Phoebe let out a small gasp. “Cole, you kept them.” Cole pulled Phoebe in close, reached down, and kissed her on the forehead.
I covered my mouth with my hands. “You two are in a relationship and you didn’t want anyone else to know, did you?”
A few tears slid down Phoebe’s cheek. “I was afraid to say anything about my relationship with Cole because of the Divided, Yet One Law. I didn’t know what to say. If I told you that we had been exchanging letters and that we were in a relationship, I was sure that not only would I get in trouble, but so would he and anyone else who we associated with. But if I said nothing and let you think that I was a part of this robbery, then only I would get in trouble. I honestly didn’t know what to do.”
Cole wiped away Phoebe’s tears. “I was scared as well, especially after you approached me and I was hanging out at that anti-Martian rally with my family.”
I shook my head. “Cole, what were you doing there at an anti-Martian rally if you’re in a relationship with a Martian woman?”
Cole scratched his head. “I knew my family was going to come and set up an anti-Martian rally event to help draw attention away from what the princess was trying to accomplish. It’s just that they’re my family and I couldn’t tell them no, I’m not going to come and provide security for you. If I did, I’m sure they would want to know why and I couldn’t tell them the truth that I had fallen in love with a Martian woman. They would lose their minds and try to hunt her down and start harassing her.”
“Okay then, what was the meaning of that letter anyway if it had nothing to do with The Rings of Saturn?”
Phoebe buried her face into Cole’s chest. “Phoebe and I are getting married. I wanted her to ask for her mother’s blessing. Phoebe told me that if she were to ever get married, her mother would give Phoebe her grandparents’ rings. I wanted to know if she had gotten them yet. We had both planned on leaving the Titan to meet a priest so he could marry us in secret the day of the jewelry showcase.”
“Okay, well, what about the bead I found in your suitcase, Phoebe? The one that was the same as what I found at the crime scene. How did you get that?”
Phoebe cut her eyes at Cole before she gave him a quick jab in the stomach. Cole let out a small nervous laugh. “I was a part of the cleanup crew after the robbery had occurred. I found that bead in the hole that was in the door. I gave it to Phoebe as a gift. I thought it would be a perfect match for the dress that I had bought her earlier from Kyon Orthus shop. I know it was foolish of me to do so. I really didn’t think anyone would find out about it.” So far so good. Cole had provided me with a logical explanation for everything that had occurred.
“Phoebe, can you tell me where you were the day of the robbery? If you weren’t at your job, then where were you?”
“I was with some of my friends that I used to work with at the restaurant. They were helping me plan my secret wedding. I didn’t want to mention it earlier because I was afraid that I could get them in trouble.”
“I’m going to need to talk to your friends so I can confirm that what you’re telling me is true okay.”
Phoebe shook her head. “I’m so glad that I don’t work there anymore. I hated that place. Shelia is the worst supervisor I’ve ever had to deal with.”
“What makes you say that?” I asked.
“For one thing, Shelia acted nice toward Martian workers like me when the owner of the restaurant was around, but as soon as he was out of earshot from her, she would spew a bunch of anti-Martian nonsense. She would call us lazy and brag about how she has the power to fire us. Every shift was just as, if not more stressful, than the last. I truly hated being there.”
“I told Phoebe that since we were going to get married soon that I would take care of her and her mother. I told her to quit that stupid stressful job of hers at the restaurant,” Cole stated.
“The very night that I decided to quit my job, I also decided to help myself to some steaks that were about to expire. I know that I shouldn’t have done it, but I really didn’t care if I got caught or not, seeing as I was quitting anyway. After Shelia caught me, she put on quite the show in front of everybody. I felt like, this is it. This is the second sign that I needed to let me know that it was time for me to leave the Titan and to move on with my life.”
I plopped down into the chair that was next to the table and buried my face in my hands. It was really sounding like Phoebe was not the culprit that I was looking for and that Josuke had lied to me. I was sure he probably heard from his uncle about Phoebe and how I was questioning her and decided to pin everything on her instead of telling me who his real partner was! I started to bite down on the end of my fingers; this was beyond aggravating! After all of my hard work and snooping, I was back to square one. I had no clue who actually stole the rings or where they were and I was in no mood to deal with Josuke right now. He’d been lying to me from the start. What I needed was evidence, but where did I even start? I’d looked at this from every angle possible. Just who was this mysterious Martian woman who had stolen The Rings of Saturn? I let out a small sigh and I looked up at Phoebe. I felt so bad for all of the turmoil I had brought into her life; if only she had told me the truth sooner. To be honest, sitting here was starting to feel a little bit awkward. I wasn’t sure what to do, so I engaged in some small talk. “So tell me, Phoebe, what was your first sign that you should have left the Titan?”
“Oh well, I got that sign the day before the robbery. I stopped by the washroom that morning and it turns out that all of my work uniforms had been misplaced. I got written up for not having my uniform on that day.”
“Is there anything else you want to ask Phoebe or me?” Cole planted another kiss on Phoebe’s forehead.
“Cole, stop it,” Phoebe said playfully as she covered her face with her hands. They were really in love and they supported each other. Love, relationships; that’s it! I dashed out of the room without uttering a single word to Cole or Phoebe, and I headed straight for the room that Mr. Hayate and Josuke were in. Both of them had calmed down a bit and Josuke was resting in a chair on the opposite side of the room with his hand over his belly.
“You lied to me, Josuke. I know that Phoebe isn’t the person that you’ve conspired with.” Josuke turned his face toward the floor. “You know, there’s something that’s been bothering me. You have a girlfriend, you’ve talked about her, but you failed to mention her name. Now why in the world would you not give the name of your girlfriend, who you bought expensive makeup for, unless she’s the person that you’ve been working with this entire time?” Josuke rubbed his face with the palm of his hand. “Now, tell me what your girlfriend’s name is, Josuke.”
Josuke drew in a long breath and he slowly let it out. “Her name is Pan…Pan Pikoros.” I took three steps back from Josuke. Pikoros; I remembered that name from the story that Princess Rhea had read to me. That was the last name of the young woman who was supposed to marry the princess’s great-grandfather, but she didn’t and she was kicked out of court. Oh my God, Pan must be her direct descendant. Was she trying to avenge what happened to her family member all those years ago?
All of the small details that I learned about Pan there all falling into place now. She told me that she knew Kari and Hati, of course she knows Kari because she’s been working with Josuke. She must have said that to help make me relax and believe her story. The fact that she works in the laundry department with Hati. She had access to the employee uniforms and it was she who stole Phoebe’s janitorial work uniform. Then Hati said that the last time she had seen Pan was that morning the day before the robbery. I didn’t think Pan was sick at all that day. She came in to work, got what she wanted, and she left work immediately. Then she headed straight for Mrs. Kyon’s jewelry store with her big laundry bag with the janitor’s work uniform tucked inside of it. It all made sense now. I had to find Pan and stop her! There was no time to waste!
“Do you know where Pan is?”
Josuke dipped
his head. “She’s hiding at out at our house,” he said in a half whisper. I glanced over at Mr. Hayate; since the two of them were here, that meant their house was unattended. Kari was probably the only person there right now.
I called the two security officers who were in the room over to me. “Please make sure neither one of them leaves this room, okay?” The both nodded their heads yes and resumed their post next to the person they were guarding. Before I left, I looked over at Mr. Hayate. He kept shaking his head from side to side; his arms were laid down at his side, and he looked lost and completely and utterly dejected. Neither one of them was in any sort of condition to stop me from finishing my investigation.
Thankfully, I was able to catch a hover cab all the way to Mr. Hayate’s house. There was no way I was going to make that long trip on foot, plus I wanted to get there as soon as possible. I knocked on the door three times; on the third knock, a tiny creaking noise came from the door. I looked down at the lock and managed to push the door open just a little bit. This was a little bit scary; why was this door unlocked? Had this been done on purpose? I slowly pushed the door.
“Hello! Kari, are you here?” I waited for Kari to answer me, but the only sound I could hear was my heart thumping against my chest like a drum. What was I so worried about? For all I knew, Kari could be out running an errand for Mr. Hayate or perhaps she decided to leave work earlier because Mr. Hayate and Josuke weren’t there. My mind was just playing tricks on me. I needed to calm down. I opened up the door that led to Josuke’s man-cave basement. I carefully made my way down the stairs amid the pitch-black darkness. Looking back at the situation now, his actions were a little bit on the strange side. When I was going through his room, he stayed in the hallway; he was relaxed and really didn’t care that I was in there. But when I decided to go to the basement, he insisted on going down there ahead of me and the first thing he did was sit on the couch that was in front of that rug on the wall. And that rug; there were all those holes on the wall. I didn’t think all of those holes came from trying to put that carpet up perfectly. If that was the case, those holes would have been all over the rug and not just in that one spot. I thought that Josuke was hiding something back there and he constantly had to remove that corner of the carpet over and over again to get to it. I thought that Josuke was hiding The Rings of Saturn right behind that corner of the carpet. When I reached the bottom of the stairs, I flipped the light switch up.
“Put your hands up in the air and don’t you move one single muscle or I’ll shoot you!” Standing in the middle of the room in a dress that was half-white and half-red, just like the one I had purchased at Kyon Orthus jewelry shop, was a young Martian woman with her finger gently resting on the trigger of a silver ray gun. Laying on the bottom of her wrist was a bracelet made out of several shiny red beads held together by a black string. There was a small gap in the bracelet that exposed a bit of the black string near the knot that was holding them together. Behind that black string was a small purple scar that started at the top of the woman’s wrist and continued across to the other side. There was a gap in the bracelet because two of the beads are missing and she had a cut on her wrist because she scraped it across the jagged pieces of the door on the security room floor. There was no doubt about it—Pan was the person that I had been looking for.
Chapter 23
I placed my hands up in the air like the young lady asked me to. “You must be Josuke’s partner in crime, Pan Pikoros. Am I right?”
Her red lips curled up into a dissatisfied smirk. “Yes. I am. And you must be the nosy little girl detective that’s been making life hard for me.”
“You made life hard for yourself the moment you decided to take something that wasn’t yours,” I fired back.
“Shut up, you stupid little human!” Pan shifted her arm a little bit to the right and she pulled the trigger to her ray gun. A brilliant white-hot light zipped past me; it just missed my right ear. I looked behind me; there was now a small smoking black hole in the wall. My shoulders started to shake a bit; if I had moved over to the right just then, that could have been me with a burnt, blasted-off body part. “Good. I’m glad that I have your attention, little Miss Detective.” Pan pointed her ray gun toward the couch. “You are my ticket out of here. But first, I need you to take care of some things for me before we leave. Pull that couch back and hurry!”
I nervously tiptoed toward the couch. I prayed that my shoe wouldn’t get caught up in any of the trash on the way there. As I pulled the couch back, I noticed how the bottom right-hand corner of the carpet was no longer attached to the wall. I carefully avoided the thick black nails that were hanging from the carpet as I pulled it back. Hiding behind the gigantic thick carpet was a small door.
“Go inside,” Pan barked. I opened the door, which, to my surprise, led to the inside of a cubbyhole. The cubbyhole was just big enough for one person. The floor was covered in trash, mostly empty junk food wrappers and soda cans. Two orange wigs, both long with puffy ponytails, were hanging from two black nails that were pushed into the wall. A black poodle skirt with a flute design and musical notes on it was laying on the floor underneath of the two orange wigs. “In the left corner underneath the pile of trash is a black lockbox. Bring that out with you.”
I brushed a pile of trash away; it was a bunch of empty Jaded Jade eyeshadow containers and some Barely There Beige concealer. The lockbox that Pan wanted was sitting beneath all of that. My heart started to race just a bit; there was no doubt in my mind that The Rings of Saturn were in this box. My previous hunch was correct; the rings were stashed here behind this carpet! On the front of the lockbox was a combination pad. After I shuffled out of the cubbyhole with the black lockbox tucked under my arm, Pan snatched it away from me. She punched four numbers onto the combination pad and the top to the lockbox popped open. Pan reached in and pulled out one of The Rings of Saturn, twirling the golden ring around her index finger. Pan kept her eyes fixed on the countless gems that covered the ring; it was as if the gems had cast a hypnotic spell on her. “By the Goddess, they’re so beautiful. I can’t believe they’re all mine.” She let out a small sigh. “If only I could get back that one ring from Hayate that I dropped in the hallway.” I knew from the get go that Mr. Hayate was lying about “finding” one of the rings in Mimia’s house. It just didn’t make any sense that he found only one ring and not the rest. So I was right. He took that one ring that he found in the hallway and he planted it in Mimias house to frame her. Pan dropped the ring back into the lockbox. “Do you see those cans of Stick and Stay hairspray? Pick them up and start spraying this ugly-looking carpet and spray the trash near it as well. Put some of the empty cans on top of the pile. And hurry!” I quickly gathered up as much trash as I could underneath the carpet on the wall. I picked up two full cans of Stick and Stay hairspray and I coated the far right side of the carpet with as much as possible. Every few seconds, I would nervously glance over my shoulder to look at Pan to make sure she wasn’t going to shoot me in the back.
“Alright, that’s enough; move out of the way,” Pan screamed. When I dropped the two cans onto the ground, I noticed the warning label on the back, saying the hairspray was an excellent product for keeping your hair in place but it was also highly flammable. She must be trying to cover her tracks by setting the house on fire! After I took five steps back from the carpet, Pan shot the bottom half of the carpet that was covered in hairspray. The carpet immediately caught on fire and the flames started to eat away at the beautiful image of the Martian woman who was looking toward the future. Several loud pops emerged from the base of the carpet as the fire consumed the white video phone. Josuke’s private line—that must have been the phone that Pan used to call me earlier.
“A nice little parting gift for my beloved Jo,” Pan said with a hint of sarcasm. She pointed her ray gun toward the steps. “Move it or else I’ll leave you down here!” By the time the both of us reached the top of the stairs, a thin cloud of smoke was hovering o
ver the top of our heads.
“Wait!” I screamed before we headed through the door. Pan pointed her ray gun at me, her face twisted into a nasty snarl. “There is a woman who cleans for them. Is she still in this house?”
Pan dragged me through the front door. “Oh, she’s still here. I tied her up and left her on the kitchen floor. I figured between having to put that fire out and rescuing the help that would give us enough time to jump into one of the escape pods and safely make our little trip to Princess Rhea’s ship.” Pan chuckled to herself, slipped her ray gun underneath the lockbox, and covered it up with her hand as we walked down the street together. “You know, I have you to thank for giving me the idea of using the escape pod as a means to get off of this ship. Then again, I’m pretty thankful that my beloved Jo is such a motor mouth. He told me everything about you and what you were doing. When he told me that you were the princess’s ‘ambassador,’ whatever that means, and that you had been on her ship, I knew right then that you were my ticket out of here!”
“How did you know that I was coming to the house?”
Pan snorted. “That Jo. He’s so stupid! Giving his scooter to Kazuma, sitting on the couch right in front of my hiding spot! He did so much stupid stuff. I knew that after you took him upstairs, it was only a matter of time before he would give you my name. And I knew either you would come alone or you would send some people to the house beforehand like you did to that girl, Phoebe. Regardless, no matter which scenario was going to come my way, I was going to take you as my hostage.” Behind me, I could hear people yelling about the smoke that was coming from out of Mr. Hayate’s house, and people were rushing out of their homes to see what was going on; absolutely no one was paying attention to me or Pan as we walked beside each other away from the house. “No sudden movements; don’t scream. If you do, I’ll shoot you.” Pan’s voice was cold and devoid of sympathy. She meant exactly what she said. Off in the distance, I noticed a flashing neon-colored sign that said “emergency escape.” Pan grabbed me by my arm. “Hurry up; we need to get out of here.” We picked up our pace and reached the emergency exit door in no time at all; we quickly slipped through the door undetected. Before the door closed behind me, I peeked over my shoulder at the large group of people who had gathered around Mr. Hayate’s house. I hoped that Kari was okay and that she would make it out of there alive.
Cosmic Callisto Caprica & the Missing Rings of Saturn Page 25