The Leprechaun's Loot

by Constance Barker

  “You can’t exactly ask us to withhold evidence,” Verny said reluctantly. Since Abel admitted his feelings for Cookie, Verny’s distrust of the man was evident. But I also know she was concerned for her friend. “I don’t trust either of them as much as the other two, but I don’t want us to impede their investigation.”

  “It’s not withholding if they don’t ask for the information,” Lightning argued. “What if they use this against me somehow?”

  “How would they do that?” I asked.

  “I don’t know,” he admitted.

  “The worst that happens if we tell them is that they will ignore it and do nothing,” I said with a shrug. “Best case is that they’ll find who stole your dagger.”

  “I guess that’s true,” he agreed. “I still would rather you not tell them. Horace has a way with words and can spin anything into something else. A five-minute conversation with him and you’d believe that the sky was green, you’d sell him the clothes off of your own back.”

  “We can warn Gideon and Abel to be cautious about believing what he says,” I suggested.

  “I hope that will be enough,” Lightning replied with a sad shrug.

  Chapter Nine

  I spoke with Gideon and Abel on Lightning’s behalf. I hoped that Gideon might listen to me better than either Verny or Cookie, certainly better than Lightning. Abel would listen to whatever Gideon’s direct orders were. I supposed Cookie might have convinced Abel of the concerns about Horace, but right now it made more sense for me to talk to the pair of them. I felt that both of them were smart enough to see through Horace, but a warning could be useful none the less.

  “Do you know how much that dagger is worth?” Gideon asked me after I finished my warning.

  “I do, yes,” I didn't like where this was heading.

  “Enough for two people to split and still walk away with a hefty profit,” he said with a nod. “This Horace guy is probably working with Lightning to throw us off his scent. No one saw the dagger go missing, Lightning is the one who discovered that it wasn’t there. He was less than a foot away from that thing all night.”

  “He didn’t steal it,” I said through gritted teeth. I didn’t think they would really be barking up this tree. It didn’t seem right, Lightning had been their acquaintance, friend even for a long time. “He wouldn’t have.”

  “He stands to make a quarter of a million off of the sale of that dagger and an easy twenty-five grand on top of that from the insurance money. That’s a lot of money. Lightning is a good man, but he’s been retired for a while now and he didn’t earn much as a teacher for most of his life. We looked into his finances and if he doesn’t start earning money soon, he’ll be broke. It just makes sense,” Gideon explained. It seemed Gideon didn’t know Lightning as well as I thought he did.

  “Lightning doesn’t trust banks or electronic finances, he’s got more than enough cash stashed all over his house,” I argued. “The dagger is his most prized possession. It doesn’t make sense that he would just give it up for some money. It makes even less sense that he would then split that money with a man he doesn’t even like just for the possibility of throwing you off of his scent.” I said, skepticism dripping from my voice.

  “Money makes people do crazy things,” Abel said with a small shrug.

  “I think you need to look into this more.” I was feeling dangerously like Lightning was the other day. I even felt betrayed by them as they continued insisting that Lightning was guilty. I didn’t want to admit it, but it seemed like they were taking the easy way out. “He didn’t do it. You know him, I know him.”

  “We’ll look into it,” Abel agreed with a nod, but I didn’t know that I believed him though. “I don’t want to think that he’s capable of this either, but we have to look at every angle.”

  “This just happens to be the angle that makes the most sense right now,” Gideon finished Abel’s thought. “We have no suspects aside from him, no witnesses.”

  “That doesn’t make him guilty, just because your job is hard,” I retorted. I unwittingly reverted to my teenage self when angry with Gideon. It was far too easy to fall into and I felt ashamed for it. “I’d believe anything before I’d buy Lightning stealing his own dagger or teaming up with Horace.”

  “We are doing our job,” Gideon said crossing his arms, the same way he would when I was actually a teenager. “We’ll look into it.” It was the kind of vague answer designed to pacify me. I was now convinced that we might have to investigate ourselves.

  “You’re looking at the wrong guy,” I repeated and then left. I didn’t want to hear anything else they had to say. Never had I been more disappointed in Gideon. I hoped my words hadn’t fallen on completely deaf ears though.

  “Hey!” Abel chased after me. I jumped at his voice. “Sorry,” he said after realizing he had startled me.

  “What?” I asked, slightly unfriendly.

  “I’ll look into it, I promise,” he said assuring me that something would actually be done. “I think that Lightning looks pretty good for it, but we will make sure to look at other suspects too.”

  “This doesn’t have anything to do with you wanting to ask out Cookie, does it?” I wasn't in the mood. In a way it was sweet, but it was also hollow. If he was only looking into it so that she wouldn't be upset with him, then he didn’t really think Lightning was innocent and he wouldn’t look as hard as he should.

  “I know that he’s a friend to you girls,” Abel said, both answering and not answering my question at the same time.

  “You should look into it because you know he’s innocent,” I said stubbornly. “You’ve lived here long enough and you know him well enough to know that this isn’t him.” With that I left, not sure what I would tell Cookie.

  “SO, THEY WOULDN’T BUY it?” Verny asked with crossed arms.

  “I don’t think so,” I said shaking my head.

  “Not even Abel?” I knew Cookie was hoping for an answer I couldn't give her. This could put a strain on their relationship before it even began. I sighed. He had said he’d look into it, but he certainly didn’t believe in Lightning’s innocence and it felt like nothing more than a play to keep in Cookie’s good graces.

  “Not even Abel,” I said, which was true, he hadn’t bought it. Verny looked smug. “They did say they would look into it. It’s not up to Abel though,” I reminded both of them. “He is kind of stuck with what Gideon says.” I wasn’t going to mention that he said he would look into it on his own. I didn’t really think that he would.

  “I guess that is true,” Cookie said, feeling a bit better.

  “He’s a grown up,” Verny disagreed. “He could look into it on his own if he wanted to.” I shook my head.

  “I don’t know that that’s completely true,” I said. “He could look into it on his own, but only if it wasn’t interfering with the actual investigation.” I was upset with both Gideon and Abel, but I didn’t want any of this to get between Cookie and Abel. I couldn’t remember the last time she had dated anyone, let alone actually liked someone. I instantly felt guilty for not telling her that he wanted to do a bit of digging. Even if it was just for her sake, and not Lightning’s....maybe that meant something.

  “I can see why they are convinced though,” Cookie said with a sigh. Even Verny nodded her agreement. “It’s a lot of money, and money does make people attempt things that they wouldn’t normally do.”

  “We know he didn’t do it though.” I hoped they weren’t already convinced.

  “I don’t think he did!” Cookie said, assuring me. “All I’m saying is that I can see why they are thinking that way.”

  “It does make sense,” Verny agreed. “I don’t think that he did it either. If they aren’t going to look into it, then we might have to.” Verny was always ready to take on a mystery. “I say we talk to the people at the dance and see what they might have seen. Maybe Horace did sneak in and we didn’t see him, someone would have though.”

  “Some
one would definitely have noticed him,” Cookie said with a nod.

  “Or maybe Lighting is right, that he heard something through the grapevine,” I suggested. “Maybe a museum really did hire someone to take the dagger. Horace could have come to try and get it first and then have the date of the dance wrong.”

  “It all sounds like some crazy conspiracy theory,” Verny sighed. “It certainly sounds like something Lightning would believe. He might know everything this is to know about history, but he does tend to like a conspiracy theory. Maybe he finally stumbled onto one that’s real.”

  “Lightning said he’d talk to Horace today, so we should see what he finds out,” I said. “In the meantime, let’s start knocking on doors and asking people if they saw anything.”

  “We can do that, but we could also bring in Cici and Mike,” Verny said, an idea brewing in her head. “They’ll be able to compile every single photo that was taken at the dance. Almost everyone got one at the front entrance, whether they wanted to or not.” She scoffed thinking of the slightly over aggressive photographer who was taking prom-style photos of everyone regardless of if they wanted one. I thought he might actually cry however when Verny in no uncertain terms laid down the law that she'd hunt him down if she found herself in any of his photos. Verny hated having her picture taken...and we all have the scars to prove it. “Not only that, but almost everyone was taking pictures on their phones. I’ll bet they can access them somehow.” Verny kind of cringed after that statement. I knew she was wondering if her presence had found its way onto someone's phone. You'd think she was a fugitive.

  “That would give us physical proof of Horace being there, or perhaps someone else suspicious.” Verny always surprised me with how well quickly she could think through things. “It might be more reliable than just asking people what they remember.”

  “We’ll have to make sure everyone who took photos will agree though,” Cookie said. “I don’t want them hacking into people’s private belongings.” It was a very fair point.

  “Instead of knocking on doors to see what people remember, we can ask them to email their pictures to us. Tell them we are creating a memory book online for the entire town to access,” Verny said deftly. If there was anyone who could commit a crime and get away with it, it would be Verny. She was too clever for her own good and read so many mysteries she knew almost everything about crime solving.

  “That’s a good idea, as long as we actually make the memory album,” I said. “People will want to see it.”

  “Of course we’ll make one,” Verny said as if I was crazy for even asking. “It’s a good idea regardless of if we find Horace or someone else in the photos.”

  “We should have Lightning and the security guard look at them once we get all of them,” Cookie suggested. “Lightning might actually know who it was that stole the dagger, and even though the guard might not have been paying complete attention, I’d be willing to bet he would remember someone suspicious if he were shown a photo.”

  With our plan in place, we headed to Verny’s. The deli was closed for the day. I tried to at least a few days off a week, though that was difficult in the restaurant business. Verny called Cici, and told her our idea, which Cici was very impressed with. She liked being included in our antics more and more, and I think she liked that Mike was included as well. It was hard for her to admit to her mother that she was dating. With Verny’s inability to see dating and men as anything but the enemy, it was a miracle that she liked Mike at all.

  “You think it’s possible?” I asked.

  “Definitely,” Mike nodded.

  “We can start going through the pictures that are already posted on social media first, which there are tons, while you guys go out and get what’s left.” Cici said. “Tell everyone that you want real-life candid shots. That way they won’t only give you the pictures they deem as good.”

  “We’ll also call the hired photographer and see if he’ll give us copies,” Mike added.

  “I don’t think he’ll be very happy about that,” Verny said. “Why don’t you let me call him? I might be able to convince him. He’s very protective of his work.” Ha...I knew what Verny was doing. No way the photographer would say no to her.

  “I don’t doubt it,” Cici said with a chuckle. “I’d never seen someone more intense about taking photos at a dance in my life. Maybe we should get him to do the prom,” she laughed looking at Mike, who laughed as well.

  We settled who was doing what, and after a relatively short but intense phone call to the photographer, we had what we needed to get started. We sent an email blast out to everyone who went to the dance asking for photos. Cici and Mike would compile everything on their computers and be ready to receive the emails with the photos attached. Verny, Cookie and I would try and go door to door to ask for photos as well, but only hit the people we knew would have taken the most pictures. Hopefully once all that was done, we would see Lightning after he had called on Horace.

  Chapter Ten

  A few hours later, and a lot of annoyed neighbors, we were done canvasing. I hoped that Gideon and Abel wouldn’t figure out what we were really doing as it might upset them. I could see how it might have felt like we were stepping on their toes. As far as anyone knew, we were only collecting pictures for a digital memory book from the dance.

  “Have they found anything?” Cookie asked leaning close to Verny’s ear so that she might hear what Cici was saying on the other end of the phone.

  “Shush,” Verny said swatting her away. “You got the photographer’s pictures, right? He said he would get them to us within the hour. It’s already past that.” Muffled voices on the other end answered her question. “Okay, good.”

  “Did they find anything?” I asked. I was tired from walking all over town and wanted nothing more than to go home and make myself a cup of coffee. I felt like we had been going nonstop since the dance. Verny swatted me away as well.

  “Alright, we’ll see you soon,” Verny said and hung up her phone. “They haven’t found anything,” She said before either of us were able to pounce on her for an answer to our questions. “Not yet, anyways.”

  “They have the photographers’ pictures though?” I asked.

  “Finally, they only just got them, but haven’t gone through them all yet.”

  “What about the emailed photos?” Cookie asked. All of us were ready to go home and relax a bit, but we still had more work to do.

  “Apparently almost everyone has sent them in, and they are going through them now,” Verny said. “We’ve got to see if Lightning has talked to Horace yet.” She didn’t seem to be as tired as Cookie and I were. The excitement of the mystery was keeping her going.

  “Can’t we just go to Josie’s and watch a movie,” Cookie whined. “Maybe put on some coffee and I can bake something?” She asked, knowing that Verny wasn’t going to let that happen any time soon.

  “We’ve got to talk to Lightning,” Verny repeated. “If we don’t work fast, the dagger could be gone forever.”

  “A day ago you could have cared less about Lightning or his dagger,” I reminded her.

  “That was because Lightning accused me of stealing it. He’s apologized now, so I want to help him. It also doesn’t seem like Gideon and Abel are doing much to help him find his dagger. I can’t say no to a good mystery,” Verny shrugged.

  “Alright, we’ll go to Lightning, but we need to stop for a coffee first,” Cookie said. “I’m going to be the walking dead if I don’t get some caffeine in me. Plus my tootsies are killing me...I need a good foot soak.” Verny rolled her eyes.

  “Agreed,” I said, already walking towards my house from the corner we were standing on. We were closer to me than anyone else at this point. It had been easier to walk from house to house than to drive. By this point we had probably walked all the way across town.

  Even after getting to my place, Verny wouldn’t let us relax for long.

  “You can’t take much longer,” she said
as Cookie and I were sitting on my couch sipping our coffees and relaxing. I did have some sense of urgency, but there was only so much we could do right now. We could listen to what Lightning had to say, but at this point the active part of the investigation was the work Cici and Mike were doing. We’d slow it down if we tried to help at all.

  “Lightning will call us when he’s done with Horace,” I said. “Gideon and Abel will call us if they've found anything, and so will Cici and Mike.”

  “I need a moment to rest,” Cookie sighed in agreement with me. “Josie is right, there isn’t anything for us to do right now.”

  “I guess you might be right,” Verny said reluctantly, surprising both me and Cookie. “I can’t say that I’m not tired. I’m exhausted.”

  “I’ll bet we’ve all been going nonstop since a few days before the dance,” I said with a nod. It was easy for all of us to forget how busy we were with working at the deli and the extra work from the dance.

  “Alright,” Verny said, plopping down on the large armchair opposite my couch. “We’ll wait for them to call us.” I set my coffee down, and so did the others.

  “I hope we find the dagger,” I said with a small sigh. “I wouldn’t want Lightning to lose his most prized possession.”

  “We have to find it soon,” Verny said, already sounding sleepy. “Much longer and it’ll be half way across the world and whoever has it will have lined their pockets.”

  “Mhmmm,” Cookie made a sound of agreement. I looked over at her, her eyes were closed. Even Verny’s were fluttering shut.

  “Maybe a bit of rest,” I suggested, not quite finishing my thought before my own eyes shut. This was the kind of tired where you couldn’t resist it. It took only the action of closing our eyes and a few moments of silence for the three of us to doze off. The phone ringing was what woke us up.