Mystery Mondays

Flash 1 - Recurring Roles

What creeped me out wasn't so much that this was the 6th night in a row that I'd seen him it was that he seemed to be doing the same thing at the same time in the same place with the same sadly determined face. It had to do with my current case, a client looking for some stolen jewelry, but I couldn't quite place how.

After the third night, I looked into who this man of regular appearance was. A quick photo and a few calls got me a name, a cursory background check, and the guy's current known associates.

Jacob Drillage, only thing on his record was a stint of parking tickets all around the same time they were resurfacing the parking garage, and none. No associates, no family, no roommates, just him. A practical non-entity.

The time - 11:22pm, the place 'Tony's tip top Italian and Tacos'. Mr. Drillage would order a lasagna sampler and a side of taquitos. Not gonna lie, as weird as it sounds that would just hit the spot right about now. I've been staked out across from the Italian Fusion eatery for the past seven hours and my stomach is about to eat itself. The reason I'm posted up at this mind-numbing place is a tip I got regarding the aforementioned jewelry. A locket engraved with a unique geometric design that was some family heirloom or what-naught was allegedly seen being worn by a tenant of one of the apartments above 'Tony's'.

Tuesday Jacob came in at 11:22pm on the dot, sat in his usual booth, and ordered his usual. Something was off. As he sat waiting I could see him fiddling with something. My intuition gave me a quick boot and off I went across the street. I took the booth just behind Drillage, and ordered a coffee and a muffin. He had put his hands under the table as I walked by, hiding whatever was the object of his attention. My coffee and banana nut muffin came, the waitress left, and Drillage resumed his tinkering. I sipped loudly and tried to make a show of not paying attention to the world around me, all the while trying to figure out how I could get a glimpse at whatever he held in his hands. Finally! A glint of light caught my eye through the reflection of the window that looked out on the inky dark that drown the streets at night.

There it was! The locket; shiny and pristine, pretty as a picture. I took another sip of the diner coffee wishing I had asked for cream this time. After running my options I decided to snatch the locket and make a break for the car idling across the street. Leaving the car running might not be the smartest move in every situation but it was a trick I started after noticing police cruisers idling in the parking lot outside my favorite lunch joint.

I counted out the cash, with tip, and draped my jacket over my arm. In one, might I say, fluid movement I stood and did the customary pickpocket's bump, knocking into Drillage's shoulder while making a play for the locket. Luck was not on my side that night as I fumbled the grab and ended up slapping the man's hands causing him to lose his grip. The locket arched as it flew toward the window. It bounced once and landed in the air vent in the ledge between the table and the glass. I remember distinctly hearing three tinks as I shoved through the door and made a break for my getaway car.

This morning I got a call from what I assumed must be a middle-aged man, rough voice like a former smoker, he said he had lost a very important family heirloom and wanted to enlist my services in relocating it. Last he saw it was at "Tony's Tip Top Italian and Tacos" I'll head over there tonight and see if anything piques my suspicions.