The Detective’s DeskPEN & PAPER · CASE FILE
Pen & Paper · A hotel after midnight
A name on a service docket appears to put a receptionist in the wrong room, while a guest’s slow-clock account confuses the interval. Establish who knew Edwin’s new room, who actually moved through the lift and which records identify people rather than names.
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.
Edwin is killed in room fourteen between 00:11 and 00:16. Room twelve is unoccupied because of a leak. Every lift and stair approach to fourteen is recorded; the only entrant in that interval wears a hotel coat.
Night porter
I delivered the tray labelled “Lena” to room twelve. A woman in a hotel coat handed it to me at the service lift.
I accepted an unauthorised cash tip and omitted it from the book.
I saw the lift woman’s face. It was Lena, not merely someone in a similar coat.
Visiting guest
I was inside the lobby phone booth with the attendant watching through the glass.
Edwin had kept a valuable letter that belonged to my family. I demanded it back.
The lobby clock is four minutes slow; its maintenance card is taped underneath.
Edwin’s business partner
I was on a continuous video call from 00:08 to 00:20. I argued about selling the hotel before midnight.
A sale would lose me a favourable lease. I made threats about a lawsuit.
Edwin changed his room from twelve to fourteen after a plumbing fault.
Night engineer
I worked at room twelve’s leaking pipe from 00:09 to 00:19. The repair camera shows the empty bed.
Edwin blamed me for expensive repairs. I had submitted a grievance.
Only reception could see the internal room-change note before the alarm.
Housekeeper
I cleaned the staff break room under its camera. Lena borrowed my hotel coat because hers was wet.
I had been selling discarded linen. I feared dismissal, not Edwin’s account review.
The borrowed coat had a torn pocket. I retrieved it from the service bin after the alarm.
Hotel receptionist
I remained at reception during the 00:10–00:18 corridor interval. A signed room-service docket bears my name at 00:14.
Owner Edwin Price planned to hand over the hotel accounts in the morning. I had concealed a long-running deposit scheme.
Room-service dockets record the account name, not a signature checked against the person carrying a tray.
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 · Room fourteen
Edwin’s planned handover identifies deposits diverted through Lena’s account. The packet contains her signed transfer instructions and a meeting booked for 09:00.
Physical record · Service lift
Tavi accepts a closed tray and an ordinary room-twelve docket. He never receives the private room-change information or instructions to misidentify the lift woman.
Physical record · Room fourteen
Lena enters at 00:11 and leaves at 00:16. No other person reaches the door in that interval. No adjoining door, person-sized vent or remote device offers another route.
Physical record · Staff room
Its torn pocket matches Bea’s ordinary laundry record. Lena is filmed borrowing it before the incident. Borrowing a garment does not make its owner an accomplice.
Physical record · Reception
At 00:03 Lena moves Edwin from twelve to fourteen in the private reception system. The change is not broadcast to staff; Edwin remains in fourteen until the fatal incident.
Physical record · Staff room
Dorian remains on his video call, Bea on the break-room camera, Yara in the visible phone booth, and Tavi on his tray route. Their corrected times do not place them in fourteen.
Physical record · Room fourteen
Death is a deliberate close-range assault during 00:11–00:16. The room-twelve repair recording shows Malik and an empty room throughout the relevant period.
Physical record · Reception
The clock is exactly four minutes slow, verified before police arrival. Correcting Yara’s account puts her in the booth, not on the lift.
Physical record · Service lift
Clear face-level frames show Lena leaving reception at 00:10, entering the service lift and returning at 00:17. A staff coat does not hide her face. Tavi’s identification agrees with the frames.
Physical record · Reception
The “Lena” docket is a room account label generated at reception, not a verified signature. Tavi delivers it to empty room twelve. It does not show Lena at reception or Edwin alive there.
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.