During the opening night at Galerie Noir, the painting Blue Harbour was cut from its frame in the basement storage room. Everyone was dressed in black, and everyone has an alibi. Find all 6 clues, compare the statements and the evidence, and work out who did it.
Clue 1 of 6
Camille Dubois Gallery owner's daughter
”At eight I was alone in the ladies' room fixing my make-up – I'd been crying. At nine I was outside on the terrace with Victor. I never went near the basement.”
Evidence #1 · SCENE REPORT
Scene report – basement storage room
Discovered
21:31, by the guard on his round – empty frame
Last seen
Painting in place at 20:55 (guard's earlier round)
Method
Canvas cut out with a craft knife
Left behind
Provenance folder for Blue Harbour – pages torn out
Access
The only way down is the staircase with the camera
The thief knew exactly which papers to destroy.
Clue 2 of 6
Jonas Weber Security guard
”I do my rounds at five to nine and half past nine, like clockwork. At half past nine the frame was empty. The camera on the stairs never lies.”
Evidence #2 · STAIRWELL CAMERA
CCTV · Basement stairwell · Timestamps as recorded
Camera time
Seen
Direction
19:55
Guard (Jonas)
Down
19:57
Guard (Jonas)
Up
20:04
Woman, black dress, carrying a folder
Down
20:12
Same woman, no folder, large tube bag
Up
20:31
Guard (Jonas)
Down
Face not visible – the woman kept her head down.
Clue 3 of 6
Elise Martin The exhibiting artist
”I'm the artist – why would I steal a painting? From nine I was giving my artist talk upstairs. At eight I was on stage too, being introduced.”
Evidence #3 · OPENING PROGRAMME
Galerie Noir
OPENING NIGHT
19:30
Doors open
20:00
Welcome – Sophie Laurent
20:15
Champagne & viewing
21:00
Artist talk – Elise Martin
21:30
Sales – Henri Dubois
Dress code: all black. Elise's talk ran 21:00–21:25, full room. – S.L.
Clue 4 of 6
Victor Lang Art critic
”I'll write a terrible review either way. I skipped the artist talk and smoked on the terrace with Camille – she was upset about her father. Check my notes.”
Evidence #4 · VICTOR'S NOTEBOOK
VICTOR LANG – REVIEW NOTES
20:00 Sophie's welcome speech. Dull. Ten minutes.
20:15 Champagne warm. Paintings colder.
21:00–21:15 Skip artist talk, terrace with C.D.
21:30 Henri announces sales. Looks pale.
– V.L.
Clue 5 of 6
Marcus Hill Art collector
”Henri rang me this morning – he said Blue Harbour had ‘a problem’ and he'd sort it tonight. I was in the artist talk the whole time, front row. Ask Elise.”
Evidence #5 · HENRI'S DESK NOTE
POST-IT ON HENRI'S DESK
1. Fix stairwell camera – STILL ON WINTER TIME, 1 hour behind!
2. Lab result on Blue Harbour → bad news.
3. Show Marcus the painting after the talk.
4. Ask S. to bring the provenance folder.
– H.D.
Clue 6 of 6
Sophie Laurent Gallery assistant
”At eight I was on stage giving the welcome – everybody saw me. At nine I was in the office upstairs printing sales contracts. I didn't go downstairs all evening.”