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ArchiveSeptember 11, 2026Mastermind
Case File · Verdict · No. 075

Daily Casefile · Verdict

Cold Tracks at Cairn Summit

9 min

On the morning of 2 February 2026, three guests — Petra Haas, the Ngozi twins, and a Mr. Reilly — arrived at the gondola gate to find their seven-day RFID wristbands missing from the patrol cabin tray where they had left them the evening before. Resort manager Vivienne Lorne reports that three unregistered skiers used wristbands matching the missing IDs at the gondola scanner between 08:14 and 08:47 that morning. Declan Forde was the only patrol staff member logged into the cabin overnight, and a witness claims to have seen him handling wristbands early that morning. The prosecution asks the jury to find Forde guilty of theft and resale of the missing lift passes.

Subject

Declan Forde, seasonal ski patrol technician at Cairn Summit Resort

Charged with Theft of lift passes — removing three guests' seven-day RFID wristbands from the guest wristband tray in the patrol cabin and reselling them to unregistered skiers on the morning of 2 February 2026

The scene

Cairn Summit Ski Resort, a mid-sized ski area in the Scottish Highlands, present day — comprising a base lodge, a ticket window, a staffed RFID scanner at the gondola gate, a patrol cabin halfway up the mountain, and a rentals workshop at the far end of the base building.

The witnesses

  • Vivienne LorneResort Manager, Cairn Summit
  • Ross DunbarGondola Gate Operator
  • Isla MacRaeSki Instructor, Cairn Summit
  • Thomas OseiRentals Workshop Mechanic, Cairn Summit

Play today’s Verdict.

This case first aired on September 11, 2026. A fresh verdict runs every morning — same rules, five minutes, one solution.