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The Detective’s Desk

MEDIUM · CASE FILE

The cold-store thermometer

Medium · FERN SEED BANK

Four seed-bank staff claim their local thermometer reading lies inside the permitted storage range. The file defines the fictional units exactly. Also reconstruct the review register: it records who examined which source, independently of whether their later proposed answer is correct. Review slots describe order, not travel or clock times.

Investigate this case

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.

Your assignment

Whose in-range claim is false?

People and accounts

Zane West

Recorded account

“My reading is within the permitted range.”

Anya Moss

Recorded account

“My reading is within the permitted range.”

Xara Pine

Recorded account

“My reading is within the permitted range.”

Yori Hart

Recorded account

“My reading is within the permitted range.”

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.

PRIMARY RECORD

Thermometer conversion

For this instrument, Celsius temperature equals (local reading minus 10) divided by 2. The instrument is accurate.

This converts the local scale into Celsius.

LINKED RECORD

Storage standard

Storage is permitted from 4°C through 8°C, including both endpoints. Verified local readings: Xara 28; Yori 18; Zane 22; Anya 26.

This gives the allowed range and observed readings.

CONTEXT NOTE

Seed register

The room holds sealed meadow-seed packets.

The packet description does not change the supplied temperature rule.

RECONSTRUCTION RECORD

Review register

This is the same investigation’s document review record. There are 3 ordered events, labelled Review 1, Review 2, Review 3. Each listed person, location and item occurs exactly once. These slots describe record order, not times from the analytical problem.

  • The event reviewed by Xara Pine occupies slot 1 (Review 1).
  • The event involving “Storage standard” occurs earlier than the event involving “Thermometer conversion”, without claiming they are consecutive.
  • The event involving “Thermometer conversion” occurs earlier than the event at Review bench, without claiming they are consecutive.

Use each column’s choices exactly once. Verified relationships govern the board; proposed answers and later recollections do not override them.

RECONSTRUCTION RECORD

Review cross-check

The relationships below were verified independently. “A immediately before B” means A is in the row directly above B, with no row between them. Keep relationships from all worksheet sources together. The following later recollections are claims to test, NOT verified facts. Exactly one disagrees with the reconstructed board; this alone is not proof of deliberate deception.

  • The event at Intake counter occupies slot 1 (Review 1).
  • The event at Reading desk occurs earlier than the event reviewed by Anya Moss, without claiming they are consecutive.

Use each column’s choices exactly once. Verified relationships govern the board; proposed answers and later recollections do not override them.

Questions to resolve

When was the primary analytical record reviewed?

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.

Open the interactive case More Medium case files