Chapter 2
Carmelita tried surfing the Internet for a while, trying to find something, anything, that looked like Sly Cooper could be even remotely interested in. Unfortunately for her, that didn't seem to help much. Nope, she told herself, no new art museums showing any rare antiquities; no crime lords recently having been found not guilty; nor was there anything that looked like Cooper's turtle friend could have offered for sale on the Net. She was stumped.
Carmelita yawned just then, and chanced a look over at the clock on the wall which read two o'clock in the morning. She yawned again, as she powered down her computer, and decided it time to head for bed. A few hours later, she woke up, hearing Kitty pad down the stairs, most likely on her way to go to work.
Carmelita smiled at that, and sat up, then twisted to put her feet down. She slipped on her socks, and hastened over to the window to look out. She eased back the curtain slightly, then smiled as she saw Kitty, dressed for work, placed a motorcycle helmet on her fair-haired head, then took her seat behind the handsome Ling Chu on his neon green Yamaha motorcycle. Carmelita laughed quietly, her eyes shining, as she saw Kitty blush slightly as she put her arms around Ling´s slender waist to hold on as he eased them out into traffic.
Shaking her head with amusement, Carmelita went and got dressed, and headed downstairs. There, she sat down in her living room, turning on the morning news on the television, a habit she had (before she used to listened to it on the radio on her way to work) developed since being unemployed. Nothing very interesting is happening, she concluded. A heated breakup between some famous actress and her pop-star boyfriend; a few suicide bombings in the town of Lugo in Spain (honestly, it was terrible the first time, but now it´s become so regular that you should be more frightened if you did´nt hear about it when you turn on the news), and a boy who had taught his budgerigar to ride on a snowboard.
Carmelita turned off the TV and went out to take a drive downtown. Paris was, after all, a very beautiful city. It had it all…the Louvre, Notre Dame Cathedral, the Eiffel Tower and, of course, the EuroDisney theme park. As Carmelita headed out to her car, she frowned at the Interpol parking tag she still had on the front of her Peugeot convertible. Why didn't I put that blasted sticker on the inside of the windscreen instead of on my bumper? she asked herself, then shrugged in mute acceptance. "Well, I guess my first stop should be the automotive store to get some decal remover," Carmelita said quietly to herself before she took her seat and buckled in. Then, she started her flashy red convertible and headed out toward Paris proper.
After a bit of sight-seeing and some lunch, Carmelita made a stop at the automotive store to buy some liquid that would remove that parking tag from her front bumper. She returned home around four o'clock, and made good use of the tag remover, finally peeling it away and discarding it. She had just poured herself a cool glass of water, when she saw Kitty pull up to the curb, still on the back of Constable Ling Chu's bright green motorcycle.
Kitty, unaware that she was being watched, climbed off the back of the motorcycle, saying her thanks to Ling, who smiled, nodded, and then shyly bussed her cheek quickly. "I will picking you up tomorrow, yes? Same time and place?" he asked.
Kitty nodded, blushed, placing her hand over her cheek where he had kissed her. "Erm, well…I don't, er...really know. Um, I mean, maybe Carmelita could---" Kitty stammered, wanting very much to accept his generous offer, but at the same time not wanting to appear too forward. She never got the chance to finish however, as she was cut off by Carmelita.
"Yes, Constable Chu, Kitty will be waiting for you tomorrow, right here, at her normal time," Carmelita said as she stepped between the pair. "Now, say thank you, Kitty," she added with a clever little smile.
For a brief moment, Kitty´s cheeks turned nearly as red as Carmelita's car's paint job. "Thanks," she managed to croak.
"Very good," Ling replied, smiling. "Then, I will see you tomorrow then." He gave Carmelita a polite bow, then smiled one last time at Kitty, then put his Yamaha in gear and drove away.
Carmelita smiled fondly at the deeply blushing Kitty. "So…how was work?" she asked, her eyes teasing.
"Girl, you are one evil vixen, you know that?" Kitty accused, tossing her blond locks back over her shoulder, though Carmelita could tell she was mightily embarrassed.
"Am not. Quite to the contrary, Kitty dear…I'm helping you," Carmelita corrected.
Kitty snorted at that, crossing her arms before her chest. "You call that helping?" she returned, her eyes narrowing angrily.
"I do. But, before you start in on me with your righteous indignation, my dear…I have three little words for you to remember, Kitty," Carmelita reminded her. She spoke next, raising one slender finger with each word. "Sly. Cooper's. Birthday."
Kitty's cheeks flushed again briefly. "Yeah, well…but, um, that was different," Kitty said lamely.
Carmelita smiled then. "Oh, and that would be---why?" Carmelita asked, looking at Kitty askance.
"Well, because…er…um, that is…" Kitty replied at first, clearly unprepared. However, as one might expect, she recovered quickly enough. She smiled cleverly, and said, "You! You've got a lot of nerve telling me that I'm in love in Ling Chu, while at the same time you're telling me that you don´t have feelings for Sly Cooper."
"Cute," Carmelita snorted, but then smiled. She then turned quickly to Kitty, which startled her a little. "Okay, so what makes you think I haven't changed my mind about Cooper…er, I mean, Sly?" she pointed out.
Kitty blinked her big blue eyes rapidly, clearly surprised. She then smiled her best Cheshire Cat grin. "I knew it! You just as much as admitted you love Sly Cooper!" she crowed. She danced a little happy dance, then laughed and began to sing. "Sly and Carmelita, sittin' in a tree---" she trilled.
Carmelita gave her a look of stiff disapproval. "That will be just about enough of that, Miss," Carmelita opined, and Kitty wisely sang no more. "But, to answer your question, Little Miss Know-It-All…yes, I do love him," Carmelita said. "And, as a matter of fact, I knew that I did after we had our little talk on his birthday."
"Ooh!" Kitty replied, intrigued and very pleased for her friend. "So...what sort of things did you two talk about?" Kitty asked, then grinned mischievously. "If you two were talking at all, that is…"
Carmelita blinked then, her cheeks becoming rosy as she realized what Kitty was hinting at. She then flicked her brown eyes up to stare Kitty directly in the eyes. "I won't ask you what you do with Ling, if you don't ask me what I do with Sly," she stated, her voice flinty. "Agreed?"
Kitty briefly thought of being kissed by Ling, blushed furiously, then nodded quickly. "Agreed."
Carmelita covered her brief embarrassment by pretending to inspect her car's finish where she had removed the parking tag, checking to see if it needed to be cleaned again. "Well, to answer your question, dear," Carmelita began again, once she had regained her composure "We talked about a whole lot of things, really, Kitty. But, among others...he told me that if I should ever find myself out of a job, that I, er, well, could join him. Not to become a criminal or anything, you understand…but, just so we could spend time together."
Kitty turned quiet and serious. "Hmm, I see," she managed to reply after a while.
Carmelita turned around to look at her, and was surprised to see that Kitty was no longer smiling. "What?" Carmelita asked, instantly suspicious.
"Oh, nothing," Kitty said a moment later, just to hide the fact that she was thinking furiously just then. "Um, but have you given any thought as to how you're going to find Sly? Er, I mean Cooper. I mean, look, Carmelita…he could be just about anywhere, right?"
Carmelita nodded her agreement reluctantly. "Well, yes, I suppose you're right there. But, I'm sure we'll figure it out," Carmelita replied, then turned, liking arms with Kitty, and the both of them went inside their home.
Dinner was a quick affair, soup and sandwiches. However, as both girls were preoccupied at the moment, that worked to their advantage really. Many an idea was bandied about…but subsequently discarded as unworkable. By the end of their meal, both vixens were understandably frustrated. Carmelita decided to take her mind off her troubles by watching some documentary on the TV. Kitty had other plans, and told Carmelita she was heading to her room for a while. Once there, Kitty searched about quickly and quietly, and finally managed to find what she was looking for: a good map of Paris. She smiled, then gathered up a pencil, a good compass, and a ruler. Items in hand, she descended the stairs and headed over to find her friend.
"Hey, Carmelita!" Kitty called, flopping down on the couch beside her friend.
"What's up, Kitty?" Carmelita asked, turning off the documentary…which hadn't distracted her much, thank you very much. "What's all that for?"
"I've been thinking," Kitty announced.
"Oh, good show," teased Carmelita. "You didn't hurt yourself now, did you?"
Kitty grinned, then stuck her tongue out at her. "Funny. You better be nice to me…or I won't tell you of my wonderful plan to find your raccoon boyfriend."
Carmelita perked up at that. "All right. You've got my attention, girl…show me."
"Well, I was thinking that we could do a little detective work on our own to deduce where Cooper and his gang are hold up. But, to do that, I'm going to have to ask you questions of what you remember, all right?"
Carmelita thought a moment, then nodded. "Sounds good. Okay, shoot…"
"Great!" Kitty said. "First, do you remember what time it was when Cooper and his Gang drove you back here?"
"Hmm," Carmelita thought, her eyes flicking up as she thought. "Well, I seem to remember it was around seven o'clock that morning," Carmelita said. remembering.
"Right," Kitty replied, jotting down that information. "Yeah, and as I remember it…you got in here around seven thirty in the morning," Kitty added, remembering what she had to go through after Carmelita had come back. She then took out a compass. "All right. Cooper would have to drive the speed limit…or he'd attract the gendarmes' attention. So, through downtown Paris the speed limit's something like fifty-five kilometers an hour. So…" she murmured aloud, using a pencil to do the necessary calculations. She then compared her figures to the scale of her map. She adjust the compass to reflect the distance Sly could of driven at fifty-five KPH for one-half hour. She then placed the pointed end of the compass on the map where they lived, and spun it around in a full circle. Then, both she and Carmelita looked at the real estate that now fell under that prescribed circle on the map.
"Pretty smart thinking there, Inspector," Carmelita congratulated Kitty, reaching over to fondly ruffle the girl's straight blond locks.
Kitty grinned, then smoothed her hair down before continuing. "So, we have limited our search area. Now, Carmelita, when you were at their hideout, did you happen to notice any peculiar or recognizable sounds? Like lots of cars or anything?" Kitty asked.
Carmelita could see where Kitty was going with this. "Actually, I'm rather afraid I didn't," Carmelita said, thinking it over. "You have to understand that at that moment, I was really far too angry to notice anything. However, now that you do mention it…that it was kind of quiet tells us something all in itself now, doesn't it?"
"Yep! Okay now, I have some info for you," Kitty said, then she became quite serious. "I hope you do understand that if Chief Rob ever figures out I did this for you, he'll fire me quick."
"I know," Carmelita replied, putting her hand over Kitty's in mute thanks.
Kitty smiled back at Carmelita, nodding. She then handed Carmelita the map. "Okay, here's the radius within you can drive around thirty minutes from our location. Now, as you can see," she explained, pausing to smile as she pointed to one specific part of the map. "There's only one place you can reach within that circle that's outside of town. And, that, my friend…would be the old train station."
Carmelita frowned, thinking. "That old place? It hasn't been used in years," she pointed out.
"True," Kitty replied, but then explained further. "Still, it's a very nice set of buildings. The station itself, as well as I believe some sort of small motel, if I remember it correctly. That sounds like a most likely place for them to of set up headquarters, don't you think?"
Carmelita grinned triumphantly. "Yes…as a matter of fact it does."
"So, it sounds like you have found the place you're looking for, right?" Kitty asked.
Carmelita felt a surge of happiness within herself, and before she knew it, she hugged Kitty, then kissed her loudly on the cheek. "Thanks, kiddo! You're a one in a million!" she declared.
Kitty laughed, kissing Carmelita back, getting caught up in the moment. "You're welcome. Don't mention it, really. C'mon, all I ever really wanted was to make you happy, Carmelita."
Carmelita was briefly startled by that declaration, and looked over to her roommate, her counterpart, her friend. "You have," she admitted. "I only hope that you and Ling Chu will be this happy someday."
"Carmelita!" Kitty protested, her cheeks flushing red. "I---"
"You do love him, don't you?" Carmelita pressed. "C'mon, girl…admit it!"
"I…I don't know," Kitty groaned. "I like him, yes. But…love? I mean, that's…well, that's huge."
Carmelita grinned at that. "Fair enough," she said. "But, I still want you to be happy, Kitty. I hope you do know that, right?"
Kitty didn't trust her voice just then, and simply nodded, before pulling Carmelita into another hug. "Thanks for being my friend, Carmelita," she finally said. "You're like the big sister I never had."
"Ooh, just you wait until I tell Carmen," Carmelita teased.
Kitty blushed again. "Don't you dare!" she yelled.
"Easy, Kitty," Carmelita said, laughing. "I was only teasing you."
"So," Carmelita then continued, serious once more. "If I do find that Sly is really there, and he agrees that I may move in with him. I'll talk with my attorney and make arrangements to transfer ownership of my apartment to you. That is…if you want it."
"Oh, I do!" Kitty crowed in delight. "I do! Oh, thank you!" Kitty's smile then dimmed briefly. "I—I—I'll miss you, buddy."
"Really, Kitty!" Carmelita said with a laugh. "I'll only be a half-hour away. Besides, Sly and his guys like you near as much as I do. I'm sure we'll see plenty of one another," She then smiled and looked down at the map. In a dreamy sort of voice, she murmured, "We´ll be together again, Sly, very soon. I promise."
Kitty grinned at that. "And I'll help," she quipped, causing Carmelita to chuckle, and hug the girl once more.