The Detective’s DeskPEN & PAPER · CASE FILE
Pen & Paper · A community foundation fête
A familiar welcome announcement seems to place the chairman alive while his widow and a caterer leave their reported locations. Investigate what the recording establishes, what the widow’s secret explains and who accessed his private flask.
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.
Rowan is found in the committee room. The examination places the fatal contamination at 12:05–12:10. The common refreshments are unaffected. A continuous event camera covers the committee-room passage.
Bell and audio volunteer
I ran a prerecorded welcome because Rowan was late. He authorised that routine earlier in the week.
I had no knowledge of the invoice dispute.
The player log distinguishes the rehearsal file from a live microphone.
Committee treasurer
I stayed at the public stall under the event camera.
I had demanded Rowan stop making undocumented cash advances.
He emailed me the meal-invoice audit before noon and asked me to preserve it.
The chair’s widow
I was collecting a hidden letter from the garden desk. I lied and said I was praying alone.
I wanted a private family matter kept out of the foundation meeting.
The announcement repeats the same small cough as last Sunday’s rehearsal.
Catering coordinator
I stayed in the kitchen until the tower recording ended at 12:15. The chair’s announcement was still playing then.
Chairman Rowan had discovered I had invoiced meals that were never supplied.
His personal flask was kept in the committee room, not on the common drinks table.
Visiting speaker
I signed books on the stage camera from 12:00 until 12:20.
Rowan had cancelled my travel reimbursement.
The kitchen and committee-room clocks both use the same checked event time.
Garden volunteer
I worked beside Mabel in the garden after 12:03. She had an old envelope, not a flask.
Rowan had refused my request for a paid post.
Esme crossed from the kitchen to the committee room while the recording was playing.
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 · Garden
Celia and Hugo remain visible at their public roles. Omar stays at the audio desk. None approaches the private flask during the fatal interval.
Physical record · Committee room
The audit documents meals billed by Esme’s company and never supplied. Rowan’s 11:55 email to Celia asks that the originals be preserved for the committee.
Physical record · Audio desk
The archived file hash matches the event playback. It was recorded before the current invoice audit and before any claimed visit to the committee room.
Physical record · Audio desk
Rowan’s earlier signed instruction asks Omar to use the welcome file if he is delayed. It contains no request to establish a live alibi or conceal a visit.
Physical record · Audio desk
The 12:00–12:15 welcome is last Sunday’s rehearsal file, including its repeated cough. The microphone channel is closed. Rowan had authorised ordinary playback before the invoice dispute.
Physical record · Committee room
Esme enters at 12:06 and leaves at 12:09 carrying her invoice folder. No other person enters the committee room from 12:04 until the alarm.
Physical record · Committee room
The harmful marker is confined to Rowan’s flask. A sealed 12:04 portion is clean. Exposure occurs at 12:05–12:10; no delayed device or common-serving contamination is found.
Physical record · Garden
Mabel’s envelope holds a private family letter dated years earlier. The garden camera and Tavi’s account show her with it throughout the contamination interval.
Physical record · Kitchen
The personal flask was returned clean at 12:04. Esme signed the handover and knew it would remain in the committee room until Rowan’s meeting.
Physical record · Kitchen
Esme leaves at 12:05 and returns at 12:10. Her statement that she stayed until the announcement ended is false.
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.