A few days had passed and I lost in thought about my current predicament.
Atlas and I had discussed about my payment a while back, and as I suspected, he planned on compensating me based on the cases I solved for him.
It was a clever move on his part--he knew that cases weren't a daily occurrence, and even if they did happen, it didn't necessarily mean he would always need my help. By doing this, he could keep his payments to a minimum.
I regretted having agreed to these terms.
POPIPOPIPOPOPIPO! Luna's phone was ringing. She picked it up, putting her earphones in her ears.
"Yes," she said, "what is it, brother?"
I looked at her.
Luna's expression suddenly brightened as she received a reply. Her eyes widened and her lips formed a smile.
"Really!?" she said in disbelief. "I finally get to be involved in a case?"
But as fast as the click of a button, her expression turned to disappointment and confusion in an instant. "What do you mean, 'don't get too excited'?" she asked, pouting. "So do I get to be involved in the case or not? An old lady? U-huh. U-huh. Okay, I will tell Geo."
The pink girl turned to me, her eyes shining.
"Geo, we've got a case!" Luna said excitedly.
"Yeah, I know," I said. "And I bet you're wearing earphones because you're copying a detective movie. Sometimes the characters use them so other people can't hear what they're talking about, even if there's a listening device attached to their clothes."
"Ehehe, so you know," Luna said, blushing.
"But it's meaningless if I can tell what you're talking about from your one-sided conversation," I said.
Luna blinked. "You can tell?"
"Of course," I said. "It's about an uncertain case from an old woman, right?"
"Wow, so your deduction skills are good too?" Luna said. "That's unexpected."
"Why unexpected?" I asked, a little offended.
"Well, I mean," Luna replied uncomfortably, "considering you don't like studying..." Her voice trailed off.
"You think I can't use my brain?" I snorted. "I just hate studying. Just because academic study is pretty boring to me doesn't mean I'm stupid."
Luna giggled. "Sorry."
"Whatever," I sighed. "So what exactly did Atlas say?"
"Right," Luna smiled. "My brother said there's an old woman reporting a case of theft. But the problem is nothing was stolen."
"Doesn't that mean she just lied?" I said. "or not. It wouldn't be an uncertain case if the reason was that obvious."
Luna nodded. "The old woman said she had proof, so my brother asked us to check it out. He already sent the address to me."
"Just the two of us?" I asked. "Atlas won't come?"
"Yes," Luna said. "He's busy with another case. Is that a problem? Are you not going to accept this?"
She looked at me with a disappointed look.
I'm not too sure about dealing with a case without Atlas. What if we mess up? No, probably that's why. This case is probably low in priority and low in danger. That's why he's fine letting us handle it. After all, it might be just one big lie from the old lady.
I'm not exactly eager to do this, but I already agreed to work with him, so I just need to do it.
"Alright," I said. "Let's go there after school."
"Yes!" Luna replied with a happy smile.
***
After school, we walked for several minutes until we arrived in front of a big, old house.
"Is this the place?" I said.
Luna looked at her phone and said, "Yes, the address matched."
We entered the courtyard of the house, and as we walked in, we saw a man with black hair busy cutting leaves from the bushes.
He noticed us.
"Good afternoon," Luna greeted him.
"Good afternoon," he replied. "Are you two here to see the old lady, Mrs. Belinda?"
"Yes," Luna said with a smile.
"I see," he said. "Good luck then."
Good luck? I raised my eyebrows. That's a weird thing to say. I immediately feel like something will go wrong.
We walked towards the door, and Luna began knocking.
"Excuse me," she said.
Not long after, the door was opened by a young blonde woman wearing a maid outfit.
"Hello," she said, smiling warmly. "Do you two need something?"
"Right," Luna said. "We have some business with Mrs. Belinda. Is she at home right now?"
The maid looked at us for a moment before responding, "Yes, she is. It's unusual for Mrs. Belinda to receive visitors as young as you, but please come in and follow me. I'll take you to her."
Luna nodded and walked inside, while I followed in silence.
The maid led us to the living room and told us to take a seat. Luna and I sat down as the maid went to inform Mrs. Belinda of our arrival.
A few minutes later, an elderly woman with completely white hair and half-moon shaped glasses appeared. She was slightly overweight and had wrinkles all over her face, with two large marble-shaped earrings in her ears. As soon as she saw us, she scowled.
She walked with a cane, sat down on an empty sofa, and said, "What do you want? I'm busy. What brats like you need from me? I'm not interested if you want to sell something to me!"
Luna tried to smile and said, "No, that's not it."
I sighed, realizing why the gardener had wished us good luck earlier.
Luna cleared her throat and introduced us, "Good afternoon, Mrs. Belinda. My name is Luna, and this is my friend Geo. We're here because my brother is a policeman. He asked us to come here in his place. It's about your report."
"What!?" the old lady yelled. "This is humiliation! I'm reporting a serious crime, and they send two brats to me?! Do you think I'm a joke!?"
"Actually, it's the opposite," Luna quickly interjected. "My brother can't come, so instead of waiting, he sent us because he knows how important this case is."
The old lady grunted, but her anger seemed to dissipate. "Fine, I guess I'll have to be satisfied with just the two of you."
Not bad, Luna. But you lie so easily, almost as natural as breathing. Aren't you a little bit of a hypocrite then? Considering you didn't like me getting paid and cheating at school. But lying was okay?
"What?" Luna asked, noticing me staring at her.
"Nothing," I said quickly. "So, Mrs. Belinda, can you tell us what happened?"
"As I reported before," she said, "it's a serious theft case! Last night, I woke up because I heard a sound, and when I checked, my safe's door was open!"
"But when you checked, nothing was missing?" Luna asked.
"That's right," the old lady confirmed.
"Maybe you just forgot to close it?" I suggested.
"Of course not!" the old lady yelled. "You think I'm old? Hah!?"
Uh... yeah? Have you looked in the mirror?
"What we're trying to say is," Luna interjected, "if you can check it immediately, the safe was in your room, right?"
"That's right!" the old lady confirmed. "And I'm sure one of my workers did it!"
"Why do you think that?" Luna asked.
"There's no damage on the door or windows," the old lady explained. "It's impossible for the culprit to be from outside, right?"
"I guess," Luna replied. "And who are these three workers you're talking about?"
"I see," Luna said, nodding. "And who are the three workers you mentioned?"
"The gardener, Draco, who brought you in, my maid, Bela, and my chef, Pegasus," the old lady replied. "I'm sure one of them is the culprit. If I hadn't woken up, I would have lost all my precious jewelry!"
"Do you share the combination with them?" I asked.
"Of course not!" she replied. "Why would I?"
"Perhaps you wrote it down somewhere--" I started to say.
"I'm not old, you brat!" she interrupted, raising her voice. "My mind is still sharp! I don't need to write it down to remember the combination!"
"Okay," I said. "But if you have it memorized, how could they figure out the combination?"
"I don't know how, but they must have found a way!" the old lady insisted. "I know they did!"
"But how do you know that?" I asked, feeling frustrated.
I let out a sigh. "Never mind. Can we at least check your safe?"
"No way!" the old lady yelled. "Why would I let two stinky brats touch my precious safe? Don't tell me you two are trying to steal from me too?!"
This freaking old lady...
"Be patient," Luna whispered, smiling and encouraging me.
"Fine," I said. "At least can I ask a few questions about that safe? If you can't even do that, then we can't do anything."
The old lady stared at me. I stared back.
"Okay," the old lady said, giving up. "What do you want to know?"
"What kind of combination does it have?" I asked. "Is it just a number?"
"Yes, specifically four numbers," the old lady replied.
"Just four? Isn't that too weak?" I said.
"I know that!" she started yelling again. "That's why I also installed a fingerprint scanner!"
A fingerprint scanner? I thought. This house didn't have a bell, but she installed something like that on her safe? I wondered if someone gave her the idea.
The maid entered the room with three cups of tea and some cookies.
"Please enjoy," the maid, Bela, said with a smile.
"Enough," the old lady said. "Go now."
It was obvious she didn't want the maid to listen to our conversation. Bela nodded and left the room.
"Drink it, brats," the old lady said. "Don't waste food."
Luna happily accepted the offer, picking up her cup and taking a sip. She also grabbed a cookie and took a bite.
Meanwhile, I was lost in thought, pondering how to bypass the fingerprint scanner. I stared at my cup, deep in thought.
An idea came to my mind. I pick up my cup.
...
As I thought.
I drank the tea and put down my cup.
"Let's go," I said to Luna. "Our job here is done."
"What? Why?" she asked in confusion.
***