CHAPTER 6: TOUGH GUY
The door of the large mansion closed behind them. Both Bo and Jeffrey let out a long sigh of relief as soon as it had closed.
"Man, I thought that man was never going to stop talking!" Bo said to Jeffrey. Jeffrey rolled his eyes.
"It was harder for me, Bo. I was the one that actually had to take notes. We could have gotten in serious trouble if he had found out we weren't writing an article for the school's newspaper." The two friends walked down the front lawn back towards the road. Suddenly Jeffrey stopped walking. "I think we're being watched." he said. He looked around to find a figure running into an alley. "He went into that alley!" Jeffrey said as he pointed Bo into the right direction. They quickly went over there themselves.
When they entered the alley the found a boy. His age probably was somewhere below 10. He wore a black body-warmer, a pair of jeans that was full of holes and a cap. The bare skin under the holes had traces of dirt on it. The boy was trying to climb over the wall that closed of his exit. Bo grabbed the boy by his feet and pulled him off.
"Wait a minute! We just want to talk to you!" Jeffrey yelled. Bo had gotten the boy down and, with his hands firmly kept behind his back, he led the boy to Jeffrey. The boy struggled with the strength of a strong teen.
"Talk? What are you, the baby police?" he said through his clenched teeth.
"No, we just need some information." Jeffrey replied.
"You're no cops, I don't have to talk to you." the boy said with a firm voice. At this point Jeffrey almost couldn't control his anger anymore. He decided to try one more time.
"A friend of ours is wrongfully accused of robbing Forbes! What did you see?" Jeffrey said more forcefully.
"I already said, I don't have to talk to you. Leave me alone." Jeffrey was about to really lose his temper, until he noticed an expensive, golden watch around the boy's wrist. One look at the face of the watch was enough to see it was a Rolex. Jeffrey grinned.
"And I suppose someone gave you that watch." he said pointing at the expensive device. "If you don't start talking, we're going to turn you in. I'm sure Forbes will be thankful to us for relieving him from his little criminal problem." The boy sighed. He now that there was no way out this time.
"OK, OK. I'll talk." Bo let go of the boy. After he had straightened his body-warmer and his cap he started his story. "I was here last night…I needed some stuff and… well, that rich guy can miss it." He looked down at his feet and started to look more like a scared little kid than a hardened criminal. "Around 11pm there was a huge black car. It drove past the house and a masked man jumped out of it. He ran towards the front door. After that I couldn't see him anymore, it was too dark."
"Are you sure about the time?" Bo asked. The boy grinned.
"With a watch like this? How could I be wrong?"
"Did you see him again?" Jeffrey asked him.
"Yeah. At around 12:30 he came back carrying a small bag in his hand. The car came driving past again, the guy jumped in and they drove off." He paused for a second. "I thought about what I should do. When the cops came, I decided to split."
Jeffrey and Bo thanked the boy and left the alley. "What's so funny?" Bo asked Jeffrey. He had a smile on his face that extended to both ears.
"I got this and I'll return it to the rightful owner." He put his hand in his pocket and took out a shiny object. Bo's jaw fell to the floor.
"You got the watch?" Jeffrey nodded.
"Nice trick, isn't it?" They were interrupted by the voice of a woman. When they looked up they saw a woman running towards them, asking them to wait. Quickly Jeffrey stuffed the watch in his pocket and waited for the woman to arrive…
TO BE CONTINUED…