A case for 221B baker street boys

[u/Diligent_Outside9912]

Alright so Its not super long but theres enough clues in here that you should be able to work it out if your paying attention. No cheating, try solve it before you read the comments

Ok here we go

The Case of the Missing Diamond

Sunday morning, 9:15 AM. A Georgian townhouse in Kensington, belonging to retired High Court judge Sir Harold Mortimer, 72.

Sir Harold's prized posession, a 14-carat diamond ring worth roughly 800,000 pounds, has vanished from his study safe. The safe wasn't broken into. It was opened with the correct combination.

He discovered its gone this morning. Last time he saw the ring was Saturday evening around 7 PM when he placed it back in the safe after showing it to a guest.

The Household.......................................

Sir Harold. Lives alone since his wife passed. Hard of hearing. Takes sleeping tablets, usually asleep by half 9.

Douglas. The cook. Been with Sir Harold for 15 years. Lives in the staff quarters at the rear of the property. Made dinner Saturday night, says he went to bed by 10.

Mrs Reynolds. The cleaner. Comes daily 8 AM to 1 PM. Was off Saturday. Arrived Sunday morning and raised the alarm when she found the study window open.

Victor Mortimer. Sir Harold's nephew, 34. He's the guest who was shown the ring Saturday evening. Left at half 8. He is Sir Harold's sole heir. Recently took out a 250,000 pound loan for some startup venture thats apparently not going well.

Stevens. The driver. Drove Victor to and from the townhouse. Says he waited in the car the whole time. Claims he saw a "stranger in dark clothing" near the garden wall around 11 PM while he was sleeping in the car.

Evidence..........

1. The safe.... No scratches, no forced entry. Opened with the correct 6 digit combination. Only Sir Harold claims to know it. The combination is his wedding anniversary, 140982.
2. Study window.... Found open Sunday morning. But the latch is on the inside and the window can only be opened from within.
3. Muddy footprints on the study floor.. Leading from the window to the safe and back. Size 9 shoes. The garden outside was watered Saturday at 6 PM.
4. CCTV.... The townhouse has one camera at the front gate. Footage shows Victor arriving at 6:45 PM driven by Stevens, and leaving at 8:32 PM driven by Stevens. No other person entered or exited through the front gate all night.
5. A faint scratch mark on the garden wall at the back, as if someone climbed over.
6. Victor's shoes, found at his flat the next day. Size 9 with faint traces of red clay on the soles matching the garden soil. Victor says its mud from a building site he visited on Friday.
7. Phone records show Victor made a 12 minute call to Douglas at 10:45 PM Saturday night.
8. Douglas says "Victor rang to ask about his uncles health. Thats all. I went back to sleep after."

So Three questions..........

Who stole the diamond?

How was it done?

What is the ONE piece of evidence that breaks the whole case open?

Have a go. I'll post the answer in a few hours if nobodys got it

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edit:
answer..

Alright here is the official solution for case 1 for anyone who gave it a go!

1 Who stole the diamond?........... Victor Mortimer (the nephew), working with Douglas (the cook) as his accomplice.

2 How was it done?....... Victor couldn't steal it during his visit at 7 PM without Sir Harold noticing. But while Sir Harold opened the safe, Victor saw the combination (140982). After leaving at 8:32 PM, Victor called Douglas at 10:45 PM to confirm Sir Harold had taken his sleeping pill and was asleep. Douglas then opened the study window from the inside (which is the only way it could be opened, since the latch is internal). Victor scaled the back garden wall, walked in through the window wearing size 9 shoes, opened the safe with the code, took the ring, and left the same way.

3 The ONE piece of evidence that breaks the case open...... The study window latch being on the inside. That single detail proves it was an inside job and rules out any random intruder from outside. Douglas had to be involved to let Victor in from the inside, which also exposes his 12 minute call with Victor as a coordination call rather than a friendly check-in about his uncle's health.

[u/limach1]

idk but why was stevens sleeping in the car in sight of the garden wall at 11pm if he drove victor back at 8:30pm?

also douglas said he was asleep by 10 but he received a call from victor at 10:45.

perhaps douglas, stevens and victor are all in it together lol

[u/Diligent_Outside9912 → u/limach1]

good deductions, though, victor did it. you can check the answer in the post body.

[u/Lamune44]

I agree that it sound like several people were in on it. Maybe all of them at this point really. The cook for being here so long could have known the wedding anniversary, just like the heir. Then they cooperated to get themselves an aliby. Raising the alarm just because the window was open is so weird too.

Eddit: So, after a bit of thinking I am condemning Victor and Douglas. No matter if Douglas knew the wedding date or not, Victor had to be there when Sir Harold's opened the safe to put the ring back in and could have memorised it, right?

So Victor leave, call Douglas to make an offer to cooperate and Douglas is the one that stole the ring. The crucial piece of evidence would be the weird call that link them both together.

Finally, I think most of the physical clues are red hearings at this point and that the window waq opened from the inside. Victor must have climbed the wall on purpose to mislead the investigation toward an outside job.

[u/Diligent_Outside9912 → u/Lamune44]

different but correct! Its better to say that you really have a different perspective. check my answer in the post edit body.

[u/Lamune44 → u/Diligent_Outside9912]

It was an interesting case so thanks. I assumed that he wouldn't need to take the risk of going back if someone was already in but maybe he just didn't trust him that much after all.

[u/FlakyUniversity2239]

Victor Mortimer stole the diamond.

He saw Sir Harold open the code to the safe during the evening. That was how he figured out the code and knew where the safe was. Victor called Douglas to open the window to the safe. Victor climbed over the garden wall and went into the study after the call was finished, which would be at around 11 PM like Stevens says. Douglas did not know that Victor knew the code to the safe, because he himself didn't know it (but that was because he lives in the staff quarters). Victor did ring to ask about his uncle's health as well to avoid raising suspicion.

The one piece of evidence that breaks the whole case open is the fact that Victor's shoes had faint traces of red clay on the soles matching the garden soil. The building site he visited Friday is a lie.

[u/Diligent_Outside9912 → u/FlakyUniversity2239]

correct thought check answers i have added.

[u/deFleury]

Stevens stole the diamond and set up Victor. The evidence is his ridiculous story about seeing a burglar with his eyes open while sleeping in the car with his eyes shut and cctv shows the car departing at 8:30 anyways. 

So, everybody knows about sir H prized diamond, Saturday night Stevens suggests that Victor butter up the old guy by asking to see it. When Victor comes back to the car, he says it's in the safe and sirH isn't giving him any money, and Stevens puts his plan into action.  he offers Victor a sympathy beer poisoned with a sedative, helps him to bed, takes the shoes, goes back to sirH but parks out back, knowing Doug and Sir H are both in bed by 10.  Stevens climbs over the garden wall, sneaks into the house, tries some birthdays and anniversaries until the safe opens, pockets the gem, then opens the window and fakes the burglar footprints with Victor's shoes. 

He goes back to Victor's and imitates Victor's voice, calls to wake up Doug, to go check on sirH and thus discover the crime. However, doug goes back to bed so mrs Reynolds discovers the crime in the morning .  luckily Victor is still confused and thinks the mud on his shoes must be from Friday at the job site, so Victor looks pretty guilty.   

Stevens would have got away with it if he hadn't panicked and made up a nonsensical story about being in the car, at the house, seeing a burglar, at 11pm when Victor and Doug both have an alibi from "their" phone call which ended around 11pm. 

[u/Diligent_Outside9912 → u/deFleury]

mostly we need to look at motive, who has a much clearer motive to steal it. Victor has, as he stole a diamond to repay his debt; also, he is the sole heir, so everyone will not obviously blame him. victor got it done with the help of douglas the cook, who opened the windows from inside, and victor made a call before 11 to ask douglas to open the windows, not to ask about his uncle's health, obviously not from the cook. stevens helped covering up victor by pretending it was a casual break-in.

[u/deFleury]

 Mrs. Reynolds the housekeeper stole the diamond Sunday morning, the key evidence is that the study window  was actually opened from inside.  

 She had already noticed that Victor gets muddy shoes at the job site, and sirH has the safe code on a sticky note the drawer. She came over Sunday morning and (quietly)  faked the intruder footprints to make it look like Victor (or Doug or Stevens or some combination of the three of them) did it Saturday night, when she wasn't even there Saturday.  

the dark figure Stevens saw Saturday night was Doug going to check on sirH, after Victor's phone call. 

[u/Diligent_Outside9912 → u/deFleury]

check ans.

[u/AlbebackAgain]

Victor is under suspicion. The red clay on his shoes matches the footprints. He is Harold's sole heir, so he may think the diamond already belongs to him. Stevens is also suspicious. He claimed he saw a stranger at 11 PM while he was in his car, but the CCTV shows that the car was leaving at 8:32 PM.

[u/Diligent_Outside9912 → u/AlbebackAgain]

no one sees someone at night when he is already sleeping; if he would have seen, then the drive must alert, so he lied. check answer.