00 THE FREE MINI CASE
The Misdirected
Tide.
A ferry departs. A tide chart vanishes.
Four records. One account that fits.
The last post has closed, but envelope M17 never reached its collection shelf. Four surviving records tell a quieter story. Piece them together before anyone calls it a theft.
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CASE 00 / BRINEWICK · 17 OCTOBER 1986
The Misdirected Tide.← Home
Identify the person in the witnessed transfer, its actual time, the chart’s holding point at close, and the handling instruction that applies. The supplied statements are reliable. All times use the post-office clock unless labelled STATION. Do not assume an unrecorded journey or motive.
FILE YOUR ACCOUNT
What happened
to M17?
Build one account supported by the records. The witnessed transfer and the later closing check establish different parts of the story.
CASE CLOSED / THE EXPLANATION
A small act
of safekeeping.
Nora Pike lifted M17 at 18:10, post-office time. At the closing check it was held in the Net Loft. Its records fit a temporary local collection hold, not conservation or dispatch.
01 / Identify the witnessed item. The ledger gives M17 the only brass clip. The keeper sees that clipped envelope lifted, so the sighting concerns M17. Shared oilskins and job titles do not identify the person.
02 / Reconcile the two logs. The same test bell is entered at 18:00 in the post-office ledger and 18:04 in the station log. The post-office clock is correct and both run steadily, so the station is four minutes ahead. Its 18:14 sighting occurred at 18:10. Only Nora’s 18:09–18:12 visit covers that moment.
03 / Combine the storage conditions. The closing check sees M17 lying flat in a drawer in a dry local store. The Signal Hut is dry but has hanging racks only. The Lantern Room has flat drawers but its storage room is wet. Only the Net Loft matches both observations. The closing check confirms that M17 remains there at 18:30.
04 / Apply the appropriate rule. M17 is an undamaged local collection for the closed Lantern Room, with no conservation order or outbound docket. Those facts activate the temporary-hold rule. The intact seal and absence of work agree with it. The records establish the applicable instruction, not Nora’s private motive or the later courier’s identity.
The chart was safe. The shelf record was simply a little behind the town.
You have completed the mini case. The 45–60 minute main case is currently a design draft.
FROM A LARGER COASTLINE
Some letters arrive late.
Others change a town.
The planned main case, The Last Collection (working title), follows an altered signal record and a missing packet through one storm-bound evening. A 45–60 minute design for one or two adults.
DESIGN DRAFT · NOT YET PLAYABLE