[Book 1] Lupin the Third enthusiast, Ruby Del Monte, lives in a gilded cage. Her obscenely wealthy brother-in-law plays the role of a heavy-handed parent, keeping her locked away like a princess in a tower. But Ruby lives vicariously through the exp...
Ruby sat in the armchair by the large floor-to-ceiling windows which overlooked the metropolitan cityscape that was Boston, Massachusetts from their swanky hotel room. The moment she heard the shower faucet turn in the adjoining bathroom, she darted towards the desk. Her hands were still bound at the wrists in front of her, but Fujiko had kindly untied her legs. While Fujiko showered, Ruby began tugging open drawers as best she could with her bound hands, searching for hotel stationary that might have the name of their hotel on the letterhead.
Fujiko had drugged her again to make the transfer from the car to the hotel easier. She was smart to do so; Ruby definitely would have put up a fight if she could. But Fujiko had only given her a half dose this time, and Ruby had come around while the femme fatale excused herself to take a shower. Now, Ruby desperately searched for an indication as to the name of the hotel she'd missed while walking, zombie-like, into the lobby with Fujiko's arm around her shoulders.
Ruby found what she was looking for quickly enough. Bella Restare. What was that, Italian? Didn't 'Restare,' mean restaurant? No, that was 'Ristorante.' Whatever. Now that she knew the name, how could she use it to her advantage?
'Icould text Kierra and Adela and tell them where I am.'
But what good would that do? Kierra could make the three-hour drive from New York to Boston, but what could Ruby's friends possibly do to thwart a woman like Fujiko? That seemed unlikely at most, and dangerous at best.
Lupin, then.
It was so obvious that an alarm went off in Ruby's head, one that sounded remarkably like, 'Duh!'
There was just one problem.
She didn't have Lupin's phone number.
Why hadn't they exchanged numbers? That seemed supremely stupid. Ruby supposed the blame lay somewhere between the two of them, but Lupin was supposed to be the mastermind. And besides, how many times had he had her phone in his possession? Shouldn't he have considered this? Maybe he didn't want her to have his number. Or maybe he had some weird tech set up where his phone number cycled and changed. Did such a thing exist? If it did, Ruby wouldn't put it past him for having it.
How else could she possibly get a message to him?
Then it occurred to her. Ruby listened carefully for any sign of Fujiko. Having determined that the shower water was still running, Ruby contorted herself into a flexible pose that would certainly have enamored Lupin as she managed to retrieve her phone from her satchel.
As Ruby's wrists were bound with her palms facing one another, it was almost impossible to hold her phone properly, so she set it on the desk and used her nose to activate the screen and pull up her browser.
If Lupin was truly subscribed to her blog and requested notifications to updates, then his phone should ping him if she responded directly to a comment he made. Ruby didn't know if or how he would have had time to read her newest blog entry, so she went to his comment from a prior blog post.
With all the commotion, this is a hard treasure to ignore! Thanks for the idea, everyone! I'm announcing my intentions to come for the Del Monte ruby!
~ Lupin III
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