The Detective’s DeskHARD · CASE FILE
Hard · An orchestra’s instrument return
A signed bow return and a student’s false lesson alibi point in different directions. Establish what was actually returned and whether a separate private sale explains the missing original.
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 orchestra case contains a plain-gripped practice bow. The repaired bow’s identifying crescent is documented before the loan. All travel sleeves are detained inside the hall.
Instrument borrower
I returned the orchestra’s violin bow to its named case. The return form is signed.
A return signature records my declaration unless somebody opens the case.
Librarian
I accepted the closed case and signed only the time of receipt.
The orchestra’s bow has a crescent repair beneath the grip.
Student violinist
I sold a cheap practice bow earlier. I lied about being in a lesson because I did not want the sale questioned.
My buyer’s full recording shows the practice bow’s plain grip.
Stage assistant
I saw Celia move a bow from the orchestra case to a blue travel sleeve before closing it.
An edge of the crescent repair was visible. My original note does not say I inspected the other bow.
Read each record on its own terms. A claim made by a person is different from a fact established by an independent record.
Physical record · Instrument return
Celia signs that she returned the orchestra bow. Ruth signs a separate receiving-time box marked “contents not inspected”. The two signatures do not establish the same fact.
Physical record · Travel-sleeve store
The crescent-repaired bow is recovered from Celia’s detained blue sleeve. The supervised search links it to the sleeve in the packing record.
Physical record · Instrument return
The case contains a plain-gripped practice bow with no crescent repair. The orchestra’s repaired original was not returned in it.
Physical record · Practice corridor
Tomas sells a plain-gripped student bow. The uninterrupted recording identifies him and the sold object throughout the packing interval. It also disproves his claimed lesson.
Physical record · Practice corridor
The continuous corridor record shows Celia moving the crescent-repaired bow into her blue travel sleeve and inserting a plain bow into the orchestra case before closing it.
Physical record · Practice corridor
Ada wrote that she saw the repaired bow enter the blue sleeve. She explicitly did not inspect the replacement. The later examination supplies that missing identification.
Physical record · Instrument return
The orchestra refused Celia’s request to keep the repaired bow for a private recital. Her later instruction to use it at that recital predates the false return.
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.
Compare the records with each account. Work out what the evidence establishes, then separate that finding from anything it does not prove.