Let me recap a few things real quick. Up to this point, Basil Jett (who according to Wren is the brains behind this plan) was able to do (or secretly arrange) the following:
- Gain all the knowledge, skills, and experience of a museum curator
- Gain full knowledge and control over all security measures in the museum where he works (including additional measures added by Dick Tracy and whomever else) without being detected (henceforth “W/OBD”)
- Make contacts with buyers willing to pay massive amounts of money for hot stolen antiquities W/OBD
- Create near-perfect replicas of all the antiquities he intended to steal W/OBD
- Acquire massive amounts of fentanyl W/OBD
- Create a brand new nonlethal reformulated version of a dangerous knockout gas
- Transport his fake antiquities to the museum W/OBD, apparently without a vehicle
- Deploy his custom gas to immediately and simultaneously knock out every single cop and security guard in the museum W/OBD
- Disable or subvert all the security in place to detect or prevent theft in the museum and then steal and replace all the desired antiquities W/OBD
- Transport the stolen antiquities to a secure location W/OBD, apparently without a vehicle
- Divert immediate law enforcement suspicions
Basil supposedly managed to do all of that, and then his plan afterwards was to:
- Panic when the police didn’t immediately just shrug and give up after a cursory glance at the crime scene
- Put the hefty Froyne of Layven into a crate and hand-carry it out onto the streets
- Walk aimlessly on foot carrying the crate because apparently he is without a vehicle
- Panic even more at the prospect of being seen walking around carrying a suspicious crate
- Wander blindly into the sewers to escape the nonexistent police pursuit
- Suffer an immediate absurd and possibly fatal self-defeating mishap
This is incredibly ridiculous storytelling. The real “minit mystery” is why it was published.
Let me recap a few things real quick. Up to this point, Basil Jett (who according to Wren is the brains behind this plan) was able to do (or secretly arrange) the following:
- Gain all the knowledge, skills, and experience of a museum curator
- Gain full knowledge and control over all security measures in the museum where he works (including additional measures added by Dick Tracy and whomever else) without being detected (henceforth “W/OBD”)
- Make contacts with buyers willing to pay massive amounts of money for hot stolen antiquities W/OBD
- Create near-perfect replicas of all the antiquities he intended to steal W/OBD
- Acquire massive amounts of fentanyl W/OBD
- Create a brand new nonlethal reformulated version of a dangerous knockout gas
- Transport his fake antiquities to the museum W/OBD, apparently without a vehicle
- Deploy his custom gas to immediately and simultaneously knock out every single cop and security guard in the museum W/OBD
- Disable or subvert all the security in place to detect or prevent theft in the museum and then steal and replace all the desired antiquities W/OBD
- Transport the stolen antiquities to a secure location W/OBD, apparently without a vehicle
- Divert immediate law enforcement suspicions
Basil supposedly managed to do all of that, and then his plan afterwards was to:
- Panic when the police didn’t immediately just shrug and give up after a cursory glance at the crime scene
- Put the hefty Froyne of Layven into a crate and hand-carry it out onto the streets
- Walk aimlessly on foot carrying the crate because apparently he is without a vehicle
- Panic even more at the prospect of being seen walking around carrying a suspicious crate
- Wander blindly into the sewers to escape the nonexistent police pursuit
- Suffer an immediate absurd and possibly fatal self-defeating mishap
This is incredibly ridiculous storytelling. The real “minit mystery” is why it was published.