You don’t need to add up long numbers to give your brain a good stretch—sometimes, one image with a hidden answer does the trick.

Here’s a small puzzle to solve.

On a hot summer afternoon, Inspector Warnicke decided to enjoy some sun by the riverbank. Suddenly, he heard a woman crying nearby.

“What happened?” he asked gently. “Please, calm down and explain.”

“It’s easy for you to say,” she sobbed, “but this bracelet means so much to me. I come here every day. Today, I took it off to tan my arm, placed it on a book, and must have dozed off. When I woke up, it was gone.”

Inspector Warnicke observed the scene: there were no footprints in the sand around her mat, only her own. It seemed no one else had approached, so he reasoned the thief must have been someone among the regulars now standing around. As he surveyed the crowd, he quickly realized who might have taken it.

*Answer*

Only someone with a fishing rod could have reached the bracelet without leaving footprints in the sand. This person immediately became his main suspect.