The Salt-Stained Ledger
Harbor shipping ledger #12 came back with a crust of sea salt on page eight. Reconstruct the timeline before you blame the dock clerk. The path branches. What you ask, and what you do with the evidence, changes the ending.
The morning after the lantern case, Archive Keeper Jun Park discovers a white crust of dried harbor spray across page eight of the 1912 Wharf Ledger. Someone carried the book outside during the 5:30 p.m. squall and returned it before 6:00 p.m. Nia and Detective Voss must listen to the checkout log, inspect the weather slip, order the timeline, and write an evidence-based sequence report.
Communicative Objective
Students sequence an investigative timeline from multiple timestamps and argue which window of time accounts for the salt damage.
Story Cast in This Case
Nia Calder
Student investigator
Detective Omar Voss
Case lead
Jun Park
Archive keeper
Target Academic Vocabulary (6 Terms)