The Detective’s DeskSelma North
Exhibit assistant
What happened from your point of view?
I packed only the empty box.
What should I check to test that account?
The buyer asked for a heavy sample so it would travel safely.
MEDIUM · CASE FILE
Two Errands and One Missing Medal
Medium · A local history exhibition
A runner is sent for a display box, but returns with a medal hidden inside it. Separate the person who packed it, the carrier and the person who expected it.
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
An engraved medal is missing from a case. A display-box delivery is stopped before leaving the building.
People and accounts
Owen Hart
Runner
What happened from your point of view?
I carried the closed box to the sales desk.
What should I check to test that account?
I was not told to open it or collect a medal.
Tara Cole
Prospective buyer
What happened from your point of view?
I expected an empty sample box.
What should I check to test that account?
The message export has my reply.
Rafi Reed
Security steward
What happened from your point of view?
I opened the delivery under the runner’s supervision.
What should I check to test that account?
The medal was inside a fitted cloth pocket, not loose in the box.
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 · Sales desk
Stopped delivery inspection
H7 is recovered from the fitted inner pocket of the supposedly empty display box delivered by Owen.
Case record · Exhibit room
Packing sheet
Selma signs that she alone prepared and sealed the sample box after access to the medal case.
Case record · Sales desk
Complete buyer message
Selma writes “I can include H7 quietly.” Tara replies “Yes, put it in the lining; I will pay separately.” This predates packing.
Case record · Sales desk
Buyer’s later denial
After the inspection Tara writes “empty box only”, contradicting her preserved earlier reply.
Case record · Exhibit room
Runner’s assignment
Owen’s written instruction names only delivery of a sealed empty sample box. It does not mention H7, a lining or a separate payment.
Case record · Exhibit room
Medal and case identifiers
The missing medal has engraving H7. Its case is empty after Selma’s sole packing interval.
Questions to resolve
Who removed and packed H7?
Who knowingly agreed to receive the diverted medal?
Who among the runner and steward is established as knowingly helping the theft?
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.