Heirloom

Pieces of papers were littered on the desk in the small office. A white board was attached on the wall with huge red lines circled around several pictures pinned there. The faces in the picture all had a similar feature; blue eyes and pointed noses.

This image
The old investigator rubbed his eyes to drive out sleep that has haunted him for the past two weeks. He sighed and downed another glass of whiskey; his eyes turned bloodshot red, but he poured another glass.

“At the rate you’re going, I’m not sure you’d be sober enough to handcuff the perpetrator when we finally get him.” His colleague, Mike chastised and grabbed the glass from him.

James had been on the missing heirloom case for weeks now, but it looked like the thief refused to be found. He refused to back off from the case irrespective of the threatening letters he received every day on his desk.

The Williams family had entrusted and paid him well to apprehend the thief. The missing heirloom belonged to their great grandmother and was the most valuable and precious thing they had in the family. Losing it was an insult to their past generations.

“How are you even sure it's a he? I have a very strong feeling that it’s a female and my guts never fails me.” James responded, throwing himself on the couch.

For weeks, he had called in all the members of the Williams family to his office individually for questioning. They all denied knowing the whereabouts of the necklace but had similar accounts of what happened during the night of the robbery.

“Obviously, it’s going to be a man. I doubt if any woman is smart and stupid enough to steal one of the wealthiest family precious treasure.” Mike tsked and lighted a cigarette.

He had an addiction to smoking but he wasn’t ready to let go anytime soon irrespective of his doctor’s warning to stay away from it or else he may risk being diagnosed with lung cancer.

“I thought Mr Donald advised you to stop inhaling that poison. Trust me, I wouldn’t come for your funeral if you end up dying on me because I warned you so many times.” He chided, patting his friend on the back.

They had been good friends for ten years and counting. They met on the job while working together to solve a neck breaking case that almost cost them their lives. At first, they didn’t get along with each other but over time, they realised they were so much alike and if they could agree to work together peacefully then they’d have a breakthrough in their career. People fondly called them the Two Musketeers.

“Well, my good friend if I should ever drop my blunt then you’d have to drop that bottle over there.” Mike scoffed and pointed at the various whiskey bottles seated on the shelf.

A loud chuckle emanated from James mouth followed by Mikes’ They knew they couldn’t let go of their addictions because that was what fuelled their drive and adrenaline.

“Cheers to our addictions that we’re never letting go off!” They downed a glass of whiskey and collapsed on the chair.

“Let’s get back to business because we have to solve this case before I finish my last stash of whiskey.” James responded, walking towards the white board.

The cook and the driver were the first persons that could have possibly stolen the necklace but they needed to have had the password to the safe and also bypassed the security cameras which would be a very tedious job for them while carrying out their duties.

Little Jane and Owen who had no idea of what was missing were ruled out of the suspect lists. Aunt Rose and Uncle Gregory had an event to attend to during the afternoon before the robbery took place in the night; they weren’t the ones because they didn’t spend the night in the mansion.

Their nieces and nephews were also suspects but they claimed not to have known what happened that night because they were all sleeping in their bedrooms.

They were left with Mr and Mrs Williams who were the rightful heir to the heirloom but they wouldn’t have possibly stolen what belonged to them, would they?

“I have a very strong feeling it’s Mrs Williams.” James concluded and drew a big circle on her picture.

“Come on James, this was the same woman who contacted us to help her. Why on earth would she steal what belongs to her? It doesn’t just make any sense to me.” Mike mused.

The telephone rang and James answered. “Alright, I’d be there soon. Thanks.”

“The guy called, the one who’s in possession of the necklace. He has agreed to show me who orchestrated the robbery. Let’s go now.” They took their coats and rushed out into the cold.

They watched as the exchange happened; the unknown man extended his hand with the necklace towards the windows of the carriage and a very feminine hand took it greedily. Both investigators stood beside the huge lamp posts and took pictures of everything.

“I told you it was a woman. I’m going to get closer so I can get the face.”

Truth be told, it was Mrs. Williams inside the carriage looking frightened as James took a picture of her. She was cuffed and taken into police custody for questioning. The detectives and her family had their Ah-ha moment when she mentioned she had been blackmailed by someone from her past. It turns out Mrs. Williams wasn't a royal like she claimed to be.