FILE No.151Unsolved
At a jeweler's office, a ring in the safe disappeared. The office door was bolted from the inside, and the only window has iron bars. In front of the safe is a boarded ceiling.
On inspection, the dust on top of the ceiling boards was missing in a strip about 40 cm wide, running from directly below the access hatch to above the safe. The ceiling of the empty warehouse next door has an access hatch.
Which way did the culprit use to come and go?
If you get stuck, open the hints one at a time, in order.
When does dust "disappear"?
What passed through to make a strip of that width?
Where can you get above the ceiling from?
Which way did the culprit use to come and go?
Choose the answer closest to the truth.
Came and went through the neighboring warehouse's access hatch, passing above the ceiling
The answer is "Came and went through the neighboring warehouse's access hatch, passing above the ceiling."
Dust does not vanish in a single strip unless someone passes through. The hatch is in the ceiling of the empty warehouse next door; from there one can crawl above the ceiling, remove the ceiling board in front of the safe, and drop into the room.
The bolt was not moved from the inside, and there are no marks of the bars having been removed. There is no basis for the ring having been absent before the incident. The only remaining path is above the ceiling.
Because it is easy to assume "no one can come or go" if only the door and window are sealed.
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