Her heart was beating faster than ever. She shouted- “CLIFF!” opening the door as fast as she could. Cliff rushed towards her and she hugged her tight as soon as she saw him and pointed at the mirror. Cliff froze. He saw the fog fading away.
“She was clearly listening to our conversation yesterday. There is no other possible way she could have known I said ‘Who?’!”
“She was inside the house! She could never have been able to penetrate the security set up by me!”
“And Enif, how did I collapse? I mean I have seen dead bodies! And I don’t think it was the fear of Mrs. Anonymous!”
“Yeah, about that! I sent that paper to the laboratory and the reports said that there was something in the blood! Did you smell it?”
“Yeah! To confirm it was blood!”
“Oh no! Is she going to be okay?” Cliff asked anxiously.
“Don’t worry Clifford! Its smell was enough to keep her asleep for around six to eight hours!”
“That’s good! I mean-I thought it would be something more deadly!” Clifford exclaimed wearily.
“Enif, what security are you talking about?” Lyric questioned curiously.
“Lasers and bunch of security cameras-” he started but Lyric cut him in middle.
“When you say security cameras, she has passed them before!”
“Repeat what you said!” he replied, a light bulb sparking over his head.
“I said that Mrs. Anonymous has crossed those security cameras before! It’s no big-”
“All we need to do, is check his previous thefts!”
“Her!” Lyric corrected him.
“Whatever…”
Lyric was still in her bathrobe. She stood up and changed her clothes. She was feeling a little distracted by the behaviour of Lady Valarie. She was continuously looking at Lyric and then at Cliff and Enif. Lyric was also feeling ill and tired. She felt sick. So, she took the thermometer to measure her temperature. It was really high but she didn’t care, she wanted to help Enif, as much as she could. But unfortunately, Cliff noticed the thermometer in her hands and took it gently from her. “You are staying home! And I am calling the doctor!”
“I am a doctor and-I think-”
“You need to go to the investigation and all that! No! You can do it at home as long as you stay here!”
“Okay…I’ll tell Enif!”
“It must be the shock and the chilly weather!” Enif replied disappointed.
“I am sorry…”
“No…no! We can watch the CCTV recording here!”
“What-you have it?”
“Just called for it! They mailed me! All of them! They are ready to do anything to catch the thief.”
“Wow!”
“As long as we mention them in the credits!”
Lyric laughed. “So, we are watching it?”
“Yeah why? Something wrong?”
“Nope! I am all fine with it!”
“That’s great!”
After few minutes of taking medicines (forcefully by Cliff), Lyric sat on her long study table with Enif. They started with the first theft of Mrs. Anonymous. It was in a huge Museum. There sat, in the centre, one of the most prestigious gems in the world surrounded by five feet of random lasers. It was New Zealand. Seven years ago. The gem was there. Suddenly the camera recording stopped. Then came back in 13.76 seconds. The gem was still there, in the same way like it had been before. But then there was a multicolour projection or light and everything went blur for half a second and then they saw Mrs. Anonymous, holding the gemstone outside the laser protection. She was wearing a black jacket, black treggings, black gloves and black boot with an ANONYMOUS written at the back of her jacket in white. And there was something in her jacket pocket of which they could just catch a glimpse. In her other hand, there was a yo-yo, a toy yo-yo. It was weird. The cushion, where the jewel was supposed to be, was empty. It was a smart theft; and Lyric realised from the look on Enif’s face that he knew nothing, had no clue. He had to rewind the tape three times before watching the recording of the second theft. It was as mystifying as the first one. The only difference was that first the jewel disappeared and then a minute later, they saw Mrs. Anonymous walking with the jewel in her hand. There was a little mud on her black shoes. She then disappeared behind the thick mist that was formed due to the rainy atmosphere. After watching few more thefts, Enif said, “There is one common thing in all the above thefts! They took place during rainy weather or atmosphere. But there is no other clue! Any suggestions, doctor?”
“Maybe she hacked the system.” Lyric suggested coughing.
“Lyric, I seriously think you should get some rest!”
“No, I am fine!” Lyric argued stubbornly.
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah, so what do you think? Do you think she hacked the CCTV camera to keep playing the tape of last few minutes while she could steal the jewels?”
“Well, that does not answer why she was holding that toy yo-yo and something was in her pocket.”
“Yeah, that still remains a mystery! I think-ok I have no guess or anything!”
“She looks really smart!”
“I think she looks rather cunning!”
“Whatever…so, then what should we do?”
“Watch more videos of her thievery, hoping she has left a clue, what else?”
“But don’t you think it’s waste of time?”
“Not exactly-and well actually there is no other way. We can do some more investigation but it would be useless, we both know that!” It was hard for Enif to admit it but- yes it was useless. All the investigation and research was useless. Trying to catch Mrs. Anonymous was like catching smoke with hands.
“We could set up a bait for her! Like keeping a jewel in museum and spreading the word about it! She might get greedy and try to come and steal it!”
“An itty-bitty reminder-it’s Mrs. Anonymous we are talking about and she never attacks without any plans! She took two and a-half years to steal that token of love! You don’t possibly expect her to attack without planning and if she plans, then even with a hundred soldiers you won’t be able to catch her!”
“You say as though you know her!”
“I have seen her! It was enough to get an idea of her deadliness!”
“Uh-huh? How did she look like! Tell me about her! I mean we can prepare a sketch of!”
