Broken Melancholy
A bright Saturday in early May had the city of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city in Brazil, brimming with color, smiles, and laughter. It was near perfect out with the sun high in sky, cradled and uncrowded by a shocking light blue. It shined down on strolling pedestrians, giving a special spot light to the city's massive gallery which was especially busy as news of the disappearances of the Sir Francis Drake keys due to the infamous Lupin III spread. While many reveled and enjoyed the bustling of the curious crowd, there was one man who looked on with a scowl.
"I don't like this. Lupin could be right in front of me and we don't have the man power to do anything about it."
Inspector Zenigata, after following the thief around to each key location, knew this was his last chance to set a trap. Still confused why the famous mastermind would choose objects considerably worthless, Zenigata was sure Lupin was up to something else big and he had to catch him before it happened. At the moment, though, all he could do was look on with the museum director who would continuously change his expressions from joy at having so many visitors to horror at knowing one of his items was going to be stolen.
"Inspector," the museum director said, ringing his hands, "are you sure Lupin will even come? Maybe this crowd will scare him away…"
"Scare him away! This is Lupin the Third! He'll see this as a challenge. If anything, he'll use it to his advantage." Zenigata began to grind his teeth. The very idea of Lupin maybe being in the room irked him more than he could handle. "I'm going down to the floor to look for suspicious activity."
"But Inspector! How will you even know it's him? Isn't he a master of disguise?"
"I'll know; I can smell a rat from a mile away."
Zenigata walked down from his second floor post and gruffly pushed through the crowd to be near the key. There were so many people smiling and pointing with wonder at the gawked at object. All around he could hear whispers of "Lupin this" and "Lupin that" so that it began to make his blood boil. By the time he had reached the key all he wanted was a moment to think what Lupin could be doing with these items. But, still he continued to hear "I hear Lupin will take it tomorrow…" "Oh, I heard it'll be next week!" He couldn't take it anymore.
"Why do you all care so much!" Zenigata screamed with every vein in his forehead throbbing. "You all are no better than that weasel – like onlookers at a car accident!" For a moment, the entire room was quiet and stared at the fire-engine red man. Zenigata became acutely aware of his outburst. "I…I'm sorry…" But before he could rectify the crowd silently scoffed and turned away to another room.
"It's not like those people are my friends," Zenigata thought to himself. "Plus, its best that there are less people in here – Lupin could be anywhere. He could be behind that painting or that statue or that…" His train of thought was stopped though by a tug on his sleeve.
"Excuse me sir, do you work here?"
Zenigata looked down to lovely woman in a form-fitting sundress who stared intently right back at him. She looked like she had just descended from the soft lights that lit the room and not the hot sun outside. Her light brown eyes looked straight in to his own and seemed so perfectly framed by the dark brunette waves of her hair that he blushed when he realized he had been staring.
"Uh…wait, work here? No I do not! Do I look like some security guard!" He pulled in sleeve away in a huff.
"Oh, I'm sorry," the woman looked down as though embarrassed, "I was just wondering if you could tell me why so many people are here looking at the key."
"Ahhh, don't look so sad; I didn't mean to yell." Zenigata had felt bad at his first outburst at the crowd, but this recent one seemed to make him feel worse. "It's just that this key is the subject of Lupin III desire." He added the last part with a tinge of anger.
"Lupin III? I have heard of him."
"So has everyone…" he mumbled
"What a very bad man to steal such a lovely thing!"
"That's right! You must be a clever girl, and so pretty…" he stopped due to his sudden revealment, but realized it went unnoticed as the girl stepped away from him and slowly strolled around the room. It was then he noticed she had a cane and was walking with a limp. "Excuse me for asking, but how did you hurt your leg?"
"Occupational hazard," she replied over her shoulder, still strolling slowly throughout the room. "Now, I have a question for you – are you going to make sure Lupin III doesn't get the key?"
"Yes, I plan to put him in jail where he belongs!"
"But how? Hasn't he always succeeded?"
Zenigata eyed her suspiciously. Could she be working with Lupin? For a moment he hesitated, but decided it impossible. Lupin only worked with a very select few and she was not a familiar face in the case, though he almost wished it were. He even considered it being Fujiko disguised, but the femme fatale would have dawned something more revealing and certainly wouldn't have a cane. There was something so distant and melancholy about her expression. Just meeting her, though, it didn't feel right to ask.
"He'll have a special surprise if he decides to show," he answered.
"I see." The woman twirled around and walked straight up to the Inspector until she was less than a foot away. "I'd hate to see such a pretty thing stolen." She touched his coat as though outlining the seams in the stitching. "Be sure to protect it well." With a lasting glance, she pivoted back around and slowly sauntered away out of the room.
"Uh, hey when this is all over, would you uh like to get coffee or uh…"
The woman looked back around, smiled gently, but just continued her slow walk out. There was something to her that still made him suspicious, but his suspicion wasn't the only reason he kept watching her walk away.
If Zenigata had followed the mysterious girl, he would have seen her leave the museum immediately after her interaction in the key room. For a few blocks, she kept her slow walk (with a little assistance from her cane) until she reached a bench by a small park. In the shade, she heaved a little sigh and looked around to see if anyone was in her vicinity. The coast was clear.
"Did you get all of that, Lupin?" The woman asked pushing a little device in her ear.
"Got all of it, Jess. We also received all the pictures you took while walking around the room."
"I'm glad; I hadn't expected Zenigata to clear out the room like that."
"Yea, he has a knack for that – but you seemed to handle it well. I didn't appreciate your little comment about me being a bad man, though. Surely you don't think of me that way, my limping beauty?"
"I had to sound somewhat convincing. But, I think I'll stick with medicine and stay away from acting."
"Oh, so that wasn't acting with all that flirting? Do you like the older, much older men?" Jess could hear snickering on the other end. "Some people have a thing for the geriatric, I suppose."
"Well, he liked my sundress. None of you said anything about it when I left today. By the way, are you picking up his signal on the transmitter I put on his coat?"
"Yes, it's flashing bright and strong. And, believe me, we all noticed that sundress."
"I'm glad. Hey, when is Jigen coming to pick me up? It's getting a bit hot out here."
"Oh, he's still here," Lupin answered nonchalantly, "Did you want a ride?"
"What! Of course I did! The house is 15 miles away from the museum. I can't walk that with this leg! Wait a second." Jess paused and looked across the street to a familiar man in black waving at her. "You should stop lying, Lupin, it doesn't suit you," she finally added with a laugh. "I'll see you at the house."
Jess walked over to the waiting man leaning against the car and removed the transmitter from her ear.
"How'd it go?" Jigen asked.
"Splendidly; were you waiting long?"
"Just got here – do you need help getting in to the car?"
Jess eyed him, then her cane, but kept walking around to the passenger side. "I can manage just fine." Jigen shrugged.
At the house, Jess came back to find the rest of the gang grouped in the living room discussing their plan for the night. She moved off to the side and eased herself in to chair. Her leg was bothering her more than she cared to let on – she decided it was all the walking – but it felt so nice to get out and be useful.
"From the pictures Jess took in the room I'm pretty sure the entire room will have its own special alarm system and guards posted thanks to Zenigata. While I can figure out the system, I'm sure, the rotation of guards is something I'll need monitored," Lupin said as Jess and Jigen entered.
"So we will be taking shifts watching the men posted."
"That's right, Goemon, who wants the first shift?"
"Oh Lupin, you won't make me go out to just sit there for hours will you?" Fujiko pleaded with a little pout.
"Of course not my dear, dear Fuji-cakes." There was a general consensus of a roll of the eyes and groan of displeasure. "Oh come on guys, I'm not going to put Jess out there either! I'm a gentleman." Lupin said the last part with a flick of the wrist and a boast of pride.
"Well, that's because Jess is practically out of commission," Jigen said.
"It's true," Goemon added, "she actually has a reason to stay away from long term sentry duty."
"I know, I've seen the gash, I'm surprised she was even able to hobble through the exhibit," Lupin admitted.
"You know I'm sitting right here…" Jess mumbled.
"Look, we're just saying…" Jigen interjected, but it was too late. Jess got up, waved her hand to say 'no more' and slowly moved to her room, though she wished she could have moved faster. She quietly shut the door.
"Way to go, guys," Fujiko whispered.
"She's just angry because we didn't say anything about her dress," Lupin griped.
"If you three believe that, than you are more stupid than I thought." Fujiko got up and went to her room.
The three men sat very still and with wide eyes stared at each other.
"Um, what just happened?" Jigen asked.
"Either some secret female thing or they're PMSing at the same time. Either way, Jigen do you want the first shift tonight?"
"Sure."
Unfortunately, what the group thought would take a couple of days of observing turned into week of drudgery as the guard positions were constantly being changed. Lupin knew Zenigata was behind it, but he also knew the Inspector couldn't help but show some type of pattern after a while (and Lupin had all the time for it to appear.) It was the three men who took the post every night and while the two ladies had quickly gotten over their odd outburst, they were still quite aloof. This, of course, made Lupin extremely sad as Fujiko would have none of his advances.
Another member of the exiled trio found himself out of the loop as well. After they had left Japan, Jess had stayed distant and reverted back to her melancholy state she picked up from Scotland. Jigen didn't know what she wanted or why she only paid him the same amount of attention as she did the others. It may have bothered him more that he found himself caring so much if she did or not.
On the 4th night of watch duty, Jigen got off his post around 3AM. When he came back in to the house, he quietly let the door shut and sauntered down the hallway. The first door on the left, that's where Jess was. He found himself stalling in front of it.
"This may not be a good idea," he thought. "There could be a reason she is avoiding me. She may just not like me and finally came to that conclusion." That thought stabbed him a bit too much, though. He thought about that moment just a few days ago when she held onto him so dearly. Jigen reached for the doorknob and turned it. Locked – it must be a sign. He began to walk away.
"Jigen?"
It was such a sleepy, yet sweet sounding voice. Without realizing, Jigen had stayed a bit longer than he had intended at the door after rattling it, which had given the light sleeper of an occupant time to see what it was. He was only a few steps away from the door, but he stopped dead in his footsteps, shoulders tensed as though he had been caught doing something wrong.
"Jigen, is everything OK?"
"Uh, no, I'm just tired and tried to open the wrong door."
"Oh," Jess sounded disappointed, "OK, well, then good night." She closed the door slowly and could be heard climbing back in to her bed. Jigen walked to his room with a sigh.
On his third night on duty, Jigen (as well as the other two men) was extremely glad it was going to be his last. As much as they enjoyed waiting out hours on a distant rooftop with binoculars, it got to be quite boring. While it had been pleasant weather, the mess it had done to his sleeping was a bit too much. It did give him a lot of time to think, though. Whether that was a good thing was another story.
Jigen eyed his watch and saw that it read 2:30 AM – another 30 minutes. He held the binoculars up for what seemed like the umpteenth time when he noticed movement through the windows. It was just the janitor again – he put the binoculars down and let out a bored sigh. Not even the blinking light that was Zenigata on his transmitter gave him something to watch. It just stayed still and bleeped in the same annoying rhythm.
"I guess even the old man has to sleep," Jigen thought. "Although, that should be what I'm doing instead of this redundant stake-out." Lupin, having figured out the guard schedule two days ago still had the other two men go on their third shifts to be sure he was right. Goemon and Jigen figured it was because he wanted them out of the house for his own personal female endeavors. "What did Jess call it? That's right, being sex-iled." Jess…
He winced – Jigen had promised not to think about what happened a few nights ago creep on him when he was working. But, this couldn't really be called work, he decided. By the time it was 3 AM, he was almost ready to sprint back.
"I could just let it slide," Jigen thought on his way back, "it's what I've always done. It's a lot easier to just pretend these things didn't happen. She's already hinted she may not stay with us after this job is all said and done, so why even try?" His reasoning wasn't working very well. The entire time his mind tried to remind him what he should be doing, the rest of his body was working through the same reaction he had when he first saw her in that bar - stomach was bottoming out and his heart wouldn't stop pounding. Jigen found himself in front of Jess' door again.
"OK," he thought with a long calming sigh, "I need to have a plan this time. If I turn this doorknob and its locked I will immediately walk away – no thinking, just walk away. But, if it's open then I go in and finally talk to her."
Jigen fully expected the door to be locked – why wouldn't it be? She was still distant, she was still in her own world, and tended to only reply if necessary. He turned the doorknob – it opened.
He was surprised and now fully wished he had a plan beyond just standing in the doorway. His pulse began to quicken and he thought about walking right back out due to the embarrassment of being completely out of his element. But, as his eyes found Jess, Jigen found his feet full of cement.
Like soft rolling hills against the trace amount of moonlight that entered the room, her body was easy to distinguish underneath the simple soft, fuzzy blankets. He followed the silhouette of her curves from her feet to her head with widened eyes. She lay on her side, facing away from him. For a moment, he was afraid he woke her up like a few nights ago, but from the slow raising and lowering of her shoulders, he was sure she was still asleep. He took a step forward.
Her shoulders tensed. Jigen stopped immediately and felt his heart pounding harder and harder. All at once, the body under the covers rolled upward in one smooth and gentle movement. For a moment, she continued to face away from him. Jigen still didn't move and felt a strange panic race through his body. Why did he have to do this? Why now? Jess turned her head over her shoulder.
Without realizing it, Jigen had outstretched his hand as a means of both calming her for what she might do and wishing to touch her at the same. Jess stared at him, not saying a word. It was one of the most intense glares he had ever received. In fact, the only one more nerve wracking was one he received 7 years ago from the same girl. Her eyes didn't narrow or widen, but instead threw all her emotions into a single ray of vision. She breathed slowly and finally allowed the rest of her body to follow her gaze so that she fully faced her visitor.
"I…" Jigen had to say something – the stare was becoming too much. But, she quickly silenced him when she brought her index finger to her lips. What was he to do now? He couldn't move, he couldn't say anything, and was trapped in a scary vortex of a stare.
In quieting him, though, one of the straps of her nightgown slipped down her shoulder. Jess watched Jigen's eyes as it fell; he definitely noticed it. She raised an eyebrow – Jess pulled it down further, slowly, and began to smile a puckered teasing smile. Jigen regained control of his feet and closed the door behind him. She kept watching him and with a gentle movement allowed the other strap to fall. Jigen quickly pinched himself to make sure he hadn't fallen asleep during guard duty and was dreaming. No, he was definitely awake and she was definitely pulling the covers back. The gunman loosened his tie and sauntered forward.