The Detective’s DeskZia Hart
Trust beneficiary
What happened from your point of view?
I argued with Julian at 18:40.
What should I check to test that account?
I then joined a continuous remote lesson until 19:30.
HARD · CASE FILE
The Photograph after the Fatal Visit
Hard · A family trust office
A group photograph appears to clear the person accused of a fatal office visit. Establish the examination interval and when the photograph was actually made.
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 examiner supplies a narrow fatal interval from independent medical records: 19:10–19:15. There is no delayed mechanism. The office access strip and full dinner camera card are preserved.
People and accounts
Nora Moss
Host
What happened from your point of view?
I kept the original camera card.
What should I check to test that account?
The dinner seating image before dessert does not show Mara.
Mara Vale
Trust administrator
What happened from your point of view?
I was in the group photo all evening.
What should I check to test that account?
Julian was challenging my payment records.
Rafi Bell
Office clerk
What happened from your point of view?
Mara asked me to fetch her coat.
What should I check to test that account?
The request came after she returned from the office corridor.
Evan Cole
Photographer
What happened from your point of view?
I took the group picture after dessert.
What should I check to test that account?
The shared album displays upload time rather than capture time.
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 · Office
Examiner’s interval report
The fatal close-range assault occurs between 19:10 and 19:15. No delayed agent or remote act accounts for death.
Case record · Office
Auditor’s signed findings
Julian documents Mara’s unauthorised trust transfers and schedules their disclosure that night. The record explains a motive but does not locate the assault.
Case record · Dining room
Full album export
The original group frame is unaltered; its misleading displayed time comes from the album wrapper, not a forged image.
Case record · Dining room
Pre-dessert seating frame
The independent 19:12 seating frame shows Mara’s chair empty and all other dinner staff seated.
Case record · Dining room
Continuous lesson and dinner records
Zia remains on the independent lesson feed throughout 19:00–19:30; Evan, Rafi and Nora remain visible at dinner throughout 19:09–19:16.
Case record · Coat room
Clerk’s coat request
Mara asks Rafi for her coat at 19:20, after the fatal interval. The message names no office visit, weapon or concealment.
Case record · Dining room
Original photo card
The group photograph is captured at 19:42. Its shared copy’s 19:05 display is the album creation time, not capture time.
Case record · Office corridor
Office access strip
The only entrance is in uninterrupted view. Mara enters at 19:09 and leaves at 19:16. Nobody else enters between the intact 19:00 check and discovery.
Questions to resolve
Whose exclusive office visit covers the supplied fatal interval?
What error creates the apparent alibi?
Who is established as a knowing murder accomplice?
Which event occurs after the fatal interval?
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.