The Cover Says It (Shifty X Handy)

Chapter Three

" Huh.."

The chains seems perfectly fine like before. Handy seem surprised and did the same thing the second time. Yet to his astonishment, the handcuff didn't budge. " They weren't kidding when they said about the durability." Eventually, he pulled the bolt cutter away from the chain. Shifty finally spoke, " Soo... what else do you have in your tool box?"

So for the next forty minutes, Handy used most of the tools in the box, only to be met with failure. He even had tried the hand saw, yet the handcuff was stubborn to break itself free. Moreover, Shifty got nearly injured during the procedure which isn't surprising. Handy huffed, " This is one hell of a handcuff you got there.." he then threw the last tool with the rest of them. Shifty watched it getting chucked into the pile, " Another reminder to myself not to get caught next time. " he quietly said to himself.

But Handy caught his words and finally asked the obvious question. " What did you get yourself into this time?" Shifty look at Handy, then heaved a sigh, " It wasn't an armed robbery today. Lifty and i only stole one thing." The other man listened as he scanned around the house, " Right, and what was the thing you two stole?". Immediately, Shifty averted his head, seemingly to dodged the question. Clearly, Handy noticed his slight shift of behaviour, " Shifty... what did you stole?" he got near him. If one thing he learned about Shifty is that he'll seal his lips anytime he's being directly asks to someone he'd done wrong. It's not likely but it's possible knowing who Handy was dealing with.

Without thinking, Handy kicked one of the chair leg. It squeaked due to the friction it made across the floor, startling the felon before Handy leaned towards him, " Tell me now or i'll send your ass back in prison." the tension between them shortly shifted into a more serious tone. He watched Shifty sweating profusely until he raised his hands in defeat, " Ok okay!" his serious demeanor managed to made Shifty confessed his wrong doing, " We stole... one of your vase at your place." Handy stepped back in disbelief, " Which vase?" he demanded which Shifty obliged to answer, " The one with the flower pattern one..."

Handy eventually allow himself to believe the truth. He begin to walked around the room to cool his temper down, he was extremely angry that he couldn't even speak. Until he stopped midway through and stormed back to the table, " You have no idea how important that vase was." he said with daggers in his eyes. Shifty felt his throat turned dry, he swallowed, " How important... exactly?"

" Shifty, it was a heirloom!" Handy stretched his arms out, " Sure, you could've steal the ugly ones but that? That shit cost a fortune!" Shifty pressed his back against the chair real hard, " If it cost a fortune then of course I'll steal it." Handy was taken aback then quickly conceded his statement, " The point is, you stole something that's considered to be precious to me." Handy explained, " And if a family of mine knows that it's gone, who knows what will happen."

It's plainly obvious what will actually happen the moment the family find this discovery. But Shifty felt deeply guilty to even answer it. He had expected this would happened. And when it did, this sense of remorse was worse than Shifty had thought. It's never a constant feeling every time he done something wrong to someone. This though, sounded really personal to Handy.

"Where's the vase?"

" The vase?" Shifty had forgotten Handy was standing in front of him for a moment. " Yeah moron, where the hell is it?" Handy demanded once more. The guilty only increased, " We uh... kind of lost it?" his voice was quiet but enough to hear. " You're kidding... how come?" his frustration soon turned into disappointment. Shifty shamefully gestured the cuffed hands, " Lost it during the chased. Luckily it didn't had any fractures when it slipped from my hands." he intentionally added the vase condition to prevent another outburst from Handy.