The Detective’s DeskPEN & PAPER · CASE FILE
Pen & Paper · A theatre in mid-performance
Victor Hale is found killed in his office after his voice has apparently been heard during a live performance. Six theatre workers have motives, but a voice and a lit sound booth may not establish a living speaker.
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 office has a public corridor and a service stair. Its corridor camera was out of service all day. The performance camera and stage-door footage are intact. The doctor places death between 20:10 and 20:15.
Understudy
I waited in the camera-covered wings. I saw Iris leave the booth toward the service stair at 20:11 and return at 20:15.
I wanted the lead role, but Jules was onstage when the office incident occurred.
Iris wore her headset on her belt; the booth’s lights could run on the stored cue list.
Sound operator
I stepped out of the sound booth at 20:08 to repair a front speaker. The repair stream shows my hands and face.
I sold old equipment without permission. I feared the audit but never entered the office.
The intercom recording function was tested at rehearsal. Iris kept a copy of the producer’s usual announcement.
Leading actor
I was on stage from 20:10 until the stop at 20:18. The audience and wide camera saw me throughout.
The producer planned to replace me next week. We quarrelled loudly.
I heard his office intercom at the interval. I assumed he was alive then.
Stage-door attendant
I controlled the only public entrance. No visitor used the service stair. My body camera covers the door from 20:05.
The producer accused me of admitting journalists without tickets.
A red maintenance tag was removed from the office intercom recorder after the police call.
Stage manager
I remained in the sound booth. The producer spoke over the intercom at 20:16 while I called the lights.
He was auditing the production accounts. A cancellation would bankrupt people, including me.
The office has a service stair. Everyone knows the stage-door key fits its lower door.
Costume supervisor
I repaired Jules’s coat at stage left. My workstation stream ran all evening.
I took petty cash for overdue wages. I concealed that from the producer.
Iris brought a sealed prop parcel to the producer’s office before the show.
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 · Sound booth
The supposed 20:16 live announcement repeats the rehearsal take exactly, including a dropped pencil and an interrupted breath. The office unit’s playback indicator appears in a technician’s photograph.
Physical record · Stage wings
Jules and Lena stay visible in the performance record, Bea in her workstation stream, Omar in the front-speaker repair stream, and Rafi at the stage door throughout 20:10–20:15.
Physical record · Stage wings
The continuous wing camera shows Iris taking the service stair at 20:11, returning at 20:15 and going directly to the console. Her face and staff lanyard are visible.
Physical record · Producer’s office
The audit traces fabricated subcontractor invoices to an account controlled by Iris. Victor had scheduled a meeting with the board for the next morning.
Physical record · Sound booth
Iris started the stored cue list at 20:09. It ran the 20:11–20:15 lighting calls without further manual input. Lit booth windows do not prove she remained inside.
Physical record · Producer’s office
The parcel is an ordinary costume buckle Victor had requested. Its delivery time is 19:50, outside the death interval. A prop delivery alone does not establish an attack.
Physical record · Producer’s office
Victor died between 20:10 and 20:15 from a deliberate close-range assault. No timed device was found. His 20:16 intercom announcement cannot be live if this interval is correct.
Physical record · Stage door
The stair opens only into the office and stage corridor. The stage-door body camera records no other person approaching it in the death interval; the other route is covered by the wing camera.
Physical record · Stage wings
Bea took unpaid wages from petty cash and replaced the envelope. The amount and her admission explain that secret, not the fabricated subcontractor account.
Physical record · Sound booth
Only Iris signed out the office recorder after rehearsal. The sheet includes a 20:16 playback test entry. Omar had signed the recorder back in before his front-speaker repair.
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Compare the records with each account. Work out what the evidence establishes, then separate that finding from anything it does not prove.