The costs

The claim was dismissed in full and whoever asked for the million was left with the court costs, having won on nothing. In the following days, the duo said they respected the decision but disagreed with it. At a court department, the ruling used to work out the costs vanished from the pile. Nine people and a ruling, one per row and one per column. Nothing is handed to you on a plate: you'll need more than one hypothesis to get to the end.

Suspects

• Arminda, the costs clerk: She works out the costs by hand and then checks on the calculator. The calculator always agrees with her.
• Bartolomeu, the cashier: He takes the payments. He says money has no opinion on humour.
• Camila, the costs office trainee: She learned what court costs were that day. She thought it meant "careful expenses".
• Deodoro, the taxpayer with ticket 47: He came to pay a parking fine and waited an hour. He heard the word "million" three times and got nervous.
• Esmeraldina, the head of department: She signs everything that leaves the costs office. This time she read it before signing, out of curiosity.
• Frederico, the machine technician: He fixes the ticket machine, which moves on two numbers at a time. He says it's to speed things up.
• Glória, the kitchenette lady: She makes the department's coffee at eleven. She can tell what day it is by the number of sighs.
• Horácio, the case file courier: He brings files from the court office on a trolley. The trolley squeaks more when the case is big.
• Isabel, the service desk clerk: She tells people how much they have to pay. She says nobody likes the news, even when it's not much.