Chapter 20 In the Drawers

It was time. Shellock, Tack, and Tillie were going to pull off this pseudo-heist. The bandit's house laid right in front of them, just waiting to be searched through. Shellock could barely breathe as his excitement climbed higher and higher. Seriously, they were so close to actually solving the mystery! They were so close to finding out who attacked Roy and Celia. Sure, they might not necessarily find out who was responsible for the phantoms, but just the fact that they were this close to cracking this case made Shellock's heart pump.

"Okay." Shellock looked up at Tack. "You knock on the door, and Tillie and I will go around back."

"Yep; sounds good," Tack said with a nod. He looked back at Tillie. "Stay close to Lemm… uh, I mean, Shellock. Don't separate yourselves from one another; it'd be best if you to stay together."

Tillie sniffed and nodded. "Yep."

Shellock took a deep breath. They were really doing this. They were actually, legitimately doing this.

"Okay." He gestured for Tillie to follow him to the side of the house, which they did. As they snuck by, Tack went up to the front door, looking cheerful and jovial against all odds (seriously, he was going up against a potentially dangerous criminal; his acting skills must be amazing). Shellock stopped near the side of the house, just out of sight from the front door. He strained his ears, hoping to hear the door opening after Tack knocked knocked knocked on it. And, thankfully, he did. The door opened up, and Tack's voice immediately rang out in a casual greeting.

"Hello, Benson! Boy, am I glad to see you!"

"Oh, great. It's you." Shellock blinked at Benson's response. "Why are you here, Tack?"

"I just want to talk with you," Tack said. "I haven't seen you in a while, and I want to catch up. After all, that's what friends do!"

"I am not your friend!"

"You're friends with Tillie."

"Tillie's different! You and Tillie aren't the same person and will never BE the same person! Tillie knows what I like. You, on the other hand, are the biggest nuisance this side of Sarasaland!"

Shellock kept his ears open. "Fascinating." What made Benson dislike Tack so vehemently? What made him talk to him in this angry, miffed tone?

"Shellock, come on!"

And just like that, Shellock remembered he was on a mission. "Right, right. Sorry, Tillie." He snuck, quietly yet swiftly, towards Tillie. Without any words, they went in through the back door (Shellock was thankful that it was unlocked; the thought of breaking in through a window didn't appeal to him at all). Once they were inside, Shellock looked over the kitchen. It appeared normal. Normal sink, normal cabinets, normal oven… nothing stood out. Hell, nothing in here relayed the message that they were in the home of a thief. If anything, they appeared to be in the home of a neat and tidy person, one who always put their best foot forward and made sure that every part of their living area appealed to a level of cleanliness.

"Shellock?" Tillie whispered. "Are you…"

"I'm quite alright, Tillie." The two of them made their way out of the kitchen and into the living room, which also appeared neat and orderly. "I'm just… perplexed, is all. I mean, this place gives me no reason to believe that Benson the Bandit is as dastardly as his potential crimes say he is. If anything… I am almost ready to say I was mistaken about him."

Tillie paused for a second. "Well… sometimes, the people who you least expect are the ones who are the most dangerous."

Shellock bit his lip. "Perhaps…" he mulled over those words before, once again, he remembered that he was here on a mission. He looked up at Tillie. "So… where should we start?"

"Bedroom," she said with a nonchalant tone.

"Hmm. That seems sensible; there are probably a lot of places for Benson to hide some treasure there." He allowed Tillie to lead the way up to the bedroom, as she had supposedly been here before. Not daring to veer too far away from her, Shellock kept one ear directed towards the door. He hoped that Benson wouldn't come back in. He hoped that Tck would keep him occupied, as him coming back into his house when Shellock and Tillie were snooping around would be disastrous. He could already imagine how much of a clusterfuck that situation would be. As such, when he was halfway up Benson's stairs, he looked out the window. He couldn't help but let out a breath when he saw Benson and Tack still talking with each other.

"I don't even know why I'm letting you stay here!" Benson said. "I should file a restraining order against you!"

"Oh, Benson, that isn't necessary…"

"But it's the only way that you'll leave me alone!"

Once again, Shellock was fascinated by those words. Especially when he considered what Tack had told him before, how he and Benson were friends. Clearly, that was a lie, but… why would Tack even tell a lie in the first place? Why was he trying to paint a picture of reality that wasn't accurate? Maybe he wanted to believe that he and Benson were friends? Maybe he called them friends because Tack saw potential in a friendship with this bandit? That was probably it. If that was the case, Shellock wouldn't be surprised in the least. Although, he also had to admit that he felt extremely sorry for Tack. He was a nice guy; why couldn't Benson see that?

Oh well. He continued his way up the stairs, meeting Tillie at the top. They snuck towards the bedroom at the end of the hallway, all while Shellock tried to stay as quiet as possible. Sure, he knew no one was in the house to hear him at the moment, but still. One could never be too careful.

Finally, he and Tillie got to the bedroom. Much to Shellock's delight, there were a ton of shelves filling up the room. Dresser shelves, desk shelves… there were even shelves on the base of the bed. This whole thing filled Shellok with glee. Sure, it would probably take a while for him to search through all these shelves, but still. The fact that they were here at all told him that Benson more than likely hid the ring in this room.

"Shall we get searching, Tillie?"

Tillie nodded and made her way over to the shelves at the base of the bed. Meanwhile, Shellock made his way over to the desk. The first shelf he pulled out appeared to be a junk drawer, as it was full of all sorts of tiny knick-knacks. Pencils, rubber bands, paper clips, scissors… it was all there. And honestly, wouldn't hiding a small ring amongst stuff like this be for the best? Benson, if he was smart, would probably bury the ring at the bottom of the drawer; after all, rummaging through all the junk in here would probably take forever.

But Shellock didn't care about that; he still searched regardless. He moved all the stuff around, determined to get to the bottom of the drawer. He was so certain that he would see the ring in there, and yet, no. It wasn't. It wasn't anywhere in this drawer.

"Hmm. Looks like we're dealing with a tricky thief here." He closed the drawer and swiftly made his way over to the second drawer. What he found in there, while interesting, also made his blood boil. No, not because the ring wasn't among the stuff; he more so felt annoyed as to what all that stuff was.

"Toys?" He picked up an action figure, then a plushie. Blinking, he turned toward Tillie, rummaging around in the bed drawers. At was while he did that that he noticed the stuffed animals on Benson's bed for the first time, which only ignited more wrath in him. "Tillie, why in the world would Benson have so many toys? He's a full grown adult, is he not?"

"He is." Tillie was silent for a minute, clearly thinking about this newly discovered predicament before she shrugged. "Benson just really likes his toys, I suppose."

More rage filled Shellock, more than he reasonably knew what to do with. Benson the Bandit, the same guy who told Shellock that he needed to "grow up" simply because he was doing his best to solve a mystery… liked to keep toys in his room. Based on the wide assortment of action figures he had, he seemed to be obsessed with trying to collect as many as possible. And that… that was awful. That showed just how hypocritical and callous he was about everything. The fact that he had the gall to call Shellock childish and say he needed to grow up while also holding onto something that was CLEARLY designed for kids…

Oh man, Shellock couldn't remember the last time he felt this angry. He wanted to tear this bandit's home to shreds. He wanted to take all of his toys and throw them on the fire. He wanted to strangle Benson to death for even thinking of making Shellock look and feel like a fool. Was it bad that he had these feelings? He didn't think so. They were one hundred percent justified. Justice needed to be served to this horrible, deplorable, malicious criminal. Benson needed to be shown, once and for all, that he couldn't act with such reckless abandon and get away with it. He couldn't and wouldn't walk out of this situation completely unscathed.

"Shellock?" There was a certain level of concern in Tillie's voice, one that Shellock never heard in his previous interactions with her. "What's wrong?"

Oh God, was Shellock crying? Tears were building in his eyes, so he definitely was. Which… he shouldn't cry! The great and impressive Shellock Holmes, the most brilliant detective on the face of the planet… really shouldn't be acting this vulnerable. He really shouldn't be feeling this distraught. The case came first; emotions hardly mattered when there was a very important mystery that needed to be solved. So… he needed to stop.

"Nothing's wrong, Tillie." Shellock sniffled and dried his eyes. "I just… I just let my emotions get the better of me for a second there."

Tillie nodded. "I can understand that." She turned back to the drawers. "Well… we'll find the ring, and Benson will be put in jail in no time."

Shellock sighed. "That's the hope." Not only was it the hope, but it was a very strong hope. If Shellock couldn't get revenge on Benson in the way he desired, then he at the very least could give Benson his just desserts. He could let the law take care of this person, this criminal. He could hand him off to the police and not worry about what became of him. Honestly, that was an appealing thought. It wasn't as appealing as destroying every last one of his blasted toys, but it was still appealing.

So, the two continued searching. About ten minutes had passed before, much to his disappointment, Shellock was starting to get fed up. The ring wasn't anywhere. None of the places that Shellock was searching had the ring, which meant their entire search was fruitless. Oh, they had just wasted the better part of the last twenty five minutes! They had let Benson make fools of them! They had failed to discover his wicked, evil secrets, and as such, they weren't anywhere close to actually solving the mystery.

"Bloody hell," Shellock cursed. He took off his hat, trying his best to not get angry all over again. Although, that was much easier said than done, especially seeing how Shellock's ego had been shattered to the nth degree. Seriously, no one made fools of him! No one went out of their way to make him look like an idiot! The fact that someone not only attempted such a thing but also succeeded in the endeavor was… it was maddening.

"This is close to hopeless," he said as he put his cap back on. "The ring will remain missing, and the case will remain unsolved." He gripped his hand into a fist. "This is awful. Roy and Celia were attacked by someone, and that someone is going completely scott free."

Tillie sighed. "Yeah…"

Shellock shook his head. "Well… I suppose we should make our way out. Tack can only distract Benson for so long, so we need to…"

"Shellock, look!"

Shellock blinked. He made his way over to Tillie, who was leaning over the bed drawer closest to the wall. She pointed inside, and when Lemmy looked in… when he saw what was at the bottom of the drawer, he gasped.

"By jove! We found it!" He smiled. "We found the ring!"