FILE No.127Unsolved
In the study of an old mansion, documents were stolen. The study door is locked from the inside, and there are no windows.
In the floor at a corner of the room is an under-floor storage hatch (50 cm by 50 cm). Fresh mud was on the rim of the hatch. Below the storage is a crawl space about 60 cm high that a person can pass through by stooping. On the mansion's outer wall, the grille of an under-floor vent (50 cm by 50 cm) had come off and lay in the grass.
Where did the culprit come and go?
If you get stuck, open the hints one at a time, in order.
Where does the removed grille lead?
What lies "below" the under-floor storage?
Where did the mud on the hatch rim come from?
Where did the culprit come and go?
Choose the answer closest to the truth.
Came and went through the vent, under the floor, and the under-floor storage hatch
The answer is "Came and went through the vent, under the floor, and the under-floor storage hatch."
The removed grille, the fresh mud on the hatch rim, and the crawl space a person can pass through: these three form a single path.
No traces of tampering with the door's keyhole or of the ventilation fan being removed are described. And there is no basis for thinking the victim took them himself.
Because you immediately think "no windows means no way in."
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