The Detective’s DeskPEN & PAPER · CASE FILE
Pen & Paper · Six guests around one supper table
Adrian Vale dies after a toast while all six guests are still at the same table. Several people have motives and more than one is lying. Trace what he actually drank, test the guests’ explanations and distinguish an accidental exchange from an intended one.
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 room remains sealed after the collapse. Six different crests identify the six cordial glasses. Everyone is visible in two wide supper photographs, but neither photograph records every movement between them. No outsider or remote device is involved. A medicine claim, a changed place card and a dispute over a manuscript are your starting leads.
Auction specialist
I took a wide supper photograph at 21:02 before Adrian stood to fetch his speech. At 21:04 I photographed his return to the table.
The sale would have earned me commission. Keeping Adrian alive benefited me.
The two images show the same people and a different pair of glasses. Owen adjusted a place card between them.
Archive researcher
I drank only water. I did not add anything to a cordial glass, and everyone kept the glass originally put at their place.
Adrian wanted me to authenticate a disputed manuscript tonight. A refusal would end my contract.
The guests moved plates as the speeches began. A glass could easily have been mistaken for another.
Family physician
I sat opposite Celia. I witnessed all six seals intact at 21:00 and kept the signed retained batch sample.
Adrian owed me fees. I had warned him that prescribed medicines must not be shared.
Mara described the drops she added to her glass as her own harmless tonic. I did not test them at the table.
Caterer
I sealed all six cordial glasses from one checked batch. I stood at the sideboard after Hugo inspected the seals; no one visited the pantry again.
I threatened to sue Adrian for unpaid invoices. I did not conceal that.
Each glass had a different crest on its base. Serving positions and drink identities were written on my tray sketch.
The host’s daughter
We all stayed at the supper table during the final toast. I opened my rose-crested glass in front of Hugo; I never exchanged it.
Adrian intended to sell the house. I would lose my home. I shouted about it before supper.
Adrian set an oak-crested glass beside his speech. When he drank, I saw a bird crest through its base.
House steward
I corrected a misplaced name card at Mara’s request. It was a harmless seating courtesy. I told Adrian the glass at his place was his usual serving.
Adrian had found discrepancies in my staff accounts. Mara offered to make that problem disappear.
The crests were personal serving marks. Adrian would accept a glass I identified as his.
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 · Steward’s cupboard
The host-approved plan already places Adrian in the correct chair with the oak serving. No courtesy correction was needed. Owen’s replacement plan was written only after the collapse.
Physical record · Sideboard
Tomas’s signed sketch assigns the heron to Mara and the oak to Adrian. Hugo signs all seals intact at 21:00. The common batch is checked before individual glasses are opened. The sketch identifies the original holders but cannot by itself establish anyone’s later intent.
Physical record · Steward’s cupboard
Mara’s authenticated note says: “Heron to Adrian after the photographs. It is not my tonic. Keep Bell away from the bottle; you know why this cannot be another guest’s drink.” Owen signs: “I understand the harm intended. I will direct him to it.” The note predates supper.
Physical record · Study desk
The manuscript certificate bears Mara’s authentication mark on a date when the manuscript was overseas. Adrian’s signed solicitor instruction asks for an inquiry into her forged provenance certificates. Family anger and unpaid bills concern different disputes.
Physical record · Supper table
At 21:02 Mara holds the heron glass while Adrian’s oak glass stands beside his speech. At 21:04 the heron is at Adrian’s place and the oak is at Mara’s. Both are clearly identifiable by their crests. Everyone is still in the room; these images establish an exchange, not who made it.
Physical record · Supper table
The harmful marker is found only in the heron-crested glass from which Adrian drank. The other five glasses, the serving jug and Hugo’s retained batch sample are clean. The marker is not a reaction to ordinary cordial. The glass identity matters more than where it ended up.
Physical record · Supper table
Nell’s wider frames show Owen moving Adrian’s name card to the heron glass after Mara’s exchange. He points Adrian to that serving on his return. This is the act he describes as a harmless seating courtesy.
Physical record · Supper table
The short strip between her still photographs shows Mara adding drops from her own labelled bottle to the heron glass, then sliding that glass across to Adrian’s place while he retrieves his speech. She takes his oak glass back. The action is deliberate, rather than a guest randomly lifting the wrong glass.
Physical record · Sideboard
Police seal the bottle Mara placed beside her bag immediately after the collapse. Laboratory comparison finds the same harmful marker as in the heron glass, and none of the tonic named on the label. The dropper carries the matching sample. The label is a claim, not the identity of its contents.
Physical record · Study desk
Nell described this sealed envelope before police opened it. Its delivery receipt independently dates Adrian’s solicitor instruction before supper. It corroborates the threatened certificate inquiry.
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.