CASE FILE · No. 006 · 1884
The Price of Silence
SANTA MARINA, BRAZIL · DIFFICULTY: CAPITAL
THE BRIEFING
Augusto Varela knew how to entertain. His island parties brought together bankers, politicians, lawyers and judges. Guests arrived by helicopter and their names rarely appeared in photographs. When investigators seized his event organiser's phone, most of what they found was ordinary: rooms, wine, boats, people who should never be seated together. One message was about something else. Costa Dourada was a development financed by Varela's bank. Construction had been suspended, and days after that dinner a court allowed it to resume. The decision may well have been lawful. The arrangement behind it is what needs looking at. Elsewhere in the recovered archive are documents that reached Varela's circle while they were still under court seal, and investigators believe a judge was supplying them for money. Work out how the dinner connects to the payments, and name the judge behind the leaks.
RECOVERED MESSAGE
18 September 1884 · 09:14 Sender: Host "Costa Dourada is sorted. Keep the arrangement from dinner on the twelfth. Use the same company."
CLUES ON THE TABLE
- 01.Begin with the recovered message in messages. The event archive holds the private functions arranged for Varela.
- 02.An invitation is not attendance. Entry and departure times record who actually walked in.
- 03.Court files hold decisions and the documents filed with them. A company named in a case may have financial dealings recorded elsewhere in the same file.
- 04.Attachments keep their original file hashes. Those hashes identify bank receipts and individually marked court exports.
- 05.Several people exported the same sealed documents. Every export carries its own mark, so the copy that leaked names one person and not the others.
/ THE EVIDENCE
Database Schema
These are the tables you can query. The lines are the keys that join them. Hover a table to see what it connects to.
- message_idINT
- thread_idINTgroups one conversation
- sent_atTIMESTAMP
- sender_aliasVARCHAR(60)an alias, not an identity
- bodyTEXT
- attachment_hashVARCHAR(64)→ transfers.receipt_hash→ document_exports.export_hashor neither
- event_idINT
- host_idINT→ people.person_id
- event_nameVARCHAR(150)
- venueVARCHAR(150)
- starts_atTIMESTAMP
- ends_atTIMESTAMP
- guest_idINT
- event_idINT→ events.event_id
- person_idINT→ people.person_id
- invited_atTIMESTAMPNULL if they came uninvited
- entered_atTIMESTAMPNULL means they never arrived
- left_atTIMESTAMP
- table_numberINT
- person_idINT
- nameVARCHAR(100)
- positionVARCHAR(150)
- decision_idINT
- case_referenceVARCHAR(30)→ court_documents.case_reference
- judge_idINT→ people.person_id
- project_nameVARCHAR(150)
- beneficiary_accountINT→ accounts.account_id
- decided_atTIMESTAMP
- rulingTEXT
- document_idINT
- case_referenceVARCHAR(30)
- document_typeVARCHAR(50)
- filed_atTIMESTAMP
- unsealed_atTIMESTAMPNULL means it stayed sealed
- contentsTEXT
- export_idINT
- document_idINT→ court_documents.document_id
- person_idINT→ people.person_id
- exported_atTIMESTAMP
- export_hashVARCHAR(64)unique to that copy
- transfer_idINT
- from_accountINT→ accounts.account_id
- to_accountINT→ accounts.account_id
- amountDECIMAL(14,2)in reais
- transferred_atTIMESTAMP
- payment_referenceVARCHAR(100)
- receipt_hashVARCHAR(64)
- account_idINT
- holder_nameVARCHAR(150)
- controller_idINT→ people.person_idverified owner
/ THE QUERY TERMINAL
Run your queries
Use SQL to explore the data. Each table holds part of the answer.
/ NOTES
Your notepad
Write down anything useful as you go.
/ THE ACCUSATION
Name your suspect
Type the suspect's full name and submit.
NEXT CASE
The Blue Lantern Affair →"The window was smashed and the till was open. But the silver was left on the floor, and the thief took the cheapest thing in the shop."