Chapter 7
At the warehouse, Chenture discovered an antique chair (see the Forward to this story) that had been left behind in a corner.
"This, Drake, is the thieves' fatal mistake. They're certain to have left at least one clean fingerprint on that. I'm going to call the crime lab to get a tech and a truck out here."
Drake removed his fedora and scratched his head. "Hold on a second, Detective. Why'd they leave this chair behind? Do you think it was a fake?"
The detective consulted his notes. "No, this is one of the stolen chairs, built by Thomas Chippendale for Sir Knatchbull in 1776. It's definitely authentic, and insanely valuable."
He spent a few minutes walking around the chair, being careful not to touch it. "It appears to be made of cherry wood, which is notoriously hard to work with and therefore considered 'rare' in the world of furniture-making. In fact, however, the cherry is only a veneer; it's mostly maple wood, and therefore too common for the thieves."
While Chenture went to the squad car to call in a finger print expert, Drake gave the rest of the warehouse a once-over. The detective on his return found his predecessor at the buzz saw, examining some of the logs that had been cut last night. Drake picked up some light rope that was on the ground near the logs and tried to show it to Chenture.
"That doesn't mean anything," interjected the detective.
"But what about the logs?" asked Drake.
"They were probably using the buzz saw to cover up the sound of the boxes they were constructing."
"But this was the only night that anyone heard the saw running. What about the other shipments?"
"The thieves were probably nervous because of the extreme value of the rosewood chair. Maybe they left it on to cover their departure."
"Seems to me a buzz saw would attract attention to their departure," suggested Drake.
Chenture shrugged this off, and the two walked outside to wait for the lab technician to arrive. Once she had collected her prints, they followed her and the chair back to the station.