Chapter 5
<5th Episode>
One of those pages actually contained my eyewitness account.
It seemed I'd been noticed doing something strange because a sudden mission popped up just as I was delivering the warning notice.
'Wear a Tyrannosaurus Rex costume, call a Tyrannosaurus Rex fossil 'Dad,' and wail? Do I want to end up dead after being arrested?'
Anyway, I burned and discarded one of those memo pages.
But if only that one page disappeared, I'd be suspected. It might even be easier to recall the information on the missing page.
So, as a diversion, I got rid of two more.
In truth, my primary reason for taking a job in a tiger's den, one that sought to devour me, was not money, but to obstruct the investigation.
However, achieving my goal proved more difficult than expected. All because of that persistent human.
"Smith said he delivered all ten to Miss Kent. Who's lying?"
Hunt was a man of no blood or tears; pretending to be clueless or pitiful didn't work on him.
"My intuition as an investigator tells me Claire isn't lying."
But it works well on the man who suddenly interjected. That was Inspector Wesson. He was the second-in-command of the Special Investigation Unit.
"Isn't it like last time, where Smith tripped, spilled coffee, and destroyed evidence?"
"It wasn't me!"
From the back of the office, the youngest officer, clad in a navy uniform, shouted, holding a coffee mug.
"I swear on my grandmother's life."
Swearing on his beloved grandmother meant he was incredibly wronged.
Smith had every right to be wronged.
It was I who tripped him three months ago, causing him to spill coffee on the evidence and render it unusable.
Officer Smith, the unit's rookie, was a clumsy sort. Thanks to him, I had an unwitting, regular accomplice in my evidence-tampering schemes.
In return, as a reward, I always kept the break room stocked with his favorite coffee and snacks.
"Which part is missing? I'll send Smith to the museum to get a new testimony, Chief."
Even so, his memory, dulled over a few days, wouldn't be as accurate as it was at first.
Anyway, as Wesson stepped forward to handle the situation, I offered my assistance.
"Just in case, I'll have a look too."
Though I doubted I'd find anything.
Hunt briefly glanced between Wesson, who smiled confidently, and me, with my cowering eyes.
"Do so."
With that brief instruction, he handed the file to Wesson and lifted his feet from the floor. Then, he walked towards me.
'Huh? He's too close?'
The man who always maintained a certain radius from others, as if everyone else had the plague, brushed past me.
So close that our arms touched as he passed.
"Ah!"
I turned around to see his pristine navy uniform sleeve covered in cat hair.
"Chief!"
I grabbed Hunt's arm.
"You have cat hair on your clothes, let me get it for you..."
"Stop."
Hunt narrowed his eyes as if disgusted and yanked his arm away. As if I might infect him with something.
'Ugh, that arrogance.'
No need to be nice to him.
As I glared at his annoyingly handsome receding back, Wesson offered words of comfort from behind.
"It's not Claire's fault, the Chief is just in a bad mood today."
"Did something happen?"
"He almost caught the Thieving Crow yesterday but let them get away."
"Ah..."
I pretended to hear it for the first time, even though I knew the story.
"And then, the Scarlet Queen's Heart was stolen as well."
"Ah?"
This was the first I'd heard of it, so I didn't need to pretend.
The Scarlet Queen's Heart was a fist-sized, heart-shaped ruby owned by a royal family in a country across the sea. The value of this, the largest and most precious ruby in the world, was astronomical.
There was no way I, Gemma Steel, wouldn't know about such jewels, but I'd never heard it was stolen.
"Who?"
"Who else? The Thieving Crow, of course."
Huh? I didn't steal it?
♥ I will steal the Scarlet Queen's Heart on the Night of Patronage ♥
I had sent a warning notice like this, but my target was an opal named Cat's Eye.
That was merely a ruse to lure the police and security forces from the permanent exhibition hall where the opal was, to the special exhibition hall where the ruby was.
My original plan was to lure people to the wrong place and then calmly steal my target.
"As expected, you were here."
But midway, Hunt, that man more dog-like than a police dog, caught a whiff of something suspicious and I was discovered.
However, it seemed my theft of Cat's Eye had been buried. Well, I had replaced it with a perfect replica, so it would take time to be discovered.
'So, I won't get bonus Notoriety Points?'
Wesson seemed to have completely misunderstood my dejected expression.
"My world has gone dark too. An item I painstakingly borrowed was stolen. The Presidential Palace and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are in an uproar, all the way here."
"I can imagine."
"Only the distinguished guests at the Night of Patronage party were thrilled. To have been in the same space as that beautiful phantom thief. It's something to brag about."
"Indeed, I suppose so."
"How many people are going to be held accountable because of that one woman? Sigh."
"......"
This time, I was genuinely wronged.
It wasn't my doing. I don't take on missions that cause such widespread damage. I'd rather take a loss.
Besides, the Scarlet Queen's Heart didn't even appear on my mission window.
'Whose doing is this?'
The warning notice had already been reported by the media, so anyone could easily know I would be there that day.
Someone had slyly inserted themselves into my plan and reaped the benefits. They stole an incredibly precious jewel and, in turn, pinned an equally enormous accusation on me.
The investigation would focus on me, so that person wouldn't even be a suspect.
'Clever.'
And their audacity must be as big as a Tyrannosaurus Rex. How did they steal such a large item while avoiding people's eyes?
"Huh?"
Then, something I'd seen yesterday while passing by the exhibition hall where the Scarlet Queen's Heart was displayed suddenly came to mind.
'No way. Why would that person...'
I immediately dismissed my flimsy suspicion and started worrying about myself.
'Do I need to clear up this misunderstanding?'
But would anyone believe me if I said I didn't steal it? I had loudly proclaimed I would, and I was present at the scene the day the ruby disappeared.
Ding.
[You have earned 1 bonus Notoriety Point!]
Wait a minute.
It's more beneficial for me not to clear up the misunderstanding.
Visitors sitting in the Police Bureau lobby, officers at their desks in the office – everyone held a morning newspaper. The front page featured a headline about me stealing the Scarlet Queen's Heart.
[You have earned 1 bonus Notoriety Point!]
[You have earned 1 bonus Notoriety Point!]
As my notoriety as a criminal increases, I gain bonus Notoriety Points.
[The Tuna Dismantling Party fears you.]
[The Eden City Government despises you.]
[The Mollaone Family respects your skills.]
And the favorability of organizations representing good and evil, like government agencies or criminal syndicates, rises and falls.
Ding ding ding. The notifications rang incessantly, drowning out the sounds of people's conversations.
'Turn off notifications.'
To the now-quiet system, I asked:
'How many points are left until Level 10?'
[4,378,977 points remaining.]
'Uh... how much have I accumulated since last night?'
[100 points.]
I've already accumulated 100 bonus Notoriety Points. That's quite substantial.
'The real culprit probably won't be caught, will they?'
It would be nice if they were caught, but it's not good. They might demand I pay back my bonus points.
'I hope they get caught after I achieve the good ending.'
I decided to trust that this world had no CCTV, let alone color television. And certainly no proper scientific investigations like DNA testing.
At the same time, in the Special Investigation Unit Chief's office.
Raven took out a criminal investigation tool from a drawer.
A famous investigative tool, verified by thousands of years of history and carried by every great investigator and detective in history as if it were a part of them.
A magnifying glass.
Beneath the convex lens lay cat hairs, neatly arranged by color.
Last night, after letting the phantom thief escape, he found cat hairs clinging to his hands and the cuffs of his sleeves. They must have gotten stuck when he grabbed the woman's ankle.
Come to think of it, this wasn't the first time cat hair had been found at a crime scene.
'Does that woman own cats?'
Black, orange, white, brown, gray. All sorts of colors and lengths. She must own a calico cat, or multiple cats.
As he pondered this, pacing the office, his eyes landed on a sweater covered in cat hairs of varying colors and lengths.
It was natural for his suspicion to fall on the woman wearing it.
