Chapter 3: All as normal

All over Europe and most of Asia, Zenigata chased Carmen. Even though she always got away, he was always able to retrieve the stolen items. And no worse for the wear. Because of his successful retrieval of the items he was getting a LOT of positive press. It was nice to be recognized for his hard work. But, of course catching the culprit would be the icing on the cake.

Meanwhile in an disclosed hideout, a different thief in red was being all pouty and jealous, that Carmen Sandiego was taking all of Inspector Zenigata's attention for herself.
"I need something big." He muttered.
"Well if you hadn't just stolen the Heart of Mars 'cause Fujiko asked you to with no real plan for it." His partner Jigen began.
"You wouldn't have this problem."
"I don't see how this is a problem." Goemon piped up.
"If Zenigata is off chasing this Carmen woman, then that leave us free from his interference. I would think that would be a good thing." He wasn't wrong, but at the same time Zenigata was the only one that could give Lupin a challenge. At least that's how Lupin saw it. And that was half the reason he still did what he did.

Carmen was in her Swiss stronghold plotting her next move. Switzerland may have been a member country of Interpol, yet Carmen was almost never bothered. Her stronghold was NOT discreet in the least. High walls, steal gate with a pass-code entrance, and no less then 2 guards on duty at ALL times. And that's only the street appearance. It could almost be mistaken for a prison. Maybe because it was so open no one ever looked, thinking there was no way she would be there. Hiding in plain sight. Whatever the reason, it aloud Carmen to work largely uninterrupted.

Back in Tokyo Inspector Zenigata shuffled into his apartment. He barely locked his door before collapsing on his sofa. He didn't have the energy to make it to his bed. He found collapsing onto a futon after a long day was not far from just collapsing on the floor, so he opted for a more western bed when his budget had a loud, same reasoning for the old and worn sofa. The inspector had been spending a lot of time in his office or out of the country chasing Carmen. The same thing he'd do with Lupin. He had finally been told to go home, since Carmen seemed to be taking a breather herself. Carmen however had henchmen, so she didn't have to do ALL the grunt work like Zenigata did.
Sometime later after dawn the next morning there was a loud knock on the inspector's door. It went unanswered, and was not heard again. Zenigata started to think it had been a dream when he finally got up. He made some coffee in his tiny kitchen-et then went over to the door as it cooled a bit. When he opened his door to look out, there was a box on his door mat. It was addressed to him but no return address. Without thinking he picked it up and shook it. What ever was inside sounded soft, so he brought it in and set it on his table drinking some coffee.
As stupid of an idea as it was, he slowly opened the package. Inside was a soft looking blue blanket, and a short letter. He opened the letter and wile it was written in Japanese, the way it was written made it clear the person writing it was not.

Dear Inspector,
I hope you won't think this forward of me. However I hear your aria of Japan is going to be experiencing some severely cold weather soon. Use this to not freeze ok. Can't stop me if you're a popsical.
Sincerely,
Carmen Sandiego

The inspector stared at the letter in shock for a long moment.
"What?!" He said out loud.
"She's mocking me!" He growled then crumpled the letter up angrily and threw the balled up paper across the room. Zenigata got up in a huff and left his apartment to go to the closest continence store. He needed something to eat.
As he walked back from the continence store the wind blew hard as his trench coat. He shivered a bit.
"She wasn't kidding." He whimpered a bit. Was he actually agreeing with the thief? Zenigata got home and made up his ramen. He sat on the beat up sofa and watched a bit of TV, his boss gave him the day off saying he needed the rest. The man had a bad habit of working himself into the ground.
When he got up to go to sleep later that night, Zenigata picked the extra fluffy blue blanket he had been sent and thankfully snuggled into it. He yawned and fell asleep quickly.

(Sorry that was a bit shorter then normal.)