It was late evening and Jefferson felt sure that the people working on the case were in dire need of rest. Most of them had been overworking themselves and that could affect their performances, which would be unfortunate.
He walked up to where the other four were seated and said, “All of you need to rest, we can work on this tomorrow.”
There was no argument from anyone, and Jefferson took this as a sign of the extent of their fatigue. Brandon and Olivia were the first ones to leave for the temporary residence that the FBI had arranged for them. They were followed by Michael and in the end, Sam. Jefferson stayed behind with the intention of going over the case files once more, but after twenty minutes he felt certain that if he did not rest, he would not be able to concentrate on what he was doing and that might become the reason for an oversight on his part. After safely locking away the file in a drawer in his desk, he too left the building and went home.
Buy it All Supermarket, NYC:
Just like everyone, going shopping for groceries was not Michael’s Idea of a relaxing evening, but he had no choice. The state of his fridge at home was quite alarming. It was empty, as empty as it had been when he had bought it. He had been putting off the shopping for quite a few days and that had resulted in this forced trip to the supermarket. Of course, there was the other alternative of eating from a restaurant, but Michael always preferred to eat what he cooked himself, he knew what went in it and the hygiene levels with which it was cooked, something that couldn’t be said for the restaurants. One moment he was thinking about what he was buying and the next moment, his mind had wandered. But this time, he was not thinking about the case, this time he was thinking about Evelyn. Try as he might, he could not get her out of his mind. There had been something in her personality, a remarkable calmness, something which Michael’s life lacked. While thinking about her, he remembered something. Something that he had seen in her house. A calendar, A date. He looked at his watch. It was just after eight. He hurried out of the supermarket and drove straight to Evelyn’s building, stopping just once on the way.
Michael ran a hand through his hair and rang the doorbell. Evelyn opened the door and was surprised to see him. Rob’s voice came from within the house, “Who is it?”
Evelyn did not reply, she said, “How may I help you, agent?”
Michael seemed to be nervous, he said, “I’m sorry, but I believe that it’s Rob’s birthday, I just got a gift for him.”
“What?”
Michael held up the gift and Evelyn moved back form the door to let him enter. As he went inside Rob saw him and his eyes widened.
“You!”
“Happy birthday, Rob,” said Michael and handed him the package.
Needless to say, the situation was awkward. There was tension in the room which made Michael feel that it was wrong of him to come to the siblings’ house. Afterall, he had visited their house under more formal circumstances the previous time and making the shift to an informal visit was not as easy as he had expected. But the tension did not stop Rob from tearing the wrapper of the gift with enthusiasm and when he saw what was inside, he gave a shriek of delight. It was a telescope.
Seeing the gift, Evelyn looked at Michael with wide eyes and said, “How did you know?”
Michael said, “Oh well, when I was here earlier, I sort of happened to look into Rob’s room as the door was ajar, I saw a calendar with today’s date encircled and birthday written on top of it. It was pretty obvious.”
“No,” said Evelyn. “I mean how did you know about the telescope?”
Now Michael was getting self-conscious. “That was a bit more complicated. The wallpaper in his room has a beautiful print of stars, and he was even wearing a shirt with stars when I saw him for the first time. In the newspaper rack in your living room, there are some cutouts and books regarding stars, so I made a gamble and bought him a telescope with the idea that he might be interested in star gazing.”
Evelyn was just staring at Michael, but Rob said, “Thanks a lot! But you’re wrong.”
“You don’t like star gazing?”
“No, I love it!” said Rob. “But it isn’t my birthday, it’s hers.”
Michael looked at Evelyn who was still staring at him. “I’m going to the window in my room,” said Rob and went in. Now the only occupants of the living room were Evelyn and Michael.
Finally, Evelyn seemed to be able to control her tongue once again, she said, “Would you like some coffee?”
“Oh no! I wouldn’t want to trouble you,” said Michael.
“Not at all,” said Evelyn and went into Kitchen.
Once she was gone, Michael let out a sigh. To say the least, the past few minutes had not been the most comfortable ones.
After a moment Evelyn returned with two cups of coffee. Michael had expected the conversation to go as awkward as the previous time, but he was pleasantly surprised. Soon Michael and Evelyn were talking like old friends. Michael found it was easy to talk to Evelyn, while she believed that he was someone who did not judge her on the basis of her financial status.
“It was nice of you to get a gift for Rob.”
“But you should have been the one getting the gift, it was your birthday.”
Evelyn shook her head and said, “This was the best gift for me.”
There was a moment of silence. Then Evelyn said, “So did you solve the case?”
Michael shook his head and said, “Nope, our opponents are quite cunning.”
Evelyn said, “Don’t worry, you’ll get him.”
Michael looked at her. “How are you so confident?”
“A man who was smart enough to get the right gift for a child by just looking at his bedroom is smart enough to catch a few crooks.”
Michael laughed. It was very rare when someone complimented him in such a manner. The single sentence which Evelyn had just spoken had boosted his confidence.
Michael asked, “So Evelyn, what do you do?”
“A little bit of this, a little bit of that,” replied Evelyn sheepishly. “Currently I am helping out at a grocery store, I just earn enough to be able to take care of the bills without taking much from the insurance money. I need that for Rob’s education.”
Michael looked surprised, and he was about to ask a question, but he didn’t. He didn’t have to. There was a photograph on a side table in the room. In the photograph, one could clearly make out a younger Evelyn, with a couple who looked so much like her that it was almost impossible to miss the fact that they were her parents. Evelyn was holding her father’s hand while her mother held a baby in her arms- Rob. That was the only picture on the side table and as far as Michael could see, the only picture in the entire house. Factoring in the financial condition and the fact that Evelyn was the one taking care of the monetary aspect of Rob’s education, it was not too hard to realize that their parents had passed away. Not very long ago, judging by Evelyn’s age, as she would not have been allowed to have custody of her brother if she was a minor herself. By now, it was obvious that the insurance money she was referring to came from the life insurance of her parents.
Michael and Evelyn talked for some more time, until Rob came out of his room and said, “I’m going to bed.”
Evelyn looked at the clock and realized that it was almost eleven. Michael got up and said, “I’ve taken up quite a lot of your time.”
“It was good to talk to a friend,” replied Evelyn.
“Thanks for the gift, Michael,” said Rob.
“Don’t mention it buddy.”
After Michael had left, Evelyn was lost in thought. She didn’t even remember the last time she had been able to talk to someone with such ease, without even the slightest trace of hesitation.
It was Rob who put her feelings into words when he said, “I think Michael’s cool.”
A few floors below, Michael had exited the apartment and was about to sit in his car when a man brushed roughly past him.
“Hey!” exclaimed Michael.
It was a moment before Michael realized that the man had pressed something into the palm of his hand. It was a chit of paper with two words across it – Hello Again.
Undisclosed FBI Safehouse:
Brandon and Olivia were sitting in the living room of the small apartment which the FBI had arranged for them, as their temporary residing area. The house itself was scantily furnished, with everything of need but no unnecessary luxuries. There was a kitchen stocked with some vegetables, fruits, and other edibles. All of this was not out of the ordinary, but the feature that distinguished the house from a normal one was that the main door and the windows of the house operated on an ingenious mechanism. There were two guards posted outside the flat at all times, and while the privacy of the couple was respected within the house, they could not open the windows or the door without alerting the guards outside. If they did so, the door would trigger a loud alarm which would result in some agents coming at the ex-cons with guns and handcuffs. The only way to avoid this was to inform the guard of what they were doing via an intercom so that he could momentarily disable the alarm. This setup made Brandon and Olivia feel as though they were still in prison, much better than before, but still a cage.
Brandon said, “So are you going to call her now?”
“No.”
“No?”
“You’re going to call her.”
“Why me?”
“Because people usually think of a male when they hear the word thief, and we want her to believe that you are the one who has threatened to steal her son’s collection and working on what’s already present in her subconscious will be to our advantage.”
For a moment, Brandon seemed to be satisfied but then, after a moment he got a puzzled expression on his face. “How are we going to make the call? All of the calls we make from the phone provided are tracked.”
Olivia smiled and took out a small burner phone from her pocket. “Jefferson ‘accidentally’ left it at the office today and I picked it up. Only he will know about the calls we make from this.”
Brandon smiled a little. He had always admired his wife’s cleverness, something which had been invaluable to them on countless occasions.
Brandon took the phone and dialed the number. After a moment he said, “Hello Mrs. Williamson.”
“Who is this?”
“The man who is going to steal your son’s collection.”
“What? Who are you?”
“You are not going to get any further introduction than the one you just got, now, if you even think of calling the cops, we will make sure that you and your son don’t live to see what happens next.”
“Please! Just leave us alone, we can give you as much money as you want!”
“We will get that anyway, after we sell your son’s collection.”
“Please don’t take the skins, he loves them.”
The Skins. That was something. Brandon said, “Just tell your son to stay away from his collection, we’ll steal it tomorrow and we don’t want there to be any unnecessary bloodshed.”
“The Animalia is very well protected, you wouldn’t be able to steal it under any circumstances.”
In reply, Brandon terminated the call. He looked at his wife. They had something- the Animalia and the skins, and that was all they needed.
Williamson Residence, NYC:
Alice was sitting on her bed, trembling. She was thanking God for the fact that her husband was working late and that she was alone in the room otherwise he would have found out about the collection, he would have found out about everything. She wanted to take her husband’s help, but she could not. She wanted to call the police, but she could not do anything of that sort. On the other hand, she didn’t want to tell her son about the call, but she had to. She got up, put on her dressing gown, and went to her son’s room. She knocked on the door and entered.
Jack looked at his mother through sleep-filled eyes and said, “What is it, Mom?”
Alice sat on a chair and said, “Son, first of all, you need to remain calm after hearing what I am about to tell you.”
“What? Mom, what are you talking about?”
“I just received a call from the thieves.”
That did it. The sleep vanished from Jack’s eyes as though it was never there. He was alert and listening to every word his mother was saying. As his mother filled him in on her conversation with the thieves, his anger levels elevated with each sentence. At the end of the narrative, he got up and started pacing the room.
He said, “Enough is enough, they don’t know who they are up against, I’ll get them!”
“What do you mean?” asked his mother with an alarmed expression.
“I mean that tomorrow I will go to see the collection myself and check the security. If those thieves come for me, I’ll take them down.”
“Were you listening to a word that I said? They would kill you!”
“Not if I kill them first.”
Aurum Regium 