Mr Hook's Big Black Box

«Who's Up First?»

"And we all got the message," Dwayne nodded, "The Box is safe, meet at 8:20 to move it."

"We didn't all understand why it was so early, though," Kris shrugged, "Or why you had already elected to move the Box. We were meeting up for planning, and then everyone except me and Monty disappeared. The next thing we know, there is an alarm going off somewhere else in the campus, that we might not even think about. It's just a background whine behind the music. And then a message on my phone, to say the Box is somewhere safe."

"Well, you heard the story now," Ferrari shrugged, "The more you know!"

"I didn't get a message," Destinee mock-pouted, "Nobody bothered to tell me what was going on."

"You didn't have a phone, dear," Kris reminded her, "And even now you do, I think most of our close friends don't have your number."

"Well, I'll let you off for that one," she giggled, still flipping through the pages of the sketchbook, trying to remember or imagine the scenes that might have inspired each image. "But I hope soon you're going to start talking to me. I must have been lonely back then, nobody telling me what's going on, nobody thinking I'd be able to help."

"Don't worry," Kris hugged her closer, "Your part of the story will be starting real soon now. But for it to make sense, from our perspectives at least, we should probably continue with the next morning. Like who among us showed up early to try getting in the Box first? I sincerely don't know that detail."

There was a moment of silence in the old club room as each of the five tried to avoid meeting each other's gaze. The three guys had already admitted that they'd been sneaking around behind the rest of the society's backs, so it was natural to assume that at least one of them had decided to show up ahead of the scheduled time.

"You didn't?" Ferrari turned the question around to Kris, "I would have expected you to be first on the scene, you always said you were a naturally early riser."

"But I didn't know where the Box was at that point. If I did, and you were all in bed, I would probably have called Uncle Sal's people and had them get it out of the elevator."

"Dwayne?" Marco was next to point the finger of suspicion. Everyone's eyes turned accusingly, while Dwayne just looked down at the hands in his lap, and blushed crimson.

"Something you'd like to tell the class?" Ferrari made light of the situation, and there was just a moment more silence before Dwayne answered.

"I was planning to go in and check it out before anyone else woke up. It was a great idea, none of you would ever have known, and Cassie could be safe knowing that nobody else would ever see that video. Perfect plan, right?"

"So what happened?"

"Typical, really. I overslept. With all the excitement it took me forever to get to sleep. Slept right through my alarm, and then I arrived on campus and you were all there. But I wasn't the only one to think of it, or you wouldn't have asked. Who was there first?" Marco and Ferrari looked at each other, paused a second.

"Okay," Marco shrugged, "I thought if I got into the building in the morning I could be waiting with the trolley when Dwayne powered the lift on again. I thought I had a plan, and it was going to be great. But then Ferrari came running up as I was parking the truck, and we weren't even the first there." He turned to look at Destinee, who was almost on the edge of her seat, excited by the story. "Of course. Don't suppose you remember any of the morning's conversation?" She just shook her head, leaving Marco to carry on with his version of the story.