Fifteen minutes later, the Commissioner was at the workshop. Then, at everyone's request, Tracy began his explanation.
"As all of you must have already identified from the footage of the gift shop incident,", he began, " there were a few files that were tossed out of the window. One of these was the one containing the hard copies of the invoices. This naturally led the cops to think that this was how the addresses of the victims ended up with the perpetrator."
"Yes, that was the line of investigation that seemed most logical at the time.", replied the Commissioner.
"I also think that this is how Tom Rayburn got hold of the addresses. However, the first indication that things are not what they seem to be came when I had a look at the evidence collected by the police."
"What new things did you learn from the evidence?", asked Mr. Murlock.
"The first thing I learnt that the weight of the pieces of the broken busts collected at the first six crime scenes was considerably less than the weight mentioned on the invoices."
"But that in itself does not imply anything.", argued the Commissioner. "One of the pieces could very well have fallen off slightly further than the others and thus not found during the crime scene examination."
"That is also a possible explanation.", agreed Tracy. "However, what made me suspicious was the fact that the weight of the pieces found at the scene of the sixth incident was exactly equal to the weight of the pieces missing from the previous five. That was too much of a coincidence for me."
"It got me thinking.", he continued. "What if the pieces of the sixth bust were actually those from the previous five?"
"Hmm.", said Mr. Murlock, "Certainly a possibility, in light of the facts you mentioned. How did you test this theory?"
"The hard way.", replied Tracy. "I took the different pieces and tried to see which of those would make a complete, or almost complete reconstruction of the original bust."
"I started with those found at the sixth crime scene as they were the most suspicious. As expected, none of them shared any edges with each other, indicating they were probably not from the same bust."
"Then I began the tedious process of trial and error to determine which pieces among those found at the sixth crime scene came from the previous incidents. It was hard work, but I finally was able to determine which pieces had come from which bust."
"So that's why you wanted to analyse the pieces.", said Mr. Findlay, excitedly.
"Yes", replied Tracy. "Now, all that was left to identify was the motive. Upon inquiring with Mr. Murlock, I obtained the dates when each of the busts was made. A little cross checking in the news led me to the news of Tom Rayburn's suspected involvement in the theft of research data. From the data Mr. Murlock had provided, I found out that Tom Rayburn was doing internship at this workshop during that time. Mr. Murlock also informed me that the workshop was shut down immediately for equipment upgrade after the entire lot was sent to the gift shop."
"So he could not have gotten a replacement from here.", said Mr. Findlay, continuing Tracy's train of thought.
"And the flash mob incident left the busts at the gift shop severely damaged, so that option was also out.", added Mr. Murlock.
"And we arrested Rayburn before he could recover the research hidden in the bust and dispose of it." , finished the Commissioner.
"Exactly.", replied Tracy. "He probably continued the vandalism incidents to misguide everyone. Had the flash mob not attacked the gift shop, this whole thing would probably never have come to light."
"True.", said Mr. Murlock.
"The analysis must be finished by now.", said Mr. Findlay. "I will fetch the results."
And as Tracy had expected, the results confirmed his theory of the supposed remains of the sixth bust being pieces of the other five busts.
"Splendid!", exclaimed the Commissioner. "We have a much stronger case against Rayburn now. I congratulate you once again, Mr. Jensen, for your efforts."
"I would not have had this opportunity had Mr. Murlock not persevered to get to the bottom of this whole affair."
"And you were smart enough to see what no one else saw.", replied Mr. Murlock, pleasantly surprised at Tracy's modesty.
The next day's newspaper carried the entire story on the front page. The report described how an independent investigation conducted by the art museum (Tracy, who valued privacy more than fame, had requested that his name be withheld from the press release) led to the sensational discovery of the flash drive containing the stolen research. On reexamination of the broken busts, the police also found Tom Rayburn's fingerprints on some of the pieces. This, and the analysis of the busts that Mr. Findlay had done, ensured that the jury had very little difficulty in convicting Tom Rayburn for his crimes.
A few days after the conviction of Tom Rayburn, the Commissioner came to meet Tracy in his office. After making some small talk, the Commissioner steered the conversation towards the main objective of his visit.
"Mr. Jensen", began the Commissioner.
"You can call me Tracy, sir."
"Okay. So, Tracy, I have one or two cases we are unable to make any sense of. Would you like to have a look?"
"I would be delighted, sir."
"Good! I will send one of my men with the case files. Also, I will check whether it is possible to engage you as a consultant, as I feel that the department needs people like you."
"Okay.", was all that a surprised Tracy could manage.
"I have a meeting in ten minutes, I guess I will be leaving now."
After he left, Tracy, relieved and happy at the promise of a steady flow of casework in the near future, could hardly contain his joy.
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