An atlas, a locked display case and the wrong pocket.
When the lights came back on, the display case was still locked and without a single scratch. But the atlas was no longer inside.
Lucía volunteered on Saturdays at the Puerto Alba library, a big old stone house with more leaks than readers. That afternoon it rained without a break. At five o’clock, Elena, the director, had brought the library’s treasure out of her office: an atlas from 1752 with hand-coloured maps. She placed it in the display case in the main room for Monday’s exhibition, turned the key twice and put it away, as she always did, in the right-hand pocket of her coat, next to her handkerchief. Then she hung the coat on the coat stand in her office.
There was only one reader in the room: Don Julián, a retired teacher who read the newspapers without ever taking off his woollen gloves. His umbrella was dripping by the door.
At twenty to six, Tomás, a delivery driver, arrived with three boxes of donated books. He left them by the counter and asked to use the toilet, which is at the end of the corridor, between the office and the fuse box. He was taking a long time to come back.
At ten past six, the whole building went dark. Lucía looked out of the window: the street lights were still on, shimmering in the puddles. For twelve minutes all that could be heard was the rain, some quick footsteps on the wooden floor and Don Julián’s cough, always from the same corner.
When the lights came back on, Tomás was already waiting by the counter. He said one of the boxes was meant for another library, hoisted it onto his shoulder and hurried off. That was when Elena noticed the empty display case.
“It was the old man,” she whispered. “He never takes his gloves off so he won’t leave fingerprints.”
Lucía didn’t answer. She had gone to the office to fetch Elena’s coat and, when she put her hand in, she found the key to the display case in the left-hand pocket.
Activities
1 Detective Inference
What really happened to the atlas? Tick the correct hypothesis.
- a) Don Julián took it out of the case under cover of darkness; that’s why he never takes his gloves off.
- ✓b) Tomás took the key from the coat, cut the power at the fuse box, opened the case and took the atlas away in the “wrong” box.
- c) Elena hid it herself and blamed Don Julián to throw everyone off the scent.
- d) A power cut across the whole town let a thief get in from the street.
Which clue proves it best? Copy or summarise the clue from the text that proves it.
Correct hypothesis: b). Exactly. Tomás had access to the office and the fuse box, and took a box away right after the power cut.
Key clue: “The street lights stayed on, so the power cut was only in the building; someone switched it off at the fuse box, next to the toilet where Tomás was taking so long. And the key changed pockets: someone used it and put it back.” That’s the chain of evidence: a deliberate power cut, a key used and returned, and a suspect in exactly the right corridor.
2 The Loom Order of events
Put the events in the order they happened, not the order they’re told. Write the order number (1, 2, 3…) in each box.
- 5 Elena discovers the display case is empty.
- 2 Tomás leaves three boxes and asks to use the toilet.
- 6 Lucía finds the key in the left-hand pocket.
- 4 Tomás leaves carrying one of the boxes.
- 3 The building goes dark while the street lights stay on.
- 1 Elena puts the display case key in the right-hand pocket of her coat.
Correct order:
- Elena puts the display case key in the right-hand pocket of her coat.
- Tomás leaves three boxes and asks to use the toilet.
- The building goes dark while the street lights stay on.
- Tomás leaves carrying one of the boxes.
- Elena discovers the display case is empty.
- Lucía finds the key in the left-hand pocket.
The story starts at the end, with the empty case, and then goes back to five in the afternoon. Elena notices the case just after Tomás has left, and Lucía finds the key at the very end.
3 The Missing Page Coherence
Which continuation fits everything we know? Tick only one option.
- ✓a) Lucía shows Elena the key and explains that someone was in the office. They call the Guardia Civil and describe Tomás’s van.
- b) Don Julián confesses that, during the power cut, he felt his way across the room and slipped the atlas under his coat.
- c) Lucía examines the display case and discovers the back pane is broken: that’s how the atlas was taken out.
- d) Elena remembers that she put the key in her left-hand pocket that afternoon, so nobody touched it.
Answer: a). It fits every clue: the key in the wrong pocket points to the office, and Tomás left in a van with a box.
- b) Impossible: his cough was heard the whole time from the same corner, and the case was opened with a key that was in the office.
- c) It contradicts the text: the case was found locked “without a single scratch”.
- d) The text says she put it in the right-hand one, “as she always did”. The change of pocket is precisely the clue.
4 Spot the Contradiction Literal reading
Three of these statements don’t fit what you’ve read. Put an X next to the 3 statements that don’t fit the text.
- ✗a) The display case key was still where Elena had left it.Elena left it in the right-hand pocket and it turned up in the left.
- b) During the power cut, Don Julián didn’t move from his corner.Correct: his cough was heard “always from the same corner”.
- ✗c) Tomás left before the lights went out.Tomás was in the toilet during the power cut and left when the lights came back on.
- d) From the window you could see the street lights reflected in the puddles.That’s what Lucía saw: the street lights “shimmering in the puddles”.
- ✗e) The atlas had been on display in the case for several days.Elena put it there that very afternoon, at five, for Monday’s exhibition.
- f) Lucía searched Elena’s coat, which was hanging in the office.That’s right: she went to the office to fetch the coat.
5 The Gallery Visualisation
In the game you choose the illustration that answers this question: “Which illustration shows the room just after Tomás left?”. Here, you draw it yourself, with every detail the text gives you.
What should appear: The display case locked and empty, two boxes (Tomás took one of the three), the street light on and Don Julián in his armchair.
Reward drawings that include the details from the text, not artistic skill.
Ending
To read aloud once the answers have been checked.
That same night, the Guardia Civil stopped Tomás’s van on the way out of town. In the “wrong” box, wrapped in plastic to protect it from the rain, was the 1752 atlas.
Tomás had heard about the exhibition in the harbour bar and planned the job with two conditions: darkness and a key. The fuse box next to the toilet gave him the first; the coat hanging in the office, the second. What he didn’t foresee was that someone would pay attention to a pocket.
On Monday, the atlas went on display as planned. Next to the case, Elena placed a card: “Recovered thanks to Lucía, who knows how to read the details.”
Suggested marking
Each activity is worth 2 points (10 in total). In 1, one point for the hypothesis and one for the clue. In 2, give one point if only a couple of events are swapped. In 4, half a point for each correct cross and minus half a point for each true statement crossed out.