Frank sat in the second study of Queen's villa. Brushed aside were the accounts books and in front of him was his real task at hand- finding the culprit.
It was so stereotypical of people to put him in positions which needed someone with academic strengths and Joe to tasks that demanded his socializing skills- which, when carried too far, could break hearts as Joe had found out for himself guiltily in the past. However, Frank had long ago admitted that he and Joe were perfect partners because their abilities meshed so comfortably with one another's. Not to mention that there would always be this healthy competitive streak between the both of them- just enough to keep pushing forward and not even close to the level needed to create animosity. Frank would hate to see the day when he and Joe might be estranged from each other. But he was confident that the day would never come to pass because they were brothers not only by relations but also in heart and spirit. Blood might be thicker than water but without the imminence of spirits and understanding of hearts, blood would just be blood and when left standing, blood would segment into its different compositions. So something must keep blood as thick as it was- to bind it so it would never dilute. That something was the spirit- the love between family members.
Rather than begrudge Clown for making safe choices that bounded him to a desk job, Frank was determined to make the best of it. Scrap papers filled with his mind maps laid out before him on the rich redwood table. He was alone and thus, could work in peace. The computer was connected to the World Wide Web as well. It was time to establish the links he needed.
When the suggestion of temporary jobs was brought out, Frank instantly made the connection of the timings of the thefts to the tourists. They had been scrutinizing the possibilities of an inside job; however, the thefts occurred only during tourists' seasons with a long stretch between each. Checking the internet proved fruitful for the best time to visit the islands around that area was from November through March, when it not as humid and the temperature was tolerable for a tropical region.
It's tourist season now and the watch's stolen. The March before- the pen. And in November last year, photographs and perfumes.
All during tourist seasons!
Doing a check on the resort's database records, the computer churned out names of customers who visited resort but Frank was disappointed that the database only showed current visitors. He would have to ask Queen if there was any way he could find out who stayed before in the resort, at least dating back a couple of years or so.
"Hey, Frank! Done doing the accounts I asked you to?" Robert Gunarmen, Queen's little brother, flung open the door and strode in with assured footsteps. A man in his late thirties, Robert was attractive in that matured, playboy image. His dark brown hair clashed with his light blue eyes however, it was the goatee he spotted on his sharp, longish chin that provided him an almost devious charm. Frank hurriedly called out another browser on the computer and set a file onto the table, spreading it open to hide the crib notes. Robert laughed heartily. "I take it that you have been skiving! Don't worry… you remind me of myself when I was young. Half the time, I was doodling instead of working. Heh."
Great! Let's trade pointers how to best shade out the best tornado with our pencils.
Robert settled himself comfortably in the leather armchair opposite Frank, crossed his long legs and lit up a cigar. Frank did not want to be rude but he masked his nose with his hand as the whole room was beginning to stink like a toxic waste dump.
"Ah… heh. Youngsters…. Cigars are great conversational topics for business! Golf… wine… you have to learn a little of each to do business!"
"Hmm..." Frank muttered through his palm. Robert chuckled and, as a favor to Frank, snuffed it out.
"It's quite strange for Queen to employ a high school students to deal with our accounts… even help out a little… but I trust her opinions. She has a soft spot for the teenagers coming here lately… probably because her son, if he was alive, would be of around your age now."
"Oh… well, so besides me and Joe, were there any other kids who work here part-time? I didn't meet anyone else…"
Robert narrowed his eyes. "Well, I don't stay here so I don't really know… only when the waters are calm and when the skies are blue do you find me here! And I don't really talk to them, either. You're the only one that's been assigned a desk job… So, from the bored look in your eyes, I think you are not interested in business. What do you like to do?"
Frank twisted his lower lips this way and that before shrugging. "Be a beach bum?"
The older man hooted with laughter violently and slapped his thighs. Frank had the weirdest notion now that anyone who was related to this Queen McHeart had a screw loose somewhere.
"Great one! Beach bum! HAH! I wanted to be a beach bum too… yah… I'll miss this place but there're things a man got to…" Robert's cell phone rang then. He excused himself with a rise of his hand and stepped away to a corner of the study.
"Yes! Robert here! What?" Robert's tone dropped several notches. "You found the prince? Where? Really? We must hurry at once…" Robert cast a glance at Frank who immediately pretended to be poring over the accounts. Robert then covered the mouthpiece of his cell and strode over to Frank.
"Well, looks like one of my affairs is shifting into a new gear! It's been great talking to you… an ambition of being a beach bum is great but I'm sure you'll want something else in life. Something…" Robert cocked his head up and smiled. "Something more meaningful, something that defines you." Ruffling Frank's hair, almost shocking the poor boy with his brazen friendliness, Robert left the study and even before he closed the door behind him, Frank could hear his conversation continuing.
Sheesh… Frank scratched the back of his head, deep in his own thoughts. Is everyone here all mad? Or do they think they're normal and we're the mad ones? Well, their realities are their perspectives… so… if my reality is my perspective. Then it's only true to me, not to others… then where's the Truth? Or is this who perspective and reality thing all wrong?
Why am I even thinking about these things? He shook his head and grinned. Time to set his mind working on the case at hand. He was about to look at the notes again when the door was thrown open violently yet again as a very sweaty-looking Joe barged into the office.
"Frank! Breakthrough!" His brother exclaimed excitedly. The door slammed shut on its own as Joe ran across the room, adrenaline building up with each frantic footfall. "The diving trip- Peter's death- maybe murder. Robert and our friendly neighborhood Ted…"
"Calm down… breathe and talk properly." Frank looked up from his mind-mappings and watched the perspiring Joe plopping on the armchair that Robert had just sat on. Joe fanned himself and looked around the modern chic study in envy.
"I was slogging in the garden, trying to decipher how to use a dishwasher from outer space and your're here in a comfortable air-conditioned room with a soothing Japanese fountain singing at a corner. Life is not fair."
"If life's fair, there'll be no wars and revolutions and everyone will be as handsome as me." Frank smiled grimly. "What's this about the diving trip?"
Joe grinned suddenly, "Hey! Is it going to be like that in the future? Me going out doing all the action stuff and you sitting behind the desk waiting for my reporting back… kinda like you're the team leader in some secret agency…"
"Don't start getting all distracted now, Joe. Focus!" Frank chided Joe sternly. The enormity of the matter impressed upon Joe again and wiped the cheeky grin away.
"Ok… . Leaf told me that Robert and Ted went on the same diving trip as Peter McHeart- it was in this trip which he died of bends- weights came loose… . The police ruled it as an accident but it smells fishy, don't you think?"
"And when Peter died, Queen inherited a huge amount of money…" Frank's lips elongated into a thin, taut line. "How did a theft become so complicated?"
"Well, human beings are complicated people… I remember you told me something about hmm… we are not independent of history… looks like a sordid part of history is not exactly buried six feet underground. So, where do we start?"
Frank closed his eyes to shut out as many senses as possible so he could compose his thoughts in peace. The past and the present. The pranks were obviously done by someone with a grudge against Queen or, who have information that could implicate Queen in the death of her husband so many years ago. The thefts could have been committed by someone obsessed with Queen. Were the two cases independent or related to each other? Tourist seasons….. . Frank snapped a finger. Who better to ask about tourist seasons than Holly who had mentioned that Um was her yearly retreat from the rest of the world? She would know or at least, be able to identify some regulars.
"I think I'll need to ask Holly for some help here." Frank spoke up finally. "There is something- the thefts. I'm working on a hunch here… I'm thinking the thefts and the prank are related."
"Working on a hunch?" Joe smirked; his bright blue eyes sparkled with teasing accusation. "That's my job. Watch it, mister! You're stealing my rice bowl. Go back to your logic mumbo jumbo and leave the sensitive, getting-in-touch-with-feelings bit to me. The hunch I get is that you just want an excuse to bring someone into the case so you can spend more time to her."
To that allegation, Frank could only smile cunningly. "I need no excuses… we… . Ok. We're already a couple."
"Whoa! Slow down there… so fast? It's only been a couple of days…" Joe lifted his eyebrows up and down suggestively. "Care to trade tips?"
"It's not only a couple of days. She likes me for a very long time now. And I know I've always been a little in love with her. It's a natural progression… maybe there's some love adrift in the salty air…"
"Spare me the mushy stuff. Out with the plain details!" Joe commanded. "Or I'll tell mom and dad something else!"
"Like what bad things can you dream of to rat on me?" Frank shrugged, looking at his petulant brother with a slightly amused glint in his dark eyes. "All right. If you're a good boy, by the time we are done with the case, I'll tell you everything."
"Promise?"
"Promise. Now, tell me about what you found out from Kathaleeya and Ted."
"Ted? Hmm… I found out that he doesn't like Leaf and Clown… and he doesn't really like me too. If I were to guess, he's terribly protective of Queen. Right after his chores, he left to clean up the vandalism. Then I spoke to Kat… she went up to bring dinner to Queen, speaking of which it's already nine and I'm famished! When she returned, I had a brief chat with her… she found the graffiti about eleven in the morning today. Now, if the guy had been vandalizing that private breakwater in the middle of the night, we might have caught him in action where we were, doing our stake-out. So I eliminated the odds that it was done in the middle of the night. I asked Kat what went on this morning and she told me the usual. What's the usual, I asked again. She said she and Leaf Lady were in the kitchen making breakfast while Queen had a massage before eating anything. So Kat has an alibi- Leaf Lady. The servants were cleaning the house and Ted was in the back garden picking fresh flowers to replace those dying in the vases. It's like that every morning in Queen's house. I asked Kat why she would want to visit the breakwater and she told me she was there to set the place for Queen. Queen often gaze out into the ocean from the breakwater at around eleven-thirty in the early afternoon and it's there she will have her lunch by herself. Eccentric huh?"
"So when everybody's too busy in the house to come out, the culprit struck. He knew about their morning rituals and knew that most likely, he won't be caught but he did it quickly and made sure everything was done before Queen arrived. So he knew that Queen would visit the breakwater at that certain time too. This is my deduction. If the prankster and the thief are the same person- it will fit. During the tourist season, the thief works part time for the Queen doing menial stuff and from there, he noted the timings of routine activities that occurred in the household, including Queen's habit of taking her lunch on the breakwaters."
"But no one's working part time here but us…" Joe countered.
"Yes, maybe he has enough money this time… no need to work… or… or maybe…" Frank bit his lips in deep thoughts. "Robert said he's only here when the skies are blue and the sea is calm- tourist season. Maybe he does hold a grudge against Queen for not bailing him out the previous time and he had to serve two years in prison…"
"But like you said before… why steal her perfumes and pen? It makes no sense. Now, what if the thefts and prank are not related? Then maybe we have a valid reason to suspect Robert." Joe replied. "Unless you can find for us someone who is obsessed with either Queen or her personal belongings and actually hold such a grudge against her as to do those things to her…"
"And someone who knew about Queen's history. Most probably from servants' gossips… I still say we check out the temporary help angle." Frank let out a sigh. "You know something Joe, it always happens to us. It's like curse that all our cases would start out simple and then escalate to something terrifying. I feel like I have been exploited and lied to by Fate."
Joe raked his fingers through his hair and grinned. "Aw, bro… it's a blessing! Keeps us fit and on our toes. Moreover, if we are to write books in future about our adventures, solving boring crimes are not going to gain us a huge base of readership, no matter how gorgeous we are."