The street was draped in silence and darkness. Not a star shone in the sky, not even the moon came out to bring light. A porch light flickered by one of the houses, but that was it. The chilly night's air didn't even dare to rustle the leaves of a single tree.
A cloaked figure seemed to walk out of the shadows themselves. The air stiffened. The figure wore a black trench coat and a dark fedora casting an eerie shadow across its wearer's face, leaving only the mouth to be seen. The knocking of the figure's boots was the only sound to be heard on the silent street. He, she or whatever it was, stopped by one of the yards. An evil smile, almost crooked, played across the figure's face.
Casually, it strolled down the house's walkway as if it was perfectly normal. Then the figure stopped. It reached a gloved hand into the pocket of its coat and pulled out a package. Gingerly, the figure placed it on Milos Vanek's doorstep and walked away.
Halfway down the street it vanished into the shadows – just as it had came.
Later that morning Milos woke up, grabbed his coffee and headed towards his door step to get the news paper like he usually did when given the luxury of being in his own house. He reached down to get the paper – though he already knew what would be in it, being an Interpol agent. As he picked it up, he noticed something had been placed under it.
It was a rectangular parcel crudely wrapped in brown paper and held together with twine. A note was taped to the back.
"Hmm. Interesting." Milos muttered and brought it inside. He placed it on his desk, beside his computer and on top of his files on the Cahill children. He would get to it later. Whatever it was, it had certainly sparked his interest.
He returned to his office half an hour later, in fresh clothes and toast as his breakfast. Milos sat in his chair and picked up the parcel. First he read the note. It was written in purple ink and a loopy, cursive handwriting. It must have been a personal stationary since there was a faint 'V5' printed in gold in the corner of the paper. It had been scratched off and replaced with a drawing of a star.
Found this and thought it might help. A journal reveals much about a young girl. Buona fortuna. –Luna
Milos cut the twine and ripped off the paper. There he saw a small leather notebook with a golden clasp. At one point it was locked but it seemed as that Luna Amato had decided to open it for him. Two black and white pictures fell onto his lap.
The first was a family photo. He could recognise the Cahill children and the other two in the picture were most probably their parents. He tossed it aside, deeming it useless against their case. The second was of an elderly woman with 'Grace' written in pencil at the back. Again, it held no importance to Milos.
He read each page carefully, making sure to check for hidden messages. There were a few coded messages that he later found out were not helpful. A full page was devoted to the letters E.T. and I.K. written in various ways, surrounded by doodles.
Milos started losing hope. But Luna wouldn't send it if it wasn't useful so he read on. Page after page he found nothing. Then he read one page. The shrivelled, dried up, black hole of a muscle in Milos' chest that was considered to be a heart melted. Though he's intentions of reading this young girl's diary was to find any information that could lead to her and her brother's arrest, he couldn't help but feel for her. He put down the note book for a minute and just sat there. He had only realised they were just normal children –who just happened to steal a priceless artwork, but still just normal children. It took only one page to make him realize that and it read:
What a night I've been having. I had my heart ripped out and stomped on – all thanks to a certain Kabra. I can't even believe I was excited to have that snake over here. His mother is the reason my parents are gone after all. Not to mention all the times Dan and I almost lost our own lives to them. That - I don't even have words to describe him! Then Nellie gives me the pep talk of my life and somehow my stammering decides to magically go away for a while and the universe gives me a break for once. I actually called Evan and he asked me out. Evan Tolliver asked me out! I don't even know what to feel right now. I don't even know why I'm writing this now. If Dan sees this
DAN I SWEAR IF I CATCH YOU READING THIS SOMETHING BAD WILL HAPPEN TO YOUR NINJA COSTUME
a/n: Hi :) so originally this story was supposed to be a one shot, but a lot of people said they liked it and after I read "Crushed" (Rapid Fire, E-book series of the 39 clues) I thought of this story. Hope you like it. Might add more to this story if requested by a lot.