Ezekiel Jones And the Silver Coin

Chapter Four

Inside the hospital…

The young woman who had been hospitalized after witnessing someone, or rather something, brutally murder her boyfriend, was lying in bed on her side while she stared off at the wall. After awhile, Eve and Cassandra quietly walked into the room and as they did, the woman became startled as she sat up as far against the bed board as possible.

Eve quickly spoke up saying, "It's okay, Julia. You're alright. I promise you that were not here to hurt you. My name's Eve and my friend's name is Cassandra."

The witness looked between them nervously as she asked, "What do you want? You don't look like the nurses around here, or even cops for that matter. How did you know my name?"

"That's because we're not," Cassandra responded cheerfully. "We're actually…"

"We're not detectives or cops, but we are here to investigate what happened to your boyfriend, so that we can find the man who killed him," Eve interrupted her charge as she replied with sincerity and patience in order to try to calm her and gain her trust. "We just want to help, I promise. Can you tell us what happened, or who you saw?"

As tears formed in her eyes and she began to cry, Julia finally opened up as she answered, "It was terrible. This, thing stabbed Nick, my boyfriend, over and over again and I couldn't move. I didn't even scream, I couldn't even breathe. I was terrified. I can't believe I couldn't help him."

The Guardian gently placed her hand over Julia's as she responded sympathetically, "There would have been nothing you could have done. Whoever killed Nick, would have probably killed you too if you tried to get in his way. Be happy to still be alive. There is nothing wrong with feeling grateful for that."

"Thank you," the young woman responded again.

"Did you see his face?" Eve continued to ask. "Or do you know if there was a reason why this killer would have wanted your boyfriend dead?"

Julia shook her head as she quickly replied, "No! Nick never hurt anybody. He was a good guy. He told me last night that he loved me and I froze. I couldn't tell him then, but tonight I went to see him, to tell him that I did love him, but…"

When she cut off, Cassandra answered sadly, "I'm so sorry, Julia. For what it's worth, I am sure he knew. People who are truly in love always know."

"Thank you," the young woman responded softly. "I didn't see his face. It was like he was a… a…"

"Like he was a shadow?" Eve finished for her.

Julia nodded and replied, "Exactly. After he finished killing Nick, he vanished through the wall like it wasn't even there, just kind of shimmered through it. Actually, there was one thing that was strange, other the way he disappeared I mean. When he finished stab… When he was done, he wiped Nick's blood off of the blade and placed it back inside his coat pocket, then he pulled out something small from one of the pockets in his pants and flipped it through the air a couple of times before returning it again. It looked like some kind of coin, or something like that."

Colonel Baird smiled as she patted the woman's leg reassuringly and answered, "Thank you, Julia. You have just helped us out more than you know. I promise you, we will do everything we can to find the man that killed Nick."

"Thank you!" she called out as both investigators quickly left the room.

Meanwhile, inside the Annex…

"Would you just concentrate on the task at hand and quit going on and on with your way over exaggerated stories!" Jake shouted angrily, having gotten fed up with listening to Ezekiel go on and on what an incredible thief he was. "How long can you possibly keep talking about yourself?"

Jenkins glared at Stone as he cut in quickly, "Oh, please don't tempt him."

Ezekiel smiled smugly as he responded smugly, "I told you, I can probably go forever and for your information, I never exaggerate. Have you found anything useful yourself?"

"No, unfortunately I haven't," Jake replied as he skimmed through another book and finally pushed it aside like he did with the piles of other books on the table before them in frustration after not seeing anything of worth to them right then. "If the artifact this killer is using to disappear is in here, then I'm not finding it."

"Unfortunately, I think you might be right," Jenkins answered as he found an entry about a feather that allowed people to phase through solid objects, but that also had morphing capabilities as well. "There are simply too many similar artifacts, but not enough information to help us narrow down our search."

All of a sudden the doors to the portal leading into the Annex opened up and Eve quickly exclaimed, "I think that we might know what the artifact might be! Does some kind of coin ring a bell?"

The Library's Caretaker smiled as he suddenly sifted through the books until he found the one he was looking for and then responded, "In fact, it does. I believe that all of you have heard of the Artful Dodger? Even you, Ezekiel, must know who he is, seeing as he is one of the most famous thieves who ever lived."

"Ah yes, I have heard of the Dodger and he didn't actually live," Jones replied quizzically.

"On the contrary," Jenkins stated haughtily as he smirked. "Jack Dawkins was very real indeed and was in fact, very close friends with Mr. Charles Dickens himself."

Ezekiel scoffed and then asked, "So, if they were such good friends, why didn't old Chuck write about the Dodger's superpowers, which I'm assuming he had, seeing as you brought all this up? Why just describe his skill as a pickpocket alone? It's not like Dicken's never wrote fiction that had hocus pocus in it. A Christmas Carol was fictional, right?"

Jenkins sighed and looked at their team's master thief as he answered in exasperation, "Of course a Christmas Story was fictional, but it didn't have anything to do with magic, only spirits and apparitions. And I know that they were good friends because I met with them both once for tea."

"You had tea with Charles Dickens and the Artful Dodger?" Jake asked excitedly. "That is so awesome!"

"I don't think that having tea and cakes qualifies as awesome," Ezekiel responded sarcastically.

Jenkins cleared his throat to gain everyone's attention again, then he continued, "As I was saying, the reason why Oliver Twist didn't mention anything about Jack Dawkin's superpowers, as Jones so delicately called it, was because the magic would not have fit the story. Also, Charles didn't know anything about what more Jack could do because Jack never told him until he was on his deathbed. The artifact that we're looking for is a silver coin that allows it's possessor to phase whatever part of their body he wants to at will, as well as any object he or she touches as they will it. This silver coin also changes their appearance by making them appear as nothing more than a…"

Cassandra swiftly interrupted, "A shadow!"

"Exactly," Jenkins replied. "Making this coin's possessor, the perfect thief. I can't believe that I didn't think of the Artful Dodger's silver coin before. However, it also has negative side effects to go with the positives. You see, when he was twelve years old, he somehow ended up losing the coin, after which he was caught and sent to prison when he attempted to steal the crown jewels. The coin may have given Jack a big head too, now that I think about it. I mean, going after the crown jewels was crazy, even for him. Anyway, Dawkins was incredibly skilled, more so than any other thief to have ever lived, even without the power of the coin, but once it was in his possession, he couldn't let go of it. He lived in prison until he was sixteen years old, when he died of consumption. Dickens visited him just before and Dawkins told him everything, but by then, Oliver Twist had already been written. As I mentioned, it wouldn't have made sense to include magic into the novel."

"So, Jack Dawkins used this silver coin to become what he thought was a better thief until he somehow lost it," Ezekiel finally spoke up again. "But did the Dodger actually lose it, or was it stolen from him?"

Jake shrugged as he said, "Jones makes a good point."

Jenkins nodded in agreement as he answered, "I don't know what happened and neither did Dawkins, at least according to Charles. I think that it's probably safe to say that was indeed stolen from him. Now someone else has this artifact and is using it for more than just to be a simple thief. He's using it to kill people as well. I'd say that it's probable that this silver coin does indeed have more than one price to pay."

"Could this thief, if the coin really was stolen that is, be the same person who may have stolen it away from Jack Dawkins centuries ago?" Cassandra asked curiously.

"It's possible," Jenkins stated. "At least we know now what artifact we're looking for. Now we just need to figure out who our murderous thief is and why he's killing these specific people."