An Outdoorsman's Guide To The Calls Of Common Thieves

A switcheroo

06/10/2024 - 17/10/2024

To Survive - Masafumi Takada

The next morning, everyone meets up at the flower shop to check on the events of last night. But...

M: "Oh. Here she is."
S: "Hey Z."
Z: "Morning. Any updates?"
A: "Yup. Pike's gone."

I take a second to take a head count, and sure enough...

Pike is nowhere to be seen.

Z: "That's strange. I thought he said he'd stay around here on patrol?"
Ri: "Exactly. Do you think something happened?"
S: "No way. The flower shop is untouched. We didn't hear shit, and there's no broken glass anyways. Even the lock hasn't been picked."

I look over to Ryan, who's pacing up and down a little ways away from the group.
Z: "What's up with him?" I ask Alex, nudging her and nodding in his direction.
A: "Trying to reach Pike. Go check if he's made progress. Doesn't really look like it."
I nod and approach Ryan with a small smile.

He looks a little more at ease as he sees me, and I give him a little wave. He hangs up the phone.
"Hey."
"Hey. Can't reach him?"
"Huh? Oh. Pike. No. A-wall."
Disappointed and worry filter through to my expression. He seems to notice, reaching a hand out to my shoulder.
"I'm sure he's fine."
"Yeah. Me too."
Suddenly, Ryan's phone starts to ring. We both look down at the device in his hand, and he picks up before even looking at the name, rushing to put the speaker to his ear.
"Hello?

...

Bea's?

Yeah, we'll, uh...

Yup. We'll be right there."

He hangs up the phone and everyone gathers around him.
"Was it Pike?"
"What's happening?"
"What happened to Bea? Is she alright?"
"Is everything okay?"
Ry: "Pike's at Busy Bea's. No time to explain. Let's go."

We all trip over ourselves to get to Busy Bea's Bookstore, where there's a crying girl curled up on the pavement in front of the building and an exhausted Pike pacing up and down the street.
S: "Yikes, Pike's been up all night, huh?"
Ri: "Yup. Those eye bags tell a sad tale. Poor guy, these stupid window-breakers are really causing trouble."

I place a reassuring hand on Pike's back.
"You good Pike? How about we sit down for a little, yeah?" He looks up at the group, giving a tired smile and a slight nod. We sit him down at a nearby bench.
They're right. His eye bags are pretty prominent. "Want a coffee?"
"Yeah... yeah I could go for a coffee." He replies, his voice barely audible.

I bring the warm, fresh, frothy coffee to the bench where the group is comforting Pike.
"Here." I place the coffee in his weary hands. He takes a sip of the hot drink and sighs in a moment of contentment.
My focus is now directed at the crying girl. I gently nudge Ryan, and he looks over to me.
"Who's she?"
He looks over at the girl.
"That's Bea. Owner of the bookstore."

All Star Apologies - Masafumi Takada

"Hey. You okay?" I ask the girl, kneeling down next to her. She tries to speak, but nothing comes out between the splutters, sobs and sniffles. I offer a hug, and she takes it immediately.
"There there. It's alright." I gently rub her back to soothe her.
Ryan comes over as well, and so does Riley. She kneels down besides us, placing a reassuring hand on Bea's shoulder.

After some time, her crying subsides, and she looks up. Rummaging around in my pockets, I manage to find a pocket of tissues to give her.
"Sorry we're having to meet in such circumstances. I'm Zoe."
"H-hi... I'm Bea..."
"It's lovely to meet you regardless... can you tell us what happened Bea?"

"I was just coming over to open up shop, and... the w-windows had been completely smashed in, and... and the new series I put on display had v-vanished..."

sigh...

Yup. It's our guys.

Alex, Riley, Ryan and I, after making sure that Bea's alright and reassuring her that we're on the case, return to the group, where Pike is.
P: "We have a situation here kids..."
S: "What even happened?"
Ri: "The flower shop is untouched."
M: "Then what was the note about?"
A: "Maybe they tricked us?"
Ry: "How do we know that the note is even related?"
Z: "Maybe it was just dropped by accident? It's pretty vague..."
Pike pulls the folded note from his pocket, and we all peer over his shoulders.

'watch out for the flower shop' with the Black Lantern logo at the bottom of the page, which we presumed is from one of the note pages they keep around the pub.

That's all it said. Were we overthinking it?

Ry: "Diversion, maybe?"
Everyone's still a little on the fence still.
Z: "Pike? Do you mind telling us how your night went? Maybe that could help us."
He nods, leaning back as he rubs his eyes.

"I parked my car in a nearby alleyway, and just... sat there, keeping watch in case those perps came near the flower shop. Lights off, ready for anything that could've happened. I heard some noises, bur when I went out to check, it was just... what was his name? Right. Ben. Ben was just pacing up the street. He looked a little nervous but he seemed alright, so I let him get to his home scot."

Wait a second...

...Ben? Wasn't he on our suspect list? If I remember correctly, Alex said that when we were talking about the window-breakers, he was afraid of going back to jail. Perhaps he had something to do with the switch?

I'm pretty sure Ryan, Alex, Steph and I are all thinking the same thing. We loon between one another in agreement. I guess Ben's on the top of the suspect list.

We keep our realisation to ourselves for now, and focus on helping Bea clean up the mess for a little while. Thankfully, we finish just before my appointment with none other than Ben. Looks like it's my turn to do a little investigation.