Spies

Chapter 10

The picture looked like it was taken at least a couple months ago. I continued to look at it like a scientist to newly discovered organisms. I scanned every inch of it, looking for clues that may lead us to our next lead on the case.

Alex, one may ask. He was busy drinking anything he could find. He had already had a quarter bottle of whiskey and an unhealthy amount of tequila, not counting the numerous beers he shot back at the beginning. Currently, as I did actual work, he was lying on his couch, gazing into oblivion and mumbling to himself.

His behaviour considering the situation was not unusual. Personally, I would have done something like that if I had found out my sibling who was dead was actually alive and living as if he had not abandoned and fooled his entire family. The heartache and pain I would have experienced to find that out.

I heard a groan come from behind be, the general location of the couch in the living room. Looking over my shoulder, I saw that Alex had gotten up and trying to make his way over to me, at least that it what the swaying and his disoriented movements were leading him. Stumbling a few times, he stood in front of me, slurring, "You're so pretty."

"Al-"

I was cut off by him falling on top of me. My face was pressed against the computer and the counter as he laid on my back mumbling incoherent thoughts. I managed to find my voice, "You're killing me." Why am I in this situation?

He started humming a tune, then got up off of me. Swaying to his own music, he grabbed my hand. He pressed my against his chest and, just like that, we were dancing in the middle of the room, to a tune he came up with. I tried to get out of his hold but he was stronger than me, even in this high level of intoxication.

After a few minutes of swaying and dancing with him, he grew limp with each step we took. I somehow managed to steer us towards the couch he was previously on and placed him on it. Luckily in his drunk stupor, he had gotten rid of restricting clothing so making him comfortable would not be as awkward as I initially thought.

I navigated throughout the rest of the house and found his bedroom. I got a pillow and a blanket from his bed, and then returned and spread them for him as he slept. I really should not be doing this, I thought to myself, but he is my partner.

I got back to the bar stool where I was doing work when my phone began to ring. It was one o'clock in the morning, who could it be? I answered nevertheless, while organizing the files and pictures.

"Hey Callie."

"Hey Michael," I responded as I recognized his voice.

"Are you awake," he inquired.

"Yeah, I'm up. What's up?"

"The pictures you guys took were sent to the office."

"Yeah, I know. The cameras always do that. You should know," I chuckle. "Research analyst and all."

"Yeah. The case is being pulled."

"What? Why?"

"I don't know. Upper management and people who earn way above our pay grade."

"I have had it up to here," I raised my hand above my head, quickly realizing he could not see me and then putting it back down. "Who are these guys anyways? They have been messing up my flow since I got back."

"I don't know and I would not want to mess with them. Kinda need the job," he responded seriously. "Anyways, before I got the alert from them, I had gotten the complete report of what was stolen for your case."

"That's great. This case is complicated as it is. What is it?" I asked. I was truly tired of the case already, with all the complications it already had and nothing was resolved or final yet.

"You would not believe if I told you."

I paused, "Okay..."

After I had stretched my response, he said, "I sent it to your email. Good luck finding that."

I began to open my email and log in while continuing the conversation, "Ughhhh. I have my work cut out for me, don't I?"

"Yep. And I'll leave you to it."

"Ugh," I sighed.

"Well maybe you want to grab drinks with me when this case is over," he said. This again.

"We'll see, Mike," I said with a smile. At this point, I did not know if I really wanted to go out with Michael. He was more of a brother and a confidant than someone I would date. "I see you later. I have some things to figure out before it's time for work."

"Yeah, yeah. No worries. We've all got to get to bed," he said with a yawn. "Well, you get to it. Good night."

"Good night, Mike." I hung up the phone and continued to work.

I got onto my email, finally, and opened the files Michael had sent to me. Various thoughts swarmed my head. Why would the case be pulled by upper management? How would Alex feel knowing about this? What was really stolen anyways?

I opened the updated case file and what I saw shocked me. The file revealed that an undisclosed amount of jewelry and precious metals amounting to a billion euros was stolen. No one was caught on camera of the facility even though there were cameras at the scene, no finger prints, no nothing. Whoever they were, they were very skilled and trained to do this without detection or it was an inside job.

The jewelry stolen consisted of many precious pieces like the rare Peacock brooch, an assortment of over a thousand different coloured diamonds of 120.81 carats, worth over a hundred million euros. Also there were pieces resembling the Hope Diamond that was worth over two hundred million dollars and various tiaras and bracelets touched and created for the British royalty. No pictures were provided in the file but I knew how the suspected stolen items looked from various history classes and many trips to museums. How did these items even get stolen in the first place?

Half of the items on the case file were missing for years, some being stolen by workers of the British empire and thieves of back then. Scandals and various sorts of misdemeanors have been posted in the news and history about these incidents, but none were resolved. Replicas of these items were also made and stolen, seemingly adding up to the value of the amount in the case file.

As I continued to read, I grew tired, yawning every few minutes and finding myself to be blinking slowly. All of a sudden, my head rested on my arm on the counter as sleep overcame me.