The Curious Case of the Two Dirk Gentlys

13: Speculation

After not so subtly snooping through Svald's files Todd and Dirk finally left the office. Richard stayed behind to lock up, being one the only people Svald trusted with a spare key, and Dirk felt very little guilt leaving him to explore the city where he was born. Todd and Dirk sat on the bus back to the hotel. The weather, like it often was in England, was absolutely miserable. The sky was a stormy grey and rain dribbled down the window. Dirk didn't care about this one bit. The sunshine in his mind was far too warm.

"Look Todd. There's my old nursery school." Dirk pointed out the window towards the colourful, play equipment filled building.

"The toy thief school?" Asked Todd.

"That's the one. You know I heard that boy grew up to be an international jewel thief." Dirk told him.

"Yeah, that sounds about right." Todd muttered.

"Oh and that's where I used to go for ice cream with my dad." Dirk smiled at the thought of one of his first and only memories with his father. Todd was paying very little attention. His mind was on other things.

"Hey Dirk, do you really think Victoria could be doing all this herself?" Asked Todd.

"Oh I don't know, Todd. You said it not me." Replied Dirk. He rung the bell as they approached their stop. Dirk energetically swung down the stairs. Todd followed, albeit much less enthusiastically.

"Yeah but Svald seemed pretty set on it." Said Todd as they stepped onto the street.

"Victoria has never been a thief. There's no way she would do this...except..."

"What?" Asked Todd.

"Well...if she can see connections between people, including herself and other people, shouldn't she be able to see her way to the perpetrator?" Asked Dirk as they walked out of the rain and into the hotel. They headed through the oddly busy reception and towards the lift.

"Maybe there is no thief. Maybe it's government teleportation experiments or a dimensional slide." Speculated Todd. These too were ideas taught him by Dirk.

"Or Loki, trickster God." Added Dirk as they stepped into the metal box and jabbed the up button.

"Or maybe she doesn't want to see it." Said Todd.

The floor number ticked up until they reached the fifth level. They stepped out and instantly found themselves frozen in the corridor. Swarms of police stood around their room, wrapping the entrance in crime scene tape and taking photographs of their belongings. Luckily, none of them heard the elevator's ding.

"Todd, do you think we should go?" Asked Dirk. He kept his eyes on the strange gaggle of officials wandering around their space.

"Yeah that sounds like a good idea." Replied Todd as they headed back into the elevator and went out the way they came.