Something New!

       I hope everyone had a good week. Today I'm going to do something new.  For a writing class I'm taking I had to write a short mystery in a week. It had to be in first person. I've never written in first person or a mystery so it was a new experience.

      Today I am going to share my mystery.

The Mysterious Robbery

      I stepped out of the bus stop in to the blustery night. A gust of wind nearly knocked me over. I started down the street, it was almost deserted. Every now and then a random car would drive by. The bell tower struck midnight.

      The street lamps provided light for the only pedestrian out at this time of night. The moon was hidden behind a thick blanket of clouds. Dead leaves were scattered across the street. I continued down the sidewalk. The lights in the bank caught my attention as I passed by it.

      I went closer to the brick-built bank to look into the windows. There was just normal things in the building. There was also a guy with a stocking cap perched on his head. Wait! The bank should be closed. I double checked the sign just in case. It said that it was closed.

      I wasn't sure what to do. I pulled out my phone and started to dial 911. Just before I called the police the man started walking out of the building. He was walking out like he belonged there. I assumed he was the manager and was working late.

      He pushed open the glass door and the alarms went off. I called the police and followed him down the street. He was carrying a briefcase and wearing a trench coat. He never looked behind himself to see if he was being followed. He crossed the street and continued down the sidewalk. A car as red as the alarm at the bank pulled up beside me before I crossed the street. A man climbed out of the sleek vehicle.

      The man looked to be in his sixties. He wore a gray suit and a red tie.

  “I heard the alarm and came to check it out. I am the bank owner,” the man said.

  “That man over there stole something,” I said pointing to him. “I was in the process of following him,” I told him.

  “Then let's continue on,” he replied.

      We made it across the street just as a strong gust of wind hit. The wind blew off the thief's stocking cap. The thief was walking towards the only parked car on the road. We started chasing after him, figuring that was his escape vehicle. He turned his head around scanning the area before going to the car. I couldn't see his face clearly in the night. But he spotted us and ran for the car. As he ran he dropped something on the ground.

      The car took off in a cloud of smoke before I got there. It was no use trying to chase him now. He was long gone. We did however pick up his cap when we passed it.

      I picked up the thing he dropped and examined it. It was a key and a wrinkled piece of paper. The paper had four numbers etched on it. The numbers were 1472.

  “What did he drop?” Asked the bank owner arriving a few seconds later.

  “A key and a piece of paper,” I answered. “By the way, my name is Sean.”

  “Mr. Banks,” he replied while shaking my hand.

  “I suppose we should head back and tell the police what happened,” Mr. Banks said.

  “After that lets go see a detective,” I suggested.

  “Good idea,” replied Mr. Banks.

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      I knocked on the front door of the house. A girl opened the door and asked what we wanted.

  “We're here to see the detective,” I answered.

She let us in and led us to an office room nearby. The room was a decent size. It was brightly lit by a large chandelier. A desk was placed in the exact center of the room. The desk was very neatly organized with stacks of papers and books. The man behind the desk was rather young. It was hard to tell how old he was.

  “My name is Sean and this is Mr. Banks. He is a the owner of the bank that was robbed.”

  “Please have a seat,” the detective said. “I am Detective Reginald and this is my assistant Penny Parker. You came to the right place. I am the best there is.”

  “Now tell me what happened,” Reginald said.

      I proceeded to tell him everything that happened. When I was done I handed the things to the detective. He examined them closely and looked at them with a magnifying glass.

  “So you say this was perched on his head?” Reginald asked holding up the stocking cap.

  “Yes,” I replied.

  “And he walked out casually. Never checking to see if he was being followed?”

  “Except before he got into the car,” added Mr. Banks.

      The detective handed the things to his assistant who carefully looked them over. He pulled out a piece of paper and scribbled a few notes.

  “I have a feeling that this man has not looked up the definition of stealth. I also think this man didn't know what he was doing.”

  “You got all that from the clues?” I inquired.

  “Oh no. I haven't even got to those yet. This key, I'm guessing, goes to a door,” Reginald concluded.

  “Maybe to the back door of the bank,” added Penny.

  “Tomorrow we will search the crime scene. Meet us there at 9:00 A.M. sharp. In the mean time I will study these numbers,” said the detective.

  “Maybe you should look for invisible writing,” Mr. Banks suggested.

  “I don't think our thief would've done that,” Reginald said.

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      The next morning I met Reginald and Penny in the front of the bank. A security guard was posted outside the building. Mr. Banks showed up before we approached the guard. The detective told us he would do the talking.

  “I am Detective Reginald and we will need in this here bank.”

  “I am going to need to see your ID,” the guard replied.

Mr. Banks stepped forward and said, “I'm the owner of this bank so you better let me in.”

  “Yes sir, I didn't recognize you,” he said.

He handed Reginald his ID and we all entered the bank. Reginald pulled out the key and paper.

  “This number on the paper is the address of the bank. I think this thief wasn't from around here.”

  “You think someone hired him to send the police on a wild goose chase?” I asked.

  “Wild geese always love giving chases, my boy,” said the detective.

  “So you think it was a inside job?” Mr. Banks asked. “I can't believe I hired a crook.”

  “Mr. Banks, lead us to the safe,” Reginald instructed.

      He led us through the bank to the safe. Mr. Banks knelt down in front of the safe. He proceeded to spin the dial and unlock the door. He opened the door to reveal an empty safe.

  “Just as I suspected. Empty,” he said. “How could he have figured out the combination?”

  “He probably had another piece of paper he didn't drop. What does this key go to?”

  “Maybe to the back door,” I suggested.

  “No. It goes to the secret vault in my office,” Mr. Banks answered.

  “Who knows the combination?” Penny asked.

  “Only a couple of people.”

  “That narrows it down,” I remarked.

  “Not really. Almost anyone could figure out the combination. That is if they used a decoder key to create it. And in this case the key is the address. This clearly is just a theory,” Reginald said.

      Reginald sat down at the banker's desk and grabbed a pen. He started writing on a piece of blank paper. Mr. Banks excused himself for a moment. Once he left the room the detective started looking through the drawers of the desk.

  “What are you looking for?” I whispered.

  “Something to prove my hunch. Don't just stand there. Help me look.”

  “What am I looking for?” I asked. He didn't answer me.

      I started flipping through folders and stacks of paper. Most of it was normal bank papers. That is 'till I got to the bottom drawer. Under a tall stack of folders was a small ticket. It was a one way ticket to Tahiti.

  “Look at this, Reginald.” I showed him the ticket. A few seconds later Mr. Banks came back.

  “So, we were about to open the safe,” he recalled.

Reginald nodded and and walked to the safe.

  “What the thief did is this simple problem. First you take the key and add the first and last number.                     Then add the middle ones. That is your first digits. Then multiply the first and third and then the second and fourth numbers. And you have your combination.”

  “The combination should be 31178,” I figured out.

  “That is right,” Mr. Banks said.

      I opened the larger safe. The door creaked as I pulled it open. The safe was bare. Not even a penny was left. The bank just got robbed blind.

  “What am I going to do,” the banker asked.

  “I hear Tahitti is nice this time of year,” I answered.

      He gave me a strange look as if he didn't know what I was talking about. I pulled the ticket out of my pocket. I dangled it in the air for him to see. Reginald proceeded to lay out his theory.

  “You hired some guy to rob your bank. You probably payed him to make it obvious. So he leads the police on a wild chase and disappears. When the police get back you've flown to Tahiti with all the money in the bank.”

  “Good job figuring that out. You may have figured that out, but you won't find the money. The money I'll use to disappear somewhere else.”

  “You're mistake was when you said a couple people knew about the safe. A hasty way to open up more possible suspects,” Reginald said.

  “After a while of sitting around this much money you start to wonder. You start thinking things like I could take all this for myself easily,” Mr. Banks said.

      While this was going on no one noticed Penny. Penny had called the police and also managed to start to have a nice conversation with her grandma. Within a few minutes the police had surrounded the bank. So when Mr. Banks turned to leave he didn't get very far.

  “Good job figuring out this mystery, Reginald,” I said.

  “That's why they call me the best.”

  “How much do I owe you?”

  “Let's go outside and talk that over.”

They went outside and left Penny to talk with her grandma.

1 Timothy 6:10

For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

      Just a reminder you can still submit questions for my blogivesary. I will stop receiving  questions on Monday night. (The 30th.) 

Until next Friday,

Jonathan