Chapter 4: The Letter and the File

Cami and Sam stopped running when they reached any alley with good lighting. Sam pulled out the envelope and handed it to Cami to open. Cami ripped it open and took out a handwritten letter and two debit cards. Cami unfolded the letter as Sam leaned over to read it too.

Dear Cami and Sam,

If you are reading this than something terrible has happened to me. I had always intended to tell you two this in person when you two turned eighteen. I never told you before because of your mother. Regardless of what this letter holds, know that both your mother and I love you two and always will.

I come from a long line of master thieves. Every Cooper before you two has been a thief, including me. Your mother was the cop sent the hunt me down. That's how we met. All Coopers were master thieves which means we only stole from master criminals. As a thief, I made enemies and also friends. When I became a cop, I left two family heirlooms, a cane and a book called the Thievius Raccoonus, with my best friends. The Thievius Raccoonus holds the secret techniques of the Cooper Clan. My friends who safeguard the heirlooms are Bentley and Murray. They are both thieves, but they are both my brothers and I am confident they will help you if anything has happened to your mother or me. If something terrible has happened to us, then find Bentley and Murray. They will help you. If something terrible has happened to me, than trust no one. I made enemies and they would love to get the chance to kill you. Find my police file and learn all about my past. That might help you find Bentley and Murray.

The debit cards are for traveling and hiding. The money on those cards is pretty much limitless. I know you'll need it.

I am sorry for hiding this from you and that you had to find out this way. Whatever has happened, I love you both and so does your mother.

Sly

Sam and Cami looked at each other in silence. Neither of them could speak from the shock. Their father, Constable Cooper, was a thief? A common thief? And Mom was the cop sent to arrest him? It was impossible. It couldn't be true.

"Well, one thing's for sure." Cami growled.

"What?" Sam asked faintly.

"If we don't find him dead, I'm going to kill him myself." Cami sat down on the ground with her head in her hands. "Thieves? Is that why half the cops at the station hate Dad?"

"Or why those same cops look at you with distaste? Because you take after Dad's side of the family." Sam sat down next to her. "Mom's always been a cop and she never breaks the rules. How could she marry Dad? How could we exist? I mean; Mom would never marry a thief."

"Well apparently she did, if this letter's true." Cami said sarcastically.

Sam looked up at her. "What? You think it's a fake?"

"No, it's Dad's handwriting and it's relaxed." Cami said looked over the writing. "I doubt he was forced to write it."

"So we're assuming it's true." Cami nodded at Sam's statement. "And we need to get into the police station anyway. We need to see if Mom's alright." He continued.

"Finally!" Cami said. "I've been worried. So we grab the file while in there?"

"No, we need a plan." Sam said. He cocked his head. "You sound perfectly happy to steal something from the cops."

Cami stiffened and didn't say anything. Sam saw her tail bristle, like it always does when she's nervous.

"Let's just go." Cami did not look at Sam and shoved the debit cards into her bag. She walked away, careful to not meet his eyes.

Later, Sam was looking at the police station from a nearby roof. Cami was on the ground. Sam knew it was dangerous to be on the ground, but he wasn't worried about her. Cami had an uncanny way of hiding herself. No one could ever find her unless she wanted him or her to: no one, except Sam.

The police station was clear. There was no sign of the people who had surrounded it earlier. Sam was confused and worried. He had no idea what happened to his mother and he couldn't see any enemies. That unnerved him. Sam's fox eyes caught movement across the street. It was Cami, giving him the 'all clear'. Sam climbed down a pipe to the road and joined Cami in the alleyway.

"I didn't see anyone and I managed to get a look in one of the windows. It was creepy." Cami shivered.

"'Creepy'? How so?" Sam asked urgently.

"Everything was normal!" Cami said unnerved. "Everyone was perfectly relaxed and no one was injured or anything! You have no idea how weird that was to see!"

"Well, if everything is normal, we can just walk in and ask to see our mom." Sam said sarcastically.

Cami's face lit up. "Hey, that's not a bad idea!"

Sam looked at her incredulously. "That was a joke!"

"Bad joke; good idea." Cami pushed her bag behind a dumpster and tossed the holstered pistol on top of it. "Stay here. I'll yell if I need you." Cami was walking out of the alley when Sam came to his senses. He grabbed her arm.

"I'm not letting you go in there alone." Sam said stubbornly.

"Stop being such a big brother." Cami pulled her arm out of his grip and continued walking. Sam barred her way.

"I am your big brother." Sam said. Cami tried to walk by him, but Sam kept blocking her way.

"Only by three minutes fifty-six seconds." Cami grabbed Sam by the shoulders. "I'll be fine. You can't come with me because we have to walk in unarmed or else everything gets complicated, to put it lightly. Look, I'm good at escapes. You know that."

A ghost of a smile appeared on Sam's face. "I still have no idea on how you got away with the food fight, last year."

Cami gently pushed Sam aside. "I'm fast with excuses and I am very good at not being seen." She was gone in a flash.

Sam sighed: Cami was right. Sam kept the shock pistol out and listened carefully for any signs of anything bad.

Cami walked in the familiar police building and looked around. Everything was unnervingly normal. The calico cat guard was reading her book and drinking her tea. The waiting room was empty.

"Oh, hello Camille." The cat said when she noticed Cami.

"Evening." Cami said evenly. "Where are my parents?"

The cat wrinkled her eyebrows. "On vacation, of course! They took the month off! You should know this."

Cami tried to hide her confusion. She smiled charmingly. "Of course, I meant that my parents asked me to get some things out of their offices. They're always working, you know."

The cat laughed, showing off her pointed canines. "Make sure they take a break some time, Camille. Go right in." The cat waved Cami through the door.

Cami smiled and waved charmingly at the officers she knew. Commissioner Loup came over to talk to Cami when he noticed Cami.

"Hello Camille. How are you?" Loup had a cup of coffee in his paw. Charles Loup was a wolf with brown fur and a shortened tail due to an accident when he was new at being a cop.

"Doing well, Commissioner. I just need to get some stuff for my parents. They refuse to stop working." Cami said breezily.

Loup laughed a booming laugh. "I know what you mean. I'll walk you to their office."

Cami stiffened for a moment. She couldn't let Loup see what she was getting. "That's alright. I know you have a lot of work to do. I don't want to distract you."

Loup shrugged. "I need a break anyway, it's fine."

Loup put a paw on Cami's shoulder and steered her to the office her parents share. Cami decided to keep him talking. "So, how long have my parents been on vacation?" She asked innocently.

"Oh, just today. Why did your parents send you at this time of night?" Loup asked looking at the dark sky outside the window.

"I'm a night creature and they were both tired. I offered, and they accepted." Cami lied easily. Well, it's not all a lie. Cami thought to herself. I am a night creature.

"Well, what are they looking for?" Loup asked as he opened the door.

"Um, well I-" Cami stuttered. "Uh, they said I would find right on their desks." Cami mentally slapped herself. That was the worst excuse she had made since she was four.

"Okay." Loup's graying eyebrows knit together. "Are you sure? I don't see any files." He placed his coffee on the table.

"Uh, I'll find it." Cami shrugged. "They must have accidently left it somewhere."

"Alright." Loup said picking his coffee mug back up. "Well, if you need me, call." Loup moved towards the door, but he stopped at the window and stared out it.

"What?" Cami asked. She looked out the window and saw the fire escape that she and Sam had shoved off the side of the building to deter any pursuers.

"Why is that on the ground?" Cami asked, playing innocent.

"What?" Loup asked. He was squinting out the window. "I don't see anything."

Cami gave him a penetrating gaze. The fire escape was right under a streetlight. Unless, Loup had recently gone blind or Cami was hallucinating, there was no possible way Loup could miss it.

"The fire escape, can't you see it?" Cami asked anyway.

"What fire escape? We've never had a fire escape on his building, although, we probably should. I'll recommend we spend part of our budget this year on a fire escape for this building." Loup walked out leaving a dumbfounded Cami alone.

Cami shook her head. She would think about the creepy strangeness later, right now she needed to get the file. Cami started opening drawers on the desks. She scanned the names looking for Sly Cooper. Cami soon gave up on the drawers, and looked for any secret compartments on the desks. She found her and Sam's backpacks under the desks and her mother's holster for the shock pistol. Cami took the holster and leafed through the backpacks, looking for anything useful. Cami took out her notebook, some pencils, and her cell phone from her bag and took out Sam's cell phone from his bag.

Cami continued searching the room for her father's Interpol file, but she couldn't find it in the office. Cami was getting annoyed until she realized that Interpol would never let her father or mother have the file. It was probably in Loup's office. How could she get in there without anyone seeing? Cami leaned against her father's desk and stared at the wall. Cami then smiled; the wall had a ventilation shaft that she could fit in.

Sam was tapping his foot impatiently. Cami had been in there for too long. Sam was getting twitchy and nervous. He needed to know what the heck was going on in there. Multiple times Sam considered going in and multiple times he imagined the outcome if he did and Cami didn't need him.

"Dang it, Cami. Why are you so freaking reckless?" Sam muttered to himself. Sam started to pace up and down the alley. He kept his shock pistol ready.

"Cam, if you don't come out of there in one piece, I'm going to learn necromancy to bring you back just so I can kill you myself." Sam muttered.

"Oh, you care." Sam jerked around and saw Cami smiling as she clutched a very thick file and a notebook.

"How the heck did you do that?" Sam asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I'll tell you later. We need to find a place to sleep." Cami picked up her bag and stuffed the notebook and file in. She tossed the holster to Sam.

"You got me Mom's holster?" Sam asked as he belted it on and slid the pistol in it.

"Yeah, well, I had one and you didn't." Cami slid the shock pistol in the holster and slung the bag on her back. "Any ideas on where we can sleep?" She asked Sam.

Sam looked up at the sky. "I have one idea. Come on."