Of course it was hidden all day (it had to be somewhere) and no one
seemed to find it because there is no evidence that anyone saw an unusual
package in the building during the day and no one came forward after the
shooting to say they saw it before. The rifle (carbine) was in a brown
paper bag on the floor between boxes when it was hidden all day in an area
where the floor wasn't being worked on that day. It was found after the
shooting unwrapped between boxes on the floor with another box over it.
It was only spotted when one Deputy (Weitzman) was on the floor and one
Deputy (Boone) shined a flashlight down a crevice between the boxes, and
only after the same area was checked before. It was not easily found.
The rifle was wrapped in a brown paper bag while being hidden between and
covered by boxes all day. It was photographed unwrapped and exposed with
a light shined on it after it was found. The photograph of the rifle
after it was found was not what it looked like when being hidden all day.
I think the reason it was hidden between the boxes by the stairwell is
because of where his clipboard was found later.
Let me explain: When Oswald entered the building he either went up the
elevator, or more likely up the rear stairwell, to the 6th floor. Not
knowing if someone was already on that floor working, and not wanting to
be seen with the package, he placed it immediately between the boxes on
the floor near the stairwell exit. Around noon, Givens saw Oswald with a
clipboard walking towards him before Givens took the elevator down.
After Givens took the elevator down, Oswald, being near the stairwell
already, either threw or placed his clipboard on the boxes next to the
stairwell exit and across from where the rifle was hidden. He then took
the rifle, still in it's package, back to the sniper's nest where it was
unwrapped and assembled (this would explain why the rifle and clipboard
was found in the same general area near the rear stair exit).
This is all assuming that the clipboard Oswald was seen with was his
and not someone else's he just happened to pick up so he would look busy
when Givens saw him and that the clipboard found later was always there
since Nov. 22 and not placed there later unknowingly by someone else. I
don't believe it is logical to believe that he carried the clipboard with
him after the shooting, he was too busy carrying and probably wiping some
fingerprints off the rifle.