Case of the Great Cranberry Caper

by Jeffrey M. Poole

  Vance held up his hands and created a rectangular shape with the thumb and index finger from each hand. “Who’s got the phone with the biggest screen?”

  Julie, in the midst of drinking from her glass of water, snorted, which ended up causing her to make a mess down the front of her shirt. She reached for a napkin, but not before hooking a thumb in Harry’s direction.

  “Him.”

  “I do not,” Harry protested.

  “Are you kidding?” Julie sputtered. “That screen is so big, it could be used as a tablet.”

  “Well, I like watching videos on it,” Harry reluctantly admitted. “I have to be able to see it, don’t I?”

  Vance nodded. “Perfect. Can I see it?”

  “What for?” Harry suspiciously asked, as he pulled his cell from an inside jacket pocket.

  Amazed whistles sounded from all around the table. Julie hadn’t been kidding. The screen on that monster had to be at least 7”, from corner to corner. The town vet looked lovingly down at his phone before reluctantly passing it over.

  “Look, pal, I’m not gonna destroy it,” Vance grumbled. “I just want to show you something. Okay. Here’s the website that Zack pulled up yesterday. He’s the one who informed us that there had been a theft up in Washington State.”

  “You want us to watch a news story?” Harry querulously asked.

  “No. Well, yes. You’ll see what I mean. Here it is. Now, do you see this? These buildings back here?”

  There was a chorus of acknowledgements from the table. I waited, as I knew which part of the video Vance wanted us to see. And there it was. In the background, a semi appeared, hauling a long, open trailer with a large red mound visible in the back.

  Vance tapped the screen, which caused the video to pause itself. “Here it is. This truck? It’s hauling cranberries. Do you see those buildings back there? That’s the cranberry processing plant. Peter obviously knew it was over there, which suggests premeditation, so … Jillian? Do you have something you want to add?”

  “What if this Peter Grant person is exactly like he seems? A good person who made a bad decision? He has the diamond …”

  “… ET,” I quietly offered.

  “Right,” Vance said. “He has ET in his possession, he knows he has to get rid of it should he be caught, but doesn’t know what to do with it. We know he’s smart, since we confirmed he has a 4.0 GPA. Do we know why he went over to the plant? Did he have an accomplice? I can’t imagine the plant would let a complete stranger have access to their machines.”

  “Seems more spur of the moment to me,” Julie suggested.

  “Me, too,” I decided. “What I’d like to know is, from the time this Peter fellow leaves the observatory, how soon before he’s at the processing plant? If it was almost immediately, then that would suggest it was part of his plan. If not, and let’s say he lingers outside while he’s trying to figure out what to do, then that would suggest there was no forethought into his visit to the plant.”

  Vance handed Harry’s phone back before pulling out his own. “I’m sure I can find out. Give me a moment, okay?”

  “You can do that later, pal,” I said. “You’re off duty. You don’t need to …”

  “It’s okay,” Vance assured me. He started to dial when he noticed Tori nodding her head toward the front door. “I’ll be right back.”

  “What’s with this plant, anyway?” Harry suddenly asked. “You guys have brought it up several times now. What’s the big deal?”

  The entire table fell silent, and that included Victoria and Tiffany.

  “What?” Harry demanded. “Did I miss something?”

  “You do know that there’s been a rash of grocery store burglaries, right?” I asked my friend. He gave me a non-committal shrug, causing an evil thought to occur. Was he confused or was that the expression he typically wore? Deciding to give him the benefit of the doubt, I let the matter drop. “Someone has been stealing cranberries, of all things.”

  “What?” Harry sputtered. “From other stores besides Gary’s? You’re kidding! I mean, I like a good cranberry cocktail, just like everyone else, but I don’t like it that much.”

  “Don’t you read the newspaper?” I incredulously asked.

  “Hey, I’ve been busy,” Harry sputtered. “I’ve been putting in long hours at the clinic and getting a nursery ready, bro. Cut me a little slack, all right?”

  I had to give him that one. “Fine, you’re forgiven.”

  “What other stores were hit?” Harry wanted to know.

  “Grants Pass was burglarized first,” Tori reported. “Then Medford, and finally, PV.”

  “Actually,” I slowly began, “three other stores were hit in rapid succession first. Gold Beach, Port Orford, and Klamath.”

  “Klamath Falls,” Jillian corrected, “and I did not know that.”

  “Right. Thanks. Those three were hit first, and then Vance figured out the perp probably had to expand his search when he couldn’t find his diamond.”

  “Is that why Gary’s entire supply of baby formula was stolen?” Jillian asked. “We were made to think the thief was interested in something besides cranberries?”

  I nodded. “We think they were nothing more than diversions. Formula here in PV, drugs in Grants Pass, and booze in Medford.”

  Vance returned at that moment, and none of us could mistake the grin on his face.

  “Good news?” I hopefully asked. “Did you find what you were looking for?”

  My detective friend nodded. “You guys need to listen to this. Peter Grant? He has a roommate.”

  “Most students living on campus do,” Jillian said.

  Vance nodded. “Right, but how many of those roommates just so happen to have girlfriends who work at a cranberry processing plant?”

  The table fell silent.

  “That rules out blackmail,” I decided. “Peter obviously knew about the plant next door. He clearly knew his roommate’s girlfriend worked there, and therefore, had an ‘in’ at the plant. Let me guess. This girlfriend? Does she work in the area that handles the packaging?”

  Vance nodded. “You’re close. She works in shipping. Well, at least, she did. Once the plant learned about their unauthorized visitor, it took them all of about five minutes to review the security footage and find out who allowed Peter inside the facility.”

  “Did they say how long she has worked there?” I asked.

  Vance consulted his notes. “Not long. Three months. She was hired, along with a number of other seasonal workers, to help during the harvest. They do it every year.”

  Jillian had pulled out her phone and was studying it intently. After a few moments, she looked up and waggled her phone.

  “In case anyone was wondering, mid-September through early November is when cranberries are harvested.”

  “Here’s what I think happened,” Vance began. “This Peter fellow sees an opportunity to steal this special diamond …”

  “… ET,” several voices interrupted.

  “Yeah, right. ET. Phone home, right? Whatever. Now, Peter takes possession of ET but realizes he won’t be able to hold on to it long, so he tries to find a way to hide it. Officials at Jacobsen confirm the intern was only left alone for about 15 minutes, so during that time, Peter takes the diamond and flees outside.”

  “Is there any security footage?” Jillian asked.

  Vance nodded. “Thanks for bringing that up. Yeah, I was told the footage was reviewed, and security was able to follow Peter through the observatory, until he made it outside. Once there, they lost sight of him, but we’ve pretty much figured out where he went.”

  “The cranberry plant,” Julie added.

  “Right, he headed straight for the plant. Now, I’ve been in contact with the people who run the plant. They do have a few cameras in there, but not many. They can confirm Peter Grant arrived at the building about ten minutes after he left the observatory, but that’s it.

  “Once inside the processing pla
nt, Peter heads straight for the one person he knows: his roommate’s girlfriend, who conveniently enough, works in shipping. I figure Peter either saw the passing bags of cranberries and dropped the diamond in, or else added it to the bin of berries that were in the process of being bagged. Regardless of how he introduced the gem to the cranberries, ET was sealed up and shipped out. Now, what he did next was truly clever.”

  “What was clever?” I wanted to know.

  “I’m guessing, since Peter’s acquaintance worked in the shipping department, he had to have found out where that particular batch of berries was heading, namely MDC, which we know is in Medford.”

  “And MDC happens to supply all the small stores in the southwestern section of the state,” I quietly added. “Once you add that in, it starts to make sense.”

  “So,” Vance continued, “armed with the knowledge that his diamond was headed for MDC, Peter realizes he needs to find out which store will end up with his diamond.”

  “The observatory’s diamond,” Jillian and I both corrected.

  “Right, whatever. Now, this is where Peter is hit with the first flaw in his plan: MDC didn’t have specific boxes going to specific stores. Instead, they simply had a supply and demand system set up and filled orders as they were received.”

  “That explains the number of stores that were hit,” Julie decided. “He didn’t know where ET was going to end up.”

  “Right,” Vance confirmed. “I was able to call MDC and get someone from administration on the phone. The lady I talked to confirmed that someone called them last week and asked them about shipments of cranberries. Thinking nothing of it, she informed the person which stores were getting deliveries on which dates.”

  “Have any other stores been hit since Gary’s?” I asked.

  The table fell silent as everyone present considered the question.

  “No,” Vance said, shaking his head. “Captain Nelson agrees with you, Zack. He thinks the diamond must have been in one of the bags that were destined for PV.”

  “Then, it’s probably long gone,” Tori guessed.

  There was a collective groan as the majority of the people at our table agreed. I, on the other hand, was shaking my head.

  “I think it’s still here, in PV.”

  Four different conversations came to an abrupt end.

  “What was that, pal?” Vance asked.

  “I think ET is still here, somewhere,” I repeated. “Or, at the very least, within our grasp to get it back.”

  Suddenly, I had everyone’s attention. Vance gave me a hard look. “Explain that.”

  Tori’s hand appeared, and was quickly slapped down, over Vance’s.

  “Please,” Vance hastily amended, as he gave his wife an apologetic smile.

  “Sherlock and Watson,” I announced. “They still think they’re working a case. Now, of all the cases we’ve worked together, after a case has been closed, have they ever kept looking at various things?”

  “No,” Vance immediately answered. “What have they been looking at?”

  Right then, the waitress was back, wheeling a cart piled high with steaming dishes of aromatic food. We all waited to be given our orders, and once the waitress had departed, I pulled out my phone. Opening my Photos app, I held it up for Vance to see.

  “Well, there’s no time like the present to go over the Corgi Clues. Does anyone have any objections to listening to me prattle off what the dogs have been interested in this time around?” When no one said anything, I nodded appreciatively. “All righty, let’s see what we have. Here we go. This is the first picture I took. Can everyone see it?”

  “What are we looking at?” Julie asked, from across the table. “Is that a dumpster? Did you take a picture of some trash?”

  “Yes and no,” I explained. I zoomed in on the duffel bag. “See this bag? This was stuffed full of meds.”

  “Taken from the first store to be hit?” Harry asked. “Was that Gold Beach, bro?”

  “The first three didn’t have diversions in place,” I explained, which drew a nod from Vance. “This is from Grants Pass. Their pharmacy was hit, and tons of prescription pills were taken, only Sherlock and Watson found them in a nearby dumpster. This is the first crime scene we were asked to visit.”

  “That doesn’t make any sense, bro,” Harry said, confused. “Those drugs probably had a significant street value to them.”

  “Which is how we knew it was a diversion,” Vance added. “Go on, Zack.

  “Right. Okay, picture two is … the same thing. Moving on. So is picture three. Here we go. Pictures four and five show the freezer door at the Grants Pass grocery.”

  “Why?” Julie asked.

  I shrugged. “This was the first store to be hit. I can only assume the dogs were bringing our attention to the fact that something else was off.”

  The next photograph appeared on my phone. I heard Victoria and Tiffany giggle as it became apparent I had taken a picture of a helium-filled mylar balloon. This one was flower-shaped, and had Happy 7th Birthday! festooned across the front. At a loss, I looked at Vance and helplessly held up my hands.

  “I’m at a loss on this one. Thoughts?”

  “Happy 7th Birthday,” Jillian read. “Was someone turning seven?”

  “Not that I know of,” I said.

  “Is the number seven relevant somehow?” Tori asked.

  “We don’t know,” Vance confessed. “It’ll make sense eventually. Moving on, Zack.”

  “Roger that. Okay, after the balloon, we have a picture of a kid wearing a backpack. What in the world?”

  “Isn’t that Colin?” Jillian asked, as she leaned over my shoulder to look at the picture.

  I snapped my fingers. “Right. I remember now. We were at the florist, and you and Hannah were talking about something flower-related. That’s when I saw Colin sitting by himself. That’s when I challenged him to a Robotron throw down.”

  “Robotron, the arcade game?” Harry asked, interested. “Dude, I could take you down any day of the week.”

  “Please,” I scoffed. “Robotron is my game. I’d dip your butt in Pine-Sol and wipe the floor with you.”

  Harry’s eyes narrowed. “It’s on, bro.”

  Vance held up his hands in a time-out gesture. “Guys? Focus. Now, Zack, do we know why you took a picture of Colin or his backpack?”

  “No. Your guess is as good as mine.”

  “Hmm. We’ll come back to that one. What’s next?”

  “Let’s see. Ah, here we go. We have a picture of a rack full of numbers and letters.”

  “Are they stencils?” Tori asked, as she leaned forward for a better look.

  Vance shook his head. “No, I remember this now. These were adhesive numbers and letters, the kind you’d affix to a mailbox if you want to put your address on it.”

  “Not all the numbers and letters are there,” Jillian pointed out. “Zachary? You appear to have zoomed in on the letter F. Do you remember what you were trying to capture?”

  “Not a clue. They stopped and stared, I took a picture, and then we moved off. End of story. Do you see anything that stands out?”

  “Well, there are some 7s, 9s, and Bs, Cs, and Fs. They’re out of 8s, As, and Es. How that helps us, I don’t know.”

  “We’ll come back to that,” I announced, as I slid my finger across the screen and then showed everyone what appeared. “Here we have … swell. Here we have more trash. It looks like the inside of another trash can. Vance? Do you remember this one?”

  I passed my phone to Vance, who studied the picture for so long that he had to tap the screen to prevent the smartphone from going to sleep. “Well, this could be … wait. This was taken in Medford.”

  “How can you be sure?” I asked, as I took my phone back.

  “Look at the picture, buddy. There are a few wrappers in there, and they’re all in Spanish.”

  “El Gato,” I recalled, as I gave my friend a grin. “Got it.”

  “El Gato?�
�� Jillian repeated, puzzled.

  “It’s the store that was hit in Medford.”

  “Ah. Was there something about the trash you wanted to capture?”

  “The corgis wouldn’t leave the trash can alone,” I recalled. “I took the photo just to shut them up.”

  “Then, it has to be important,” Jillian decided. “Oh, look! Zachary? Do you see this, here? It’s a cranberry!”

  “Coincidence?” I asked.

  Vance shook his head. “With your dogs? I doubt it. What else do you got? What’s that?”

  The next picture on my phone was of the handheld device the young son of Jillian’s landscaper had been holding. He had been playing it while Jillian’s yard was being serviced. That game, if memory served, had been available at the arcade where I grew up. It was a blow-em-up type of game, set in space, where the player is at the controls of a one-man fighter, and your only job is to stay alive. Stay alive long enough and you’ll join an assault on the bad guys’ home base.

  “It’s the video game a boy was playing outside, at Jillian’s, while her yard was being cleaned. Sherlock and Watson had been staring at the boy, only it was revealed later that they were only interested in the game he had been holding. So, I took a picture.”

  “What game is it?” Jillian wanted to know.

  “An old space fighter game,” I explained. “The version I played, at the arcade back home, had this sit-down version where it replicated being in a cockpit, I guess. It cost two quarters to play, and I sucked at it.”

  This brought a round of laughter.

  “Another one we’ll come back to,” Vance decided. “Moving on. What’s next?”

  I swiped a finger across the screen and shrugged. “Greeting cards, only they look like they’re for kids. I can see Darth Vader on one and Yoda on another.”

  Vance nodded. “Star Wars. Okay. Does anyone know how that fits into the picture?”

  The detective was met with silence.

  “Moving on. What’s next, Zack?”

  I stared at the next set of pictures for a few moments as I tried to figure out what I had been trying to take a picture of. Pages of text? Printed pages of text, if you want to get technical. What was … oh. That took a little longer than I would have liked to admit. This was back in Gary’s Grocery.