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The Pencil-Rubbed Paper (illustration)
FILE No.110Unsolved

The Pencil-Rubbed Paper

Difficulty ★☆☆about 5 minTheft CaseTracesPen pressure
A blank notepad sheet, lightly rubbed with a pencil, revealed writing.

Case Record

The owner of a jewelry store received a threatening phone call. The top sheet of the notepad on the owner's desk is blank. But at the binding of the pad, there is a scrap from one sheet torn off, which had been just above the top sheet.

When the owner lightly rubbed the blank sheet with the side of a pencil, the following text appeared in white lines: "Tomorrow 2 p.m. Minato Station"

Your question

What can be said for certain from this?

Case Files

Diagram

The notepad on the desk (side view)Stub of a sheet torn off (left at the binding)← blank sheetpadRubbing the blank sheet lightly with a pencil brings up white lines:"Tomorrow 2 p.m. Minato Station"
Diagram

Hints

If you get stuck, open the hints one at a time, in order.

Open hint 1

Is the paper blank?

Open hint 2

What happened to the sheet above?

Open hint 3

Where did the text come from?

Solve It

Your question

What can be said for certain from this?

Choose the answer closest to the truth.

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The Truth

The text was written on the sheet torn off from above the top sheet

The answer is "The text was written on the sheet torn off from above the top sheet."

The paper is blank, yet pressure marks remain. That means someone wrote on the sheet above with strong force. Since a sheet was torn off above, the text that had been written on it was transferred through.

If the text had been written directly on this sheet, it would appear dark, not blank. Who wrote it cannot be known from this.

How the writing appears1) Someone writes hard on the upper sheet2) The pressure leaves dents on the sheet below3) The upper sheet is torn off (a stub remains)4) Rubbing the lower sheet with pencil shows the dents aswhite linesSo the text was written on the sheet that was torn off. Who wrote it cannotbe told from this.
Diagram of the solution

Key Points

  • Pressure marks transfer from the sheet above
  • Even a blank page keeps information
  • This evidence alone does not show who wrote it

Why people get fooled

Because seeing text on a blank sheet makes you think it was written there directly.

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