The scene
Harbour Festival · Ticket officesThe band is about to start when two families present the same voucher to collect a hamper. The original is correctly logged; the second copy was made later to claim another hamper without paying.
Three staff members printed vouchers that afternoon. The duplicate paper is unsigned, but each desk's built-in punch leaves a different mark. The organisers kept samples from all three machines before opening.
What we know for certain
One of these three people made and handed over the duplicate from their own desk. Nobody used anyone else's machine. The holes were automatic and impossible to alter; there were no manual cuts, substitutions or accomplices. The samples and records are genuine.
The three accounts
Nora Salas
North ticket office«My machine worked all afternoon. I handed over only vouchers that had been paid for.»
Gabriel Soto
Central ticket office«I checked the numbering at closing time. I did not print a second copy.»
Elisa Vidal
South ticket office«The queue was long, but nobody took vouchers out of turn.»
Examine the evidence
0 of 5 openedOpening these five clues does not cost points.
01The repeated voucher
The fraudulent copy has exactly two round holes in its left margin. Both were punched while it was being printed.
02The north sample
Nora's machine punches a single round hole, always in the same margin.
03The central sample
Gabriel's desk leaves three round holes in every voucher, even when it prints only one copy.
04The south sample
Elisa's printer produces exactly two round holes. No other desk uses that pattern.
05The intact machines
The closing inspection confirms that all three mechanisms kept the same settings throughout the day.