Open Case File · DAILY-OUT-OF-STOCK
Procurement Failure
In a small town in northern England, there's a branch of a pharmacy chain that stays open at night. An automated ordering engine runs the chain's inventory without human hands—it prices each item separately by branch, and any item that crosses a certain threshold gets dropped from that branch's list. Mervin Craddock worked twenty-two years in this branch's dispensary. He collapsed on the floor beside the dispensing counter during a night shift and died at the hospital that morning. The medication he took every day had vanished from this branch's shelves in the days prior. Match the date that line closed on the ordering list with the date he last picked up that medication, and lay them alongside the statements of the five people who passed through that dispensary.
1 investigators have taken on this case
Scene
the night dispensary and ordering terminal of an operating regional pharmacy chain branch · late November, a week when the sun sets by four and the rain never stops
5 suspects
Nora TilneyBranch inventory/ordering officer and dispensing assistantDoes not answer questions immediately; takes one breath before starting. Once started, voice pitch remains level throughout.
Clive MellerBranch managerHands never stop while speaking—straightens papers or moves cups while answering.
Ailsa ThornburyDispensary pharmacistHas a habit of correcting what was just said immediately after saying it. When correcting, lowers voice slightly.
Howell FennellBranch senior pharmacistWhatever the question, states dates and numbers first, then attaches explanation afterward.
Duncan WickhamSubstitute pharmacist rotating among branchesIf interrupted, returns to the beginning and reconnects. Even if asked to start from the end, conveys everything that came before reaching that point.
Exhibits
His locker and final medication envelope
Work coat and folded umbrella hang inside; in the lower compartment, one medication envelope lies folded. The envelope bears the branch name and date stamp, with a few pills remaining inside. A palm-sized card sits beside the envelope.
Branch ledger and dispensing records for those three months
Items entering and leaving are recorded by date, with the processing account attached beside each outgoing line. For that item's line, the same form of notation repeats multiple times.
Processing history from the ordering terminal that night
The time this branch's terminal opened that night and the number of lines processed remain. Multiple lines appear to have dropped from the list together.
File of report copies he submitted to head office and printout of that night's transfer request
Multiple handwritten report copies are bound together, with one unsubmitted page inserted at the back. In the same file, a printout of a request screen sent to another branch is attached.
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Field Guide
One question = one turn. Examine the clues, shake statements with confrontations, question everyone, then accuse — there is no undo.
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