding from anything it does not prove.