The Detective’s DeskMina Hart
Conservator
What happened from your point of view?
I stayed at the public demonstration. The room camera and visitors saw me.
What detail should I check independently?
I sent Nell a retained scan of the invoice bundle before the fire.
HARD · CASE FILE
The Report Written after the Alarm
Hard · An archive after deliberate damage
A fire destroys invoices, and a replacement report blames a faulty lamp. A porter’s earlier door wedge creates another tempting lead. Identify who caused the damage and who knowingly altered the explanation afterward.
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 fire is extinguished without injuries. The supplied examination establishes deliberate interference, not an electrical accident. You are not expected to infer technical fire causes beyond that finding.
People and accounts
Oren Ward
Project administrator
What happened from your point of view?
I entered only to remove ordinary waste before the alarm.
What detail should I check independently?
The cancelled drawer contained invoices for my private company.
Nell Shaw
Records supervisor
What happened from your point of view?
A faulty lamp caused the archive fire. I did not use the cancelled collection drawer.
What detail should I check independently?
The retained electrical report should still be in the maintenance folder.
Leo Cole
Porter
What happened from your point of view?
I installed an ordinary door wedge for the morning delivery and removed it afterward.
What detail should I check independently?
The delivery was finished long before Oren’s later visit.
Ruth Venn
Inspection clerk
What happened from your point of view?
I signed a normal electrical fault report after the alarm. It was an ordinary correction.
What detail should I check independently?
Oren asked me to replace the earlier inspection sheet once he knew the archive was damaged.
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.
Physical record · Inspection desk
Original inspection scan
The original pre-alarm inspection records the lamp functioning normally. Nell preserved the authenticated scan before any replacement was written.
Physical record · Archive room
Retained invoice scan
Mina’s independently dated scan identifies false invoices from Oren’s private company. That bundle is exactly the drawer targeted in the damage examination.
Physical record · Inspection desk
Post-alarm messages
Oren writes after the fire: “The invoices are gone. Replace the normal lamp check with a fault report.” Ruth replies that she will do it. The recovered thread contains no prior damage agreement.
Physical record · Inspection desk
The clerk’s first account
Ruth initially reports a normal inspection, then changes to the fault explanation after Oren’s post-alarm message. The statement sequence supports the timing of her change.
Physical record · Archive room
Independent damage examination
The lamp circuit remained intact. The examiner establishes deliberate interference focused on the cancelled invoice drawer; no accidental lamp fault explains the damage.
Physical record · Inspection desk
Replacement report history
Ruth creates the fault report after the alarm and backdates it. Her account of correcting a pre-existing fault conflicts with the retained normal inspection.
Physical record · Delivery bay
Porter’s delivery record
Leo’s ordinary wedge is installed and removed during the earlier supervised delivery. He is on the loading-bay camera during Oren’s later visit; the wedge is absent then.
Physical record · Archive room
Archive entrance and retained stills
Oren enters carrying the cancelled-drawer key after the morning deliveries have ended. The retained still sequence records him deliberately damaging that drawer before the alarm. No other person accesses it in that interval.
Questions to resolve
Who deliberately damaged the invoice drawer?
Who knowingly falsified the later fault explanation?
Which role is established for the inspection clerk?
What does the porter’s wedge establish about the later act?
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.