The Mystery of the Missing
Monet
A Mrs. Walton Who-Dunnit
Mr. Clarence, a wealthy financial planner, arrives at his
office at 2:05 p.m. after a late lunch. He notices
something is off, but he can’t tell what it is.
Finally he realizes what’s missing…His prize painting by
Claude Monet (worth $2.6 million)!
The police are called and a report is filed. Now it’s up
to the detective to investigate.
The detective is stumped, so he come to you with the
information he has collected.
There were four people who had access to Mr.
Clarence’s office while he was at lunch. All four had the
motive and the means to commit the crime. The four
people are shown below.
Suspect #1: JM
• Bike messenger – She used to own her own
clothing boutique before it went out of
business. This was the only job she could get.
It barely pays the bills.
• She was seen on video entering the building
carrying a large folder and leaving the building
12 minutes later carrying a long cylindrical tube.
• When questioned, she said she left the folder on Mr. Clarence’s
secretary’s desk (the secretary was not at her desk at the time).
She claims the tube was given to her by the architect down the
hall to deliver. Mr. Ackerson (the architect) confirms he gave her a
cylinder of blueprints to deliver to a client downtown.
Suspect #2: AW
• Mr. Clarence’s secretary- she decided to work
through lunch so she could leave early and meet
her fiance at a local bakery to try cake samples for
their upcoming wedding.
• AW claims that she must have been in the
bathroom when JM delivered the folder for her
boss.
• AW was caught on video coming to work at 9:08 (late again) with
an umbrella and leaving at 3:10 with said umbrella. When asked
why she had an umbrella on such a sunny day, she stated that the
weather forecast she heard said it might rain.
Suspect #3: NP
• Mr. Clarence’s personal trainer. He claims that he
brought his free weights to Mr. Clarence’s office as
Mr. Clarence had scheduled an appointment to
work-out during lunch.
• AW allowed him to wait in Mr. Clarence’s office (as
she usually did). He waited for 10 minutes, then left
and grabbed lunch before his next appointment.
• When questioned as to why he only waited 10 minutes, NP
replied,” I’m tired of always waiting for that man! He makes
appointments, forgets about them and then doesn’t even pay me
for my time. I have a sick child at home and need to get paid. I
wish I could drop him as a client!”
Suspect #4: JP
• JP is a client who invested 20% of his paycheck
in stocks and bonds recommended by Mr.
Clarence over the past 25 years.
• That morning Mr. Clarence called JP and told
him that the market took a downturn and 90%
of his money was gone. JP planned on retiring in
5 years. He will not be able to now.
• JP claims that he was there to confront Mr. Clarence and waited for
over half an hour. He said the secretary was there for almost the
whole time except for when she left for about 15 minutes.
• JP uses a cane as a result of a college football injury.
Who Dunnit?
Use the information obtained by the detective to
determine:
• Who committed the crime
• Why they committed the crime
• How they stole the painting and exited the
building with no one noticing
Your analysis should be detailed and based on
evidence. A minimum of 8 sentences is required.