The Detective’s DeskMEDIUM · CASE FILE
Medium · A theatre refund counter
Cancelled tickets are submitted for a valid-ticket refund. A runner carried the envelope, but did she know it was false? Question the three people and test the organiser’s description of the errand.
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 refund was stopped before payment. The ticket desk has a continuous packing view, and the runner’s message thread is preserved. There is no missing interval in the envelope’s delivery.
Runner
I delivered Nell’s envelope as instructed. I never opened it.
I saw a message asking me to call the envelope a blue-ticket return. I replied that I had not checked its contents.
Refund clerk
I opened the envelope with Nell standing beside the desk. It contained cancelled grey tickets.
A clerk’s receiving stamp confirms arrival, not the tickets’ validity.
Ticket volunteer
I gave Jo a sealed envelope for the refund desk. I did not ask her to change anything.
The correct tickets have blue serials; cancelled tickets have grey serials.
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 · Refund counter
The opened envelope contains only cancelled grey tickets. Blue valid-ticket serials were required for this refund.
Physical record · Ticket desk
Nell asks Jo to describe the parcel as blue-ticket returns. Jo replies, “I have not checked it; I can only say I carried your envelope.” Jo makes that limited statement at the counter.
Physical record · Ticket desk
Nell selects the grey tickets, places them in the envelope and writes “valid blue returns” on the form. Jo arrives after the envelope is closed.
Physical record · Refund counter
Cancelled grey tickets have no refund value under this event’s stated rules. A genuine receipt for delivery cannot turn them into valid blue tickets.
Physical record · Refund counter
Nell signs that she checked the serials herself and that the contents are valid blue returns. The receiving stamp does not endorse that declaration.
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.