The Detective’s DeskBram Moss
Caretaker
What happened from your point of view?
I laid fresh clay test strips across that sill before lunch.
What should I check to test that account?
Any body passing through would crush them.
EASY · CASE FILE
A Window Open from Inside
Easy · A pottery studio
An assistant reports a burglar entering a broken window. Look at the undisturbed sill and ask what each person actually saw.
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
A small pane is broken; the fund tin is empty. The room was locked from the corridor during the alleged break-in.
People and accounts
Erin Lake
Studio assistant
What happened from your point of view?
Someone climbed through the window and emptied the fund.
What should I check to test that account?
I found glass outside when I came back.
Zia Bell
Teacher
What happened from your point of view?
Erin collected the fund for a bank run yesterday.
What should I check to test that account?
Her signed handover should show the amount.
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 · Desk
Bank’s response
No deposit was made. Erin’s claimed break-in occurs the day after she collected the already removed cash.
Case record · Studio window
Sill inspection
Every fresh clay strip remains whole across the narrow opening. No person could pass through without touching them.
Case record · Studio window
Glass examination
The pane was struck from inside; most fragments lie outside. The inside latch was never forced.
Case record · Desk
Signed cash collection
Erin signs for the full fund before yesterday’s planned bank run. The teacher empties the tin at that handover.
Questions to resolve
What does the sill establish?
Who had the fund before the alleged burglary?
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.