Big Monny was hungry. He was hungry and thirsty and very very bored. He scratched his overgrown mustache and looked at the Burgher shop that is closing for the night. He jammed his hand into his pocket in the ragged coat, and came up with some coins, not enough to suffice a full meal. He sighed and looked at the shop that was closing, and noticed Lilly's Café is still open. The owner, Lilly McKenzie tends to help poor homeless people like himself, and was very kind in every level. He trudged towards the shop and peeked in through the window. The lights were still on but the clock read 10 O'clock. It was high time the shop was closed. Big Monny walked into the café, ringing the bell on the door.
"Lilly?" he yelled, and hoped that he didn't offend the young lady, "Ma'am?"
There was no sound at all. He turned to go, but then something fell down with a crash in the kitchen area. Big Monny stopped and turned around, his fingers in mid air. Something was not right. No, not right at all. He bit his lower lip, contemplating in going to the kitchen. He didn't want to sneak up on Lilly and scare her. She must be busy, since it was closing time. Counting money or something. Big Monny wanted to go away and leave the lady alone, in peace. But something didn't feel right. It was a habit of Lilly to close up exactly at 9.45 at might. It was past ten now.
He took the decision and walked to the kitchen. At first nothing seemed amiss. He had been given food here, in the kitchen area, with all the other homeless people. So he was very comfortable here. He turned to go, blaming his crazy mind, just when his eye caught something that clearly did not belong there.
A knife. There was a knife on the floor, and Big Monny's first instinct was to pick the knife and put it back to the knife holder. But then there was something else. Something that slid across the blade and fell to the spotless floor in drops. Big Monny's dark face went white. He started shivering as he edged to the kitchen. His eyes widened as he saw Lilly McKenzie on the floor, gasping for her last breath. Blood was falling from her mouth and her eyes were getting greyer and greyer. Big Monny looked as he would pass out right now.
"Help….." she gasped and Big Monny ran out from the shop.
"There's a woman dying! Help! She needs help! Please, somebody! Help!" he yelled.
By the time somebody had called the paramedics, Lilly McKenzie was already gone.
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A noisy steam filled old red Chevrolet truck pulled out at the Lilly McKenzie crime scene, huffing and puffing and obviously gaining everybody's attention. Out jumped a pretty young girl, who seemed to be in her middle twenties, and was dressed professionally in a crisp white shirt, dark blue trousers and a coat. She wore black boots, that didn't seem to match her feminine beauty, and her dark brown hair was pulled tightly in a bun, making her face pop out. She had a prettiness nobody could define, though her face read, 'business'. The driver's door opened as well, and a young man jumped out. He was handsome and looked like the male version of the girl. His dark brown hair stubbornly stood up even though he kept trudging it down; taming the beast. He was dressed professionally too, crisp white shirt, blue tie, dark blue trouser and coat and red sneakers? That was the only thing that clashed with his professional ire. They closed their respective doors simultaneously, and walked to the crime scene, coughing at first.
"I'm gonna kill you if you bring that old junk again, ok?" the girl said through her teeth, wanting only the boy to hear what she says.
"It's not a big deal, Gret. It just needs some tuning" the boy replied back, "and you are one to talk. Remember what you told Sam about me?"
"It's not news, Hansel. Sam likes me better than you. So what?" she said, as they walked towards the men in professional suits.
"I'll show you what" he replied smarmily, and scanned the area, "Three feds. And two police detectives. You ready, li'l sis?"
"You bet I am" she said.
"I'm sorry sir, but you can't pass through. That goes for you as well ma'am" a police detective said, blocking their entrance, "it's a crime scene"
"Agent Anderson and Agent Anderson, FBI" Hansel said, pulling out his credentials, as Gretel Anderson stumbled with hers, silently blaming her brother for creating so much fake IDs, "No relation" Hansel added as an after thought.
"Hi" Gretel said, taking off her sunglasses, and smiled," We were informed from our superior that a murder was occurred here"
"Murder? How are you so sure of that?" the detective was still unsure of the two of them.
"Let us speak to whoever is in charge here" Hansel stepped up, and stared the detective down.
A bald man came up to them. He was dressed neatly in a black stripped white shirt, a red tie and dark grey trouser suit. He put his hands to his hips, making his coat fall to the sides revealing his credentials on his hip and a handsome looking pistol. Gretel gulped, but Hansel looked up with pride. The siblings eyed the very real police detective, who had a blank expressionless face, and some deep past in his eyes.
"We have a problem here, detective?" he asked in a hard deep tone, that had Gretel's skin crawl on her bones.
"N-No s-sir-" the detective stammered under his superior's watchful gaze, but was interrupted quick enough.
"Who are these kids?" he said the word 'kids' with underlining sarcasm, that made Hansel narrow his eyes, reproachfully.
"Us kids are FBI Special Agents Anderson and Anderson. No relation. We are here on our superior's order to inspect the crime" Hansel said, and almost got knocked down by Gretel's boot heel digging into his sneakers, "Sir"
The man took a derisive sniff as he leaned forward. Hansel fumbled back, but Gretel caught his arm, steadying him. The man kept staring and staring, and Hansel and Gretel started to flinch under his unwavering gaze. The two siblings swallowed simultaneously, and the man finally leaned back.
"Let's see your Creds" he said, and they whipped out the credentials, hoping against hope that the man would not realize that it's fake. He took a deep look at it and as the siblings held their breath, he said, "Are you sure that you are not related? You look mighty alike to me"
Hansel breathed out in relief and shook his head no. The man nodded and walked them to the scene, ignoring the young detective who looked out of place and confused by now. Gretel pinched her elder brother's arm and Hansel grinned back at her. They were relieved.
"I'm Police Lieutenant Frank Hendricks, and people tend to call me Pol-tenant Hendricks. But I'm warning you, do not call me that"
"Yes sir. I'm Hansel Anderson and this is my partner Gretel Anderson. We are not related, but many people think that we are" Hansel said, walking along with the Lieutenant, as his sister trailed behind cursing her brother at taking the upper hand, while she has to trail behind.
They came to a shop that had the name, 'Lilly's Cafe', and yellow 'DO NOT CROSS' tapes secure the area. Police officers went to and fro, as Lieutenant Hendricks went under the tape, asking the two siblings to follow. Hansel and Gretel looked at each other as they followed the older man and arrived at the kitchen, where they saw officers bagging and tagging evidence.
"Lilly McKenzie, 33. She was stabbed with a knife" Lieutenant Hendricks said, and walked to the table where the bagged evidence was marked.
The siblings take a look at the items laid down, and Gretel picked up a knife with a wooden handle, as Lieutenant Hendricks snatched it from her with a glower plying on his face. Gretel realized that the elder man wasn't a very friendly man and looked at her elder brother, hoping that he'd have seen the reaction, but Hansel was too busy looking at a gold earring with little hoops and petals in it. She looked at Hansel and groaned silently, but then one look at the earring made her reach for her phone. She opened her phone and started working on it.
"This is the knife she was stabbed from" the superior police officer said, and Hansel looked up, "We have sent the body for autopsy at the Central Hospital. You…. can have a ride with the other officers as well"
"We'd be very-" Gretel looked up and started, but Hansel beat her to the punch.
"Actually, that's a nice idea, but we have our own vehicle-" Hansel gave his dazzling smile, and was interrupted by his sister again.
"That is really a very good idea, don't you think so Agent Anderson?" Gretel said, "And besides our vehicle…. Doesn't look much like a working vehicle by now…."
"You don't know what you are talking about, sis" Hansel said under his breath, so that only Gretel could hear.
"That old Chevrolet truck right? That's your ride?" the elder officer asked, "That was quite an entrance you made"
"And we'll keep impressing people with our entrances, thank you very much" Hansel said in a final tone, as the lieutenant nodded and Gretel glared at her brother with a 'you are so dead' expression making her face red.
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"That was nice" Gretel grimaced, getting to the passenger seat, "We were offered a ride to the hospital to check on the dead body that we have nothing to do with, and you turn it down. What do you have in your mind, Hansel, or is it hollow as always?"
"There was something amiss" Hansel was in deep concentration.
"You're telling me" Gretel scoffed, but her tone became serious when she said, "The earring, right?"
"Yeah. It didn't look right" he said, "Check out the records, will ya?" he reversed from the road, and got the heavy vehicle on to the main road.
"One step ahead of ya" she said and produced her phone to her brother who looked at her like she was mad.
"I'm driving. Are you that dense? I can't even believe that we share blood" he said and Gretel smacked his head making him whine, "Ow! That hurt!"
"Poor baby" Gretel said in a baby tone, but turned her phone towards herself and started reading, "I tried googling for a Lilly McKenzie and found no results. I tried Lillian and all those other names that go with hers, and guess what?"
"She's a fake?"
"Yep. A big faking faker who's faking her whole fake life" Gretel said.
"Wow, that's a lot of 'fakes' in there"
"Hardihaha" Gretel deadpanned, "So I did what I thought was best. Well, next best…. Anyway, I tried all the McKenzie's in the Texas state. None of them had a Lilly McKenzie in the family. I knew that she was a fake"
"Ok, so what's with the earring? Anything with that?" asked Hansel, impressed by what his sister had done, but not admitting it.
"Well, I snapped a picture when you guys were talking about the knife and googled it. Guess what?"
"It's a fake as well?"
"Better"
"It's real gold?"
"Way better"
"It's real gold that is very rare?"
"Way way better" Gretel was practically grinning like a Cheshire cat, and at Hansel's confused blank look, she said, "It's Egyptian gold. Very, very rare. Actually it's the only pair ever to be made"
"So you are telling me that we have a dead Egyptian goddess in our case now?" asked Hansel.
"Nope, one notch less. Lilly McKenzie might be, just might be, if all my calculations are correct, in a hypothetical and logical val-"
"Gretel!"
Gretel took a deep breath and said, "It is possible that Fake Lilly McKenzie might be a long lost Egyptian princess"