The Detective’s DeskAda Finch
Gallery assistant
“I crossed the east passage at 14:10 to reach the sculpture room.”
EASY · CASE FILE
The locked passage
Easy · BELLWEATHER MUSEUM
A display label vanished from Bellweather Museum. Three staff members gave statements. Your task is to identify the account contradicted by the records—not to assume that a lie alone proves the theft.
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
Test one account, then choose its proof. What does the verified record establish?
- All times use the same accurately set clock.
- The passage has one entrance and one exit. There is no alternative way through it.
People and accounts
Bruno Hale
Conservator
“I was working in the north gallery at 14:10. I used the main-hall entrance.”
Cleo Ward
Archivist
“I was in the inventory room at 14:18.”
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.
MAINTENANCE RECORD
A door that stayed shut
The east passage was locked and physically blocked for repairs continuously from 14:00 until 15:00. Nobody passed through during that interval.
Signed by the maintenance supervisor. The completed work order confirms no exceptions.
MUSEUM FLOOR PLAN
Two separate routes
The east passage connects the main hall to the sculpture room. The north gallery and inventory room are accessible from the main hall without using that passage.
The dashed route on the museum plan is the east passage.
SECURITY NOTE
The inventory camera
Cleo appears on the inventory-room camera at 14:18. Nothing in the footage shows the east passage.
The camera timestamp is accurate. It supports Cleo’s stated location.
Questions to resolve
Whose account is directly contradicted by the maintenance record?
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.