Black Cat Weekly #95

Chapter 6

byWhen Detective Amy Kirkland opened the door of the screened-in porch, she could tell something was wrong by the look on her Aunt Nora’s face.

“Oh, Amy,” the diminutive woman blurted out, “I hated to call you, but I didn’t know what else to do.”

“What’s wrong, Aunt Nora,” Amy said as she stepped through the doorway.

“I had a very important package delivered this afternoon while I was downtown shopping, and when I got back home around 2:00, the package was gone.”

“Are you sure the package was delivered?”

“I checked the tracking online,” said Nora, “and the package was delivered at 1:45.”

“What was in the package?”

Amy’s aunt sighed. “You know about my writers club.”

Amy nodded.

“Well,” said Nora, “the five of us recently entered the University’s annual mystery story competition.”

“And?”

Nora smiled sheepishly. “My story won. The judges called to say they were sending me the prize, a collection of Edgar Allan Poe’s short stories. I so wanted to surprise the girl’s at our next meeting.” She paused for a second. “I hate to even think it, but the girls all knew the package was to be delivered this afternoon even though they didn’t know what was in it.”

“And since no passerby could see the package on the screened-in porch,” said Amy, “you think one of the club members must be the thief.”

After her aunt reluctantly gave Amy the names and addresses of the women in the club, the off-duty detective set out to uncover the porch pirate.

Amy immediately eliminated her aunt’s down-the-street neighbor, Jena Rosenberg, since the engineer had been out of town all week for a conference and wasn’t scheduled to get back to town for several days.

Amy’s first interview was with Constance Bigalow, a retired realtor who was well known around town for her commitment to civic activities. After introducing herself, Amy said, “Ms. Bigalow, may I ask about your afternoon?”

“Certainly, my dear,” said the stylishly dressed woman. “I’ve just returned from a protracted luncheon with the mayor. We were hammering out the details for this year’s spring festival.”

Certain that Ms. Bigalow’s alibi would check out, Amy decided not to bring up the theft.

Clara Browning lived in an apartment near town square. An English teacher at the local high school, she had organized the writing club and, according to Nora, had encouraged the ladies to enter the contest.

Amy introduced herself then said, “Ms. Browning, I need to know your whereabouts this afternoon.”

“I hate to admit that I’ve spent this entire beautiful afternoon grading papers at my kitchen table. The only break I’ve had was around 1:30 when my next-door neighbor stopped by for coffee.”

Reasoning that Clara couldn’t have made it to Nora’s for the 1:45 delivery, Amy headed for her final interview, where she found Deborah Channing puttering with a bed of flowers in the front yard of her tidy bungalow. A longtime acquaintance of Amy’s aunt, the former librarian smiled as Amy approached. “Amy,” she said, “what brings you to this side of town?”

“I’m afraid this is not a social visit,” said Amy. “I think you know about the prize Aunt Nora won for her short story.”

Deborah nodded. “We were all so proud of her.”

“Well,” said Amy, “someone grabbed it after it was delivered this afternoon.”

“Oh, no!” said the former librarian. “Nora must be beside herself to know that such a hard-earned prize was taken from her porch while she was away.”

Amy suddenly knew the identity of the pirate who would have to walk the plank.

When Deborah stated the package had been taken from the porch while Nora was away, Amy realized that her aunt’s longtime friend was the thief since Amy had said only that the package was stolen. Confronted, Deborah confessed that she had taken the prize since she thought her story was far better than Nora’s and should have won the contest. After Amy told her aunt what she had discovered, Nora forgave her friend and promised not to tell the other club members what had happened.