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{ FOR THE LOVE OF VENUS } THE MYSTERY | THE SOLUTION: sitting at the scarred table in the Hall of Justice interrogation room, I read the document in front of me, then signed my name on the dotted line. "Thanks, Jess," Nick Gardino said as I handed him my official statement about Moller's murder. He looked no more comfortable sitting on the chair in here than he had on Mrs. Prendergast's fragile antique. "Congratulations on catching the capo of the Diavolo art theft ring," I said. "What gave him away to you?" Nick asked. "You know what it was. I saw you smirk when I got to that part of the story." "Yeah." He smiled now, too. "I'm just an uncultured guy, but even I know Van Gogh painted 'Sunflowers.' Not Gauguin. "Besides that, he was too young and healthy to be the real thing." A wave of sadness washed over me. "I just wish I'd spoken up the minute I suspected something was wrong. If I had, Moller would be alive." "Maybe. Maybe not." Nick placed his hand on my shoulder. "Don't blame yourself, Jess. You couldn't know the guy was so desperate to steal the Venus that he'd kill someone." "And then he just stuck the statue in the bushes and came back inside. He planned to transact business with its buyer before they even left Mrs. Prendergast's sidewalk." I shook my head at the audacity of it. "Who do you suppose his intended buyer was -- Barcroft or Hamilton?" "Probably both. He'd offer it to them and see how high they'd bid the price up." "One thing still puzzles me," Nick said. "What did Moller mean by his dying words, 'It festers like the wound'?" "That's easy," I replied. "He didn't say that at all. Vicki Barcroft
misheard him, but if you think about it, the phrase becomes clear. The
butler named his killer -- Professor Lee Calhoun."
The first person to correctly solve the mystery was Steve Schwartz.
Mystery Archive
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