Carmelita turned her attention to the screen, and finally noticed what he was watching. She blinked at the screen, unable to believe what she was seeing.
"Do you now trust that I was not behind these heists?"
The news continued to go on about the latest robbery that took place just moments ago. The live broadcast was in front of a large bank and the female reporter was gesturing behind her at the entrance.
"The perpetrator was able to get in without activating a single alarm. Even from our vantage point from outside the building, we did not see anything going on inside." As Carmelita watched she saw the chief step out of a squad car and stalk over to the building. The anchorwoman hurried after the chief and tried to get his attention. "Chief Barkley! What do you have to say about this?"
He turned to face the camera. "No comment. Interpol is working with all available resources to find the culprit." Carmelita did not bother to watch the rest of the story. She grabbed Sly's wrist and dragged him to her car. He got into the car silently, and watched her as she started driving towards the bank. Her wet hair was forming a small wet spot on the back of her shirt, but at this point she couldn't care less. Sly noticed that her fists tightly gripped around the steering wheel accentuated her toned arms which led up to her bare shoulders. The jacket she usually wore was probably in her office, forgotten in her anger. He had an urge to compliment her on her loveliness when angry, but her clenched teeth made him hold his tongue. After a few minutes of driving she pulled up in front of the bank that they had seen on the news. She turned to glower at Sly.
"Stay put and out of sight." she commanded. He nodded, not wanting to incur her wraith. He slid down, going out of sight of the news cameras as she got out and slammed her door.
"Inspector!" the anchorwoman called. "What do you know about this latest robbery?"
"No comment." Carmelita passed the anchorwoman in search of the chief. She entered the building and found a small throng of officers gathered in the lobby of the bank. "Chief, what happened?"
"All of the safety deposit boxes were emptied as was the vault. But, no one saw anything. We're getting the security tapes shipped over to Interpol. This looks like our guy though. He was in and out without a trace. We didn't even know about it until it was on the news. He called them, and told them that he would pull off the heist. That intern of yours saw their broadcast and we rushed right down. Where is Cooper?"
"I left him in the car," she smirked as if she was talking about a puppy. "I didn't want to bring a well-known criminal through a crime scene. The media would just love to know that we were working together." She looked around the bank. "There doesn't seem to be too many places for him to have snuck in. If you can get rid of the media, I can bring Cooper in and have him look at things from a thief's perspective."
The chief nodded, "I'll take care of the paparazzi. You," he gestured to a couple of officers, "go to the station, and review the tapes that are coming in." They nodded and started to go. "And remember," he called, warning everyone, "no one make a comment to the media! The last thing we need is them up our ass while we work on this case." he grumbled. Soon the lobby was empty. Carmelita stayed behind and watched the chief escort the cameraman away from the bank. Once the coast appeared to be clear, she went out to retrieve Sly. As she got closer to the car, she could hear music softly playing. She could see Sly mouthing words to the song that he was playing from the stereo. She saw her key in the ignition, the key chain dangling. She frowned as she felt her empty pocket where her key used to be. She opened the door on his side of the car and he looked up at her from his slouched position.
"I like your music," he said stopping her CD. She sighed and extended her hands.
"Key." He took the key out of the ignition and handed it to her. "Come on, you need to look at the inside of the bank." He followed her inside of the bank. He looked around with his hands on his hips.
"So, how could someone get in here and get out without anyone noticing? The bank was closed today, but it was locked tight. And there was a camera crew outside, watching the bank the entire time. They had gotten a message from the perp and came to keep watch. Then they got another message saying that the bank was empty. The chief confirmed it when he arrived. He only knew about the whole thing because it was on the news. An alarm never went off; everything was still waiting to be activated. The chief had to shut down the security system once he got here."
"That's something the gang and I could do, no problem." Sly smiled. She rolled her eyes at him before she narrowed them.
"And how, oh sneaky one, would you have done it?"
"Well," he mused, rubbing his chin, "I would have made good use of any air ducts." He looked up at a vent that would be accessible with a little boost. Sly slid a chair over and climbed up to get closer to the vent. He pulled out his paper clip and started to unscrew the cover from the wall. He frowned as he worked. This would be so much easier if I could knock the cover off with my cane, he thought. Carmelita watched him as he removed the cover and slide up into the vent. She climbed onto the chair that he had pulled over and watched his tail round a corner.
"Don't get any ideas of escape!" she called down to him. She saw his face reappear from around the corner. He had an amused and disappointed look on his face.
"I keep trying to tell you that I've changed. You need to learn how to trust, Inspector. All that frowning will put wrinkles on that pretty face of yours." She frowned at his statement and watched him wink at her before disappearing again. "But, if you are really that concerned, you are welcome to join me." She eyed the size of the vent, and decided that he had earned enough trust to not require her to trail behind him at that proximity.
"Fine, just keep talking to me through the vent so I know that you haven't run off."
"I'm sorry, what was that? I was too busy running off to hear your sweet nothings." His face was now visible from another air vent farther down the wall. "It looks like this leads all over the bank. If I was going to break in, I would come through the vents." He smiled, "There is never any security in a vent. You'd think that people would learn to guard them; it's so much easier than using the front door."
"Alright, I'll have Interpol send someone over to inspect the air ducts. We can check for finger prints and any fur." Carmelita had moved through the room to stand below the duct to see him. She glared up at him through the cover. "And if we find any traces of you past this duct, you will never see the light of day again."
He grinned, "Hey, I would never leave a trace." He started to shimmy his way to the first duct, and poked his head around the corner. Carmelita had followed him back to the first air duct and was standing waiting for him. Her arms were crossed as she watched him climb down to the ground. He followed her to the vault and they peered inside. The door was open slightly, but from when the chief had opened it.
"So, the thief got into the vault, emptied it, and then got out, all without opening the door." Carmelita crossed her arms as she paced around the room. Sly walked over to a table and started to shift it. "Hey, Ringtail, this is a crime scene. You can't go rearranging the furniture." He ignored her as he continued to move the table. Before Carmelita could get over to stop him, a mislaid title became visible. The title was just slightly off from the rest. Anyone that wasn't looking for it wouldn't have seen it. Sly shook his head as he looked at the tile.
"This person is trying too hard to show off. They have gotten sloppy. I guess they didn't care if they left traces. They were too cocky to cover their tracks well."
"How did you know that this would be here?" Carmelita eyed his suspiciously.
He gave her an exasperated expression. "This is a way that I would consider escaping. Using the front door is child's play. A thief could come in from above or below. There usually are loose floor tiles that could be moved." Sly averted his gaze. "Bentley would find something like that for me. I wonder if this guy is working with someone. They would have to have maps of underground tunnels, or a great sense of direction. Can we get access to maps of passageways?"
"Yeah, we can get all of that at Interpol. We can send some officers down there with proper equipment. I'm sure that this person is long gone. There is no use following them down there now. That can wait. Is there anything else that is important?"
"If there is the author will rewrite it."
"Okay, then let's head back."
What's with the lame ending? Well, I do not know if anything else is important, so I don't know if they have to do anything else. If you know, then please tell me so I can fix it.
