Black Cat Weekly #38

Chapter 6

byAs Detective Jodie Giles stepped into the lobby of the Community Center’s exhibition hall, she was greeted by a near-panicked Ralph Larson. “Detective Giles,” Larson blurted out as he approached, “am I glad to see you!”

“Now just slow down, Mr. Larson,” Jodie said to the local artisan she had known for years. “My dispatcher says you called our office to report a robbery. Exactly what was taken?”

“Well, you know that tonight is the final evening for this year’s arts and crafts fair,” said Larson. “As always, the judges will be awarding the grand prize for the best-crafted piece.”

“And, as always,” said Jodie with a smile, “I’ll bet one of your silver pieces is a favorite.”

“WAS a favorite,” Larson said, swallowing hard. “This year I designed and crafted a beautiful sterling silver bowl etched with a unique rose-petal pattern. It was sitting in my booth when I went to lunch this afternoon, but when I returned, it was missing.”

Scanning the hall, Jodie said, “It looks like most of the exhibitors have closed their booths already.”

“Yes,” said Larson, “those not in contention for the prize shut down before lunch and won’t return to the hall until tonight’s banquet.”

“That should narrow our field of suspects substantially.”

“Meg Stinson has been at the front desk all day, and she says the only people who remained in the hall during lunch were Tilly Upton, Josh Bolton, and Gary Dyer.”

“I guess we’d better have a chat with those three,” said Jodie.

“I really find it hard to believe that a fellow artisan would stoop to such an act.”

“Sometimes the desire to win can bring out the worst in folks,” said Jodie, moving toward the rows of booths.

Jodie found Josh Bolton hunched over a lathe shaping a piece of wood into what looked like an ornate leg for a chair or table, “Mr. Bolton,” she called over the machine’s whine, “could I have a minute of your time?”

Shutting off the lathe and knocking sawdust from his sleeves, the heavyset man stared at Jodie’s badge. “What’s the problem?”

“It seems that around lunch time someone took a silver bowl from Ralph Larson’s booth, and—”

“If Larson thinks I took his precious bowl, I can assure you that I’ve been working in this booth since 8:00 this morning, and that security camera over there will back me up.”

As Jodie left Bolton, resolving to check out the security footage ASAP, she approached a booth that looked like something from a computer nerd’s dream. Flashing her badge, she said, “Ms. Upton, I need to talk with you.”

Looking up from a battery of consoles, the diminutive blonde with Ben Franklin spectacles said, “I suppose this concerns Mr. Larson’s missing bowl.”

Julie nodded.

“While I feel a bit of an outsider at this fair since my ‘creation’ was produced on a 3-D printer, the powers-that-be have included my decorative mask as one of the four finalists. Winning concerns me very little. I simply want to showcase a new creative process.”

After verifying that the computer whiz had spent lunch on a Zoom with fellow enthusiasts, Jodie headed to the rear of the hall where she found Gary Dyer removing several pieces of pottery from a portable kiln. “Mr. Dyer,” she said after introducing herself, “we need to talk.”

“Did Larson say I had something to do with that missing bowl of his?” said the clay-covered man as he sorted pottery cups, bowls, and plates on a wide table at the front of his booth. “I’ve been at my wheel all day, and I resent any accusations.”

As they talked, Jodie ran her fingers over the smooth, hardened surfaces of the glazed pottery. Toward the end of the table she picked up a bowl. Feeling the clay give beneath her touch, she said, “I believe we have a winner.”

Running her fingers over the hard, smooth surfaces of the pottery pieces on the table, Jodie noticed one of the bowls had not been “fired” in the kiln. A close inspection revealed that Dyer had molded clay around the stolen silver bowl but hadn’t used the kiln to avoid melting the silver. Confronted, he admitted that he had taken Larson’s bowl to keep the overconfident silversmith from once again winning the award.