Raphael recalled when he first met Sam.
Probably one of the brightest kids he had ever met.
When Raphael first started stealing paintings from across Paris, he wasn't as smooth or confident as he was now. The first painting, Mona Lisa, was on its way to the Louvre. At the shipping yard, Raphael had managed to get the painting with little issue.
Gradually, Inspector Riley became the main detective on the case. Papers were published, articles on this thief with rewards established, criminals of all types and levels were summoned and exploited. But out of everyone, Sam was the first to find him.
Sam had met him at the artwork, having got to it before him. He remembered the over the top manner Sam had been introduced.
"I was expecting this to be far more difficult," Sam said leaning on the wall next to the artwork, "Your reputation certainly gave me better expectations." They pushed off the wall and approached Raphael, dressed in a long brown coat and matching hat.
Raphael's first impression was that Sam was a PI.
Turns out they were something far more convenient.
*
Maria walked beside Raphael on their way to the café, hugging her naked violin and bow as they went. Anita babbled to Raphael about strange ideas, theories on subjects Maria felt too out of context to understand. It was a beautiful day. Paris' cliched setting of dreary cloud cover and, at times, a miserable drizzle of rain, was replaced by a blinding sun, clear blue skies and lively people on their morning strolls.
The trio walked down the path by the water, granting them the soothing trickles as it gently filtered down the street. Men and women walked, arm in arm, down the street, offering gleeful good mornings and a cheery smile, aside from a rather gruff looking man who clipped Raphael's shoulder as they passed.
Maria watched as Anita jogged ahead, at first deliberately hopping on irregular bricks in the pavement, before coming across a strangely dressed man before an easel. Anita glanced at the painting, to the scenery, and smiled, "I like it."
Maria looked at the painting as well, a strange mixture of pinks and blues that she could barely identify. She looked to the view the man was painting; the Eiffel Tower in the distance. Maria failed to see the similarities. But she agreed with Anita, she found something fascinating about it.
"Vous ne pensez pas que c'est trop?" the man asked.
Anita looked to the scenery and shrugged, "il est plus intéressant, Monsieur." Anita kissed her fingertips.
"Lui donne le caractère Moe," Raphael added.
The man cheered and shook both Anita's and Raphael's hands. "Merci!" He offered the three of them plastic flowers.
Maria watched Anita continue to skip around, when she got too far she noticed Anita would throw herself onto the railing, and consider the water or look across the way while she waited for Raphael to catch up. Eventually, the three got to a strip of road that harboured chittering people across three neighbouring cafes. One was an inside café, with a large sign which read 'La petite tasse de thé' or 'The Little Teacup.' The second had the advantage of two levels, on the second having a balcony with tables and chairs for customers to enjoy their breakfast in the morning sun. The third and final café, Le petit café, featured both inside and outside dining tables, and a quaint menu sign with the day's brunch specials written in chalk.
While Maria had never met Sam herself, she guessed quickly who it was.
There was a boy dressed in a brown overcoat, the fabric wrapped tightly around his body and tall collar lifted to cover his neck from the morning wind. He nurtured a white mug between his hands as he appeared to be whistling. As they approached he took off his flat, brown hat and sipped his drink. Maria noticed he was a very lean boy, with smaller features and very feminine blue eyes.
"Sam," Raphael acknowledged tapping him on the shoulder.
Sam grunted, leaning back in his chair and folding his arms. "Phantom."
Maria raised an eyebrow and mouthed the words at Raphael. He made a hush gesture and gave his biggest smile, "It's a pleasure as always."
"Not for me," he replied. His attention went to Anita, who prompted an immediate change in attitude. "How are you this morning, Ann?"
Anita beamed a smile and nodded. "It's been good. On our way over here we saw a man painting the Eiffel Tower."
"Really?"
Anita nodded more vigorously. "But it didn't look like he was painting it, it looked very abstract."
"Is that so?"
Anita showed him the flower. "He gave us all one of these."
Sam examined it quietly for a moment before nodding, "Very pretty."
Maria only realised how young Sam really was. His voice hadn't even broken yet, it continued to break between three softer tones.
Sam noticed Maria and cleared his throat, "Phantom. You have a friend, whom I have never met."
Raphael tilted his hat, "Of course, how ungentlemanly me." He gestured to Maria, then back to Sam, "Maria, meet Sam, Sam this is my new friend Maria."
Sam held a hand out to shake. "Pleasure to make your acquaintance," he said. His accent seemed heavily English-cockney inspired.
"And yours," Maria replied taking his hand. It was incredibly soft.
"Is that your actual name or some sort of code name?" Sam interrogated. Before she could answer he addressed Raphael. "You hiring out, Phantom? I feel cheap."
"She's a friend, Sam. A friend who needs your help."
Raphael pulled open a seat for Anita and Maria before sitting down next to Sam and explaining what had happened the night prior. While he told the story, Anita attempted to order an espresso, only to be caught by Raphael mid-sentence to have the order replaced with a child's version; frothy milk with hints of chocolate. Maria ordered a tea as she rested her violin on her lap.
Sam sat quietly, rubbing his face every now and then in thought, listening to Raphael's story. He frowned at the almost magical element of the ring and pendant.
"Is he pulling my leg?" Sam looked at Maria for conformation.
She was mid-sip but managed to nod. "It was very strange."
"It stunned them, and we managed to get away," Raphael finished. "We've done our own research on the jewellery subject, that's not a problem. But we were wondering if you had heard anything about a group who calls themselves the Unknown Royals."
Sam considered this for a moment, continuing to hold his mug in thought. After a while, he released a long sigh.
"It doesn't ring any bells," he confessed, he pushed the mug away and slouched in his chair. His face was tensed, contorting to different expressions as he thought. Raphael picked up his cup and took a sip from its contents, seeming to like the flavour as he repeated it another three times.
Sam either didn't mind or didn't notice, as when Raphael put the mug down he grasped it again as if it had never been taken.
Eventually, he admitted defeat. He opened his coat to pull out a notepad and pen and started jotting words down.
"Unknown… Royals…" he spoke as he wrote, "What… are… they?... Criminals?... Workers?" He bit down on the end of his pencil, "What do I get out of this?"
Maria furrowed her eyes, but Raphael seemed to understand. "Okay… name it. What do you want?"
Anita started taking big gulps of her drink while Sam hummed. "How about… a full name?" he asked.
Raphael seemed to consider this before countering, "First name."
Sam considered this for a moment and made a half-smile. "First name, and an unsupervised walk with Ann."
Anita stopped slurping at the mention of her name. Maria was greatly confused, watching the back and forth between Raphael and Sam over what appeared to be personal details. Names, addresses, family heritage, occupation, age and even marital status.
Raphael chuckled, "I'll give that to you for free. I'm not married."
"Because you can't or choose not to?" Sam enquired.
Raphael considered this, suddenly adopting a bigger, almost swagger expression. "Would you be jealous if I told you I was engaged?"
Maria was surprised to see Sam blush, even become flustered at this mention. "What? No… I just mean…"
Anita scoffed, "As if you could ever get engaged."
Sam growled, "Phantom!"
Raphael's original demeanour returned as he jokingly patted his back. "I choose not to, Sam. I'm alone in the world."
"Are not," Anita quickly said before continuing her drink.
Sam looked at his notepad and shrugged, "Fine. Occupation and your next heist."
Raphael took a moment to contemplate this. Maria didn't feel it safe to comment on anything, just quietly sipped her tea to ignore her confusion.
"You have a deal, Sam," Raphael assured.
Sam sighed, "Alright." He closed his book and sank into his seat. "Anything else?"
Anita loudly placed the cup on the table, signifying she wanted attention. "How's school, Sam?"
"Yes, how rude of me, we've barely had the chance to speak to each other in weeks." He strongly patted Sam on the back, slightly shocking him, "How is academy life?
He begrudgingly straightened out his coat. "It's fine," his words attempting to sound tough, but his tone made it sound cutesy.
Maria spent most of the coffee meet up in silence, observing as the three spoke to one another. Sam had seemed tense initially towards Raphael, glaring, short statements and snappy remarks, but she watched him loosen up, cracking jokes alongside Raphael to the point Maria saw they could be friends. However, it was obvious Sam and Anita were closer than Sam and Raphael. Anita seemed to be the cause for Sam's sudden charismatic nature.
"So, Maria," he finally said, "What's your plan now? If these Unknown Royals are as scary as they sound, and they came after you, are you going somewhere safe?"
"I'm just going back to the church I'm staying in currently. I hopefully won't be there for much longer, so they might not find me again." She offered a shrug otherwise.
Sam took out his notepad again, licking the tip of the pencil before pressing it against the paper. "Do you know why they attempted to kidnap you?" Sam asked, "Perhaps how they found out about you or where you were?"
Maria was getting bored retelling the same story again and recounted it with a bit more disdain then she intended. But Sam didn't seem to mind, he jotted down notes every now and then, often asking her to repeat certain sections or describe quizzical things in greater detail then she could do.
"Any little thing can be important," he mumbled still focused on his writings. Maria made a sceptical look as she stood from her seat and leaned over the table to see the notepad. Lines of scribbles surrounding a well-drawn image of a suit of armour, the same armour she recognised to be from the knights the previous evening. Her scepticism morphed into a look of disbelief.
There was a moment of silence as Sam seemed to mentally consult himself, his lips parting slightly as he murmured inaudible words. Eventually, he slammed the book closed.
"Okay. I'll see what I can do," he finally said rising from his chair. He took his cup that Raphael before had drunk from and took a long drink of it, when he put the cup down he cringed at the taste, "Blah…" he shivered, despite what Maria thought to be coffee, and left without a goodbye.
Raphael gave a sideways glance to Anita, smirking. "Sam is a little awkward sometimes, but otherwise lovely." Raphael picked up the same cup and continued to drink out of it.
Maria attempted to hide her disgust but was unsuccessful. "That's gross…" she confessed looking away to drink the rest of her tea.
Raphael scoffed, "Sam always buys a large coffee, but never finishes it. Truthfully, I don't think I've ever seen an empty cup." He swirled the remainder of the drink, "I just don't like to see it go to waste. Sam doesn't mind." He drank the rest of it before making a satisfied sigh, "I don't drink coffee enough."
"Me neither," Anita snapped slamming her mug on the table.
Both Maria and Raphael laughed.