The Corporate Water
An independent forensic specialist is called to a high-stakes investment firm following a death during a board meeting. The investigation focuses on a communal water pitcher, a breached lockbox, and the digital and physical traces left by the firm's personnel.
Initial Crime Scene
The scent of ozone, stale coffee, and cigarette smoke hangs thick in the air. Your eyes adjust to the dim light, catching the green phosphor glow of a CRT monitor scrolling silent data. The constant, low hum of server racks bleeds through the drywall. Dot-matrix printers sit idle, their paper feeds trailing to the floor like severed nerves. You step onto a carpet that smells of old wool and smoke, your gaze falling on a heavy mahogany desk blotter in the center of the room.
Crime Scene Environment
The sandbox operates under a profile of cold, artificial fluorescent light mixed with the amber glow of CRT screens. The air is dry, temperature-controlled, and carries a constant, low acoustic density from server fans, distant printers, and the hum of overhead lighting. The environmental texture is defined by synthetic surfaces, analog electronics, and the pervasive smell of industrial cleaner, burned coffee, and human anxiety.
Investigation Constraints
Networked desktop terminals with local area network access, encrypted email servers (CLI-based), key-card access logs for secured rooms, landline telephones with message pads, analog CCTV with VHS tapes, mechanical combination safes and lockboxes, paper-based audit trails, central server mainframes for financial data.
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