An arrogant detective Charles Courtney prides himself on never having committed a single mistake in his long and distinguished career He keeps a shelf of labeled mementos from each of his cases On the shelf there is an open space and a blank tag for what Courtney calls The Perfect Crime One day a defense lawyer stuns Courtney when he confronts him with evidence that the detective helped convict an innocent man who has since been executed Courtney kills the lawyer bakes him in a pottery kiln and places the vase in the open space on his shelf as a memento to his perfect crime