by S. C. King
He approached the building from behind, careful not to make any noises. Hidden well behind a garbage can, he prepared to eavesdrop on what the two men were saying. Deep inside, he still hoped that this wasn’t some new theft, planned and executed by his fellow clan members.
“I have the alarm code,” Tom was saying to the other man. “Here it is.”
“Are you sure there is no one inside?” the man asked, and Wood let out the breath, he did not realize that he was holding. Chenoa wasn’t here. He felt guilty for ever doubting her.
Now that he knew that Chenoa wasn’t going to commit another crime, after everything he did for her, Wood started worrying about the fact that the two men had stolen the alarm combination and were going to enter the museum again.
“Yes,” Tom answered him, the impatience audible in the tone of his voice. “The police are no longer guarding the place, and the museum’s security guard is sitting in front of the building. But, if you want to succeed, better hurry up.”
“Fine, just give me the numbers and wait for me here,” the other man said. “If someone comes this way, let me know.”
The men were from the group of thieves Wood and Davis were looking for, and here they were breaking in once more. Everything was very confusing, but Wood had already decided to let it play out, and not call for help. He could not be the reason for these men to get sent to jail, because of taking something that belonged to them in the first place.
Wood tried to sneak away slowly, walking backwards and looking towards the place where Tom was hiding near the museum door. It was completely dark outside now, and he did not see the small pile of garbage behind him.
The noise attracted Tom’s attention, and he ran in Wood’s direction. Wood debated what to do now, but he could tell that the other man was close.
“Muraco,” Tom said, and Wood remained where she was. “Are you here to arrest us?” Tom exclaimed, once he saw the other man standing silent in the middle of the street.
“I was going home,” Wood explained calmly. “And I hope that you will do the same.”
Wood knew that his best chance to get out of here was to claim that he knew nothing about what was really going here. Tom wasn’t holding a pistol, and they both knew that Tom wasn’t a violent man, but they also both knew that he was in the process of committing another crime.
“I came to return something of mine that now belongs to others,” Tom said with sadness in his voice. “I know you heard us. Now what are you going to do? And are you here as my brother or as a policeman?”
“Tom,” Wood tried to speak, but Tom interrupted him.
“From the moment you arrived at the village, you became a problem for us,” he said. “I was on my way to win over Chenoa when you showed up. But, don’t worry, we are doing what you asked us to do.”
For the first time, Wood was able to feel real compassion for his people, who had been eaten up by anger and love for the past. He saw himself in the same situation, and could not even think what his reaction would have been. Everybody knew that when it comes to love and tradition, there were different laws at play.
“It is not too late to do the right thing,” he agreed with the other man. “And I have to go now, tomorrow is going to be a very busy day.”
“You still don’t understand, didn’t you?” Tom laughed at him. “You are as big part of this as the rest of us.”
“I know,” Wood smiled too. “That is why you are still standing free and talking to me, instead of lying in jail.”
After those final words, Wood turned around and walked back to his car. On the way there, he saw a pickup parked near the museum and recognized the man behind the wheel as another man from his clan. The sergeant climbed back into his vehicle, and waited to see what would happen next.
He didn’t have to wait long, as after a few minutes the men inside the museum gave a signal to the one in the pickup, and then they brought the vehicle near the back door. Carefully, the artifacts were carried inside the building, and Wood suspected that in the morning they would find them in their old places.
Chapter 16
As Wood had expected, in the morning, both he and Detective Davis were called to the museum. When they arrived there, everybody was looking excited and more puzzled than ever. “Detective,” one of the uniform police officers exclaimed. “Everything is back in place, as if nothing was stolen at all.”
“Really?” Davis asked, but didn’t look at all excited about the news. “Wood, please come with me inside.”
“Yes, sir,” Wood answered, and followed him inside the museum.
This time, the curator was happy to see them, all the anxiety of before already forgotten. “Come, come and see,” he called to them, as soon as they stepped inside. “This morning, the security guard noticed that the Totem Pole was back in its place. Before calling me, he checked the rest of the items, and noticed that they were back too.”
Wood entered the room, feeling the strong presence of his clan’s spirit. The Totem Pole was rising proudly in the middle of the room, splendid in its vivid colors and beautiful carvings. The young Indian approached it with awe, and let the ancient words of the songs his grandmother sang to him, play in his head. There were too many people in the room right now, but Wood had mastered the ability to ignore everything he didn’t need at the moment and concentrate on what was important.
“Do you think that its place is in the woods?” Davis asked from behind him.
“Yes... but it is not my place to decide. My grandmother had other things in mind when she donated it to the museum. I agreed with her then and I agree now, but I cannot command my heart to feel that it is wrong.”
“I understand,” Davis took another step and came to stand beside the young sergeant. “But now we should think about the future, and how we could make it better.”
Wood didn’t answer him, but felt the weight of his words, as a real stone tied around his neck. “There are some things that nothing can make better.”
“You are right, but there are also others that we can change. You go now, and leave me to take care of things here.”
“But, sir...” Wood protested.
“I am sure that I am capable to do the work alone, sergeant. And I am also sure that there is a special young lady waiting for you.”
“If you think so...”
“I am sure of it, Charlie. Just go and when everything is over, let me know.”
Wood thanked him again, and exited the museum without another glance back. Davis, on the other hand, spent the rest of the day investigating the sudden appearing of the stolen artifacts. No one seemed to have seen or heard anything. The interrogations and the watching of the surveillance videos were also for nothing. The artifacts had appeared the same mysterious way they had disappeared. Everyone had some crazy theory about what had happened and Davis listened to them all, but at the end concluded that there were no enough clues for them to continue the investigation.
Therefore, in the matter of a few hours, the mystery case of the stolen Haida artifacts was closed and everyone left the museum premises. Davis walked towards his car, thinking that this might be his last case in Stronghill, and wondering what Wood was doing right now. He really hoped that the young man would soon find peace and settle down.
Chapter 17
Wood arrived at the small village around midday, and was greeted by many smiles and good wishes. He saw the men from the last night, but all he spared for them was a smile and a reassuring wave of the hand. Chenoa met him in the middle of the village, and for a long moment they stood in silence looking at each other.
“Come,” Wood said to her after a while, and led the way to her house.
Wood and Chenoa walked to the house in a comfortable silence, with Wood’s hand hugging her close to his body. Once inside the house, some of the awkwardness returned and Chenoa removed her jacket with her eyes cast downwards.
“Were you really thinking that your plan would succeed?” Wood asked h
er when they stood in the hallway. Chenoa was surprised by his question, but his kind smile told her that he understood her feelings, and that it was finally time for them to talk.
“I can honestly say that now I feel stupid for ever considering it,” she answered him. “But, there was a time when pain and anger were stringing at my heart. Now, I can see that it was very stupid of me to even think that I would be able to take something so precious without anyone following me here, but back then I was confused.”
“I am glad that you overcome it, Chenoa.” Wood looked pleased with her answer and after helping her out of her jacket, and hanging it on the hanger, he once again took her hand and tugged her towards the living room.
“Charlie,” she said gently, not wanting to disturb the beauty of the moment.
“Yes,” he responded, looking at her with a new admiration. The woman realized that this was the first time she had called him by his first name, and the thought made the color rise on her cheeks.
“I wanted to tell you that I am happy to be here with you,” she said, looking him in the eye.
Wood slowly approached her, taking her hands in his, and bending his head down to give Chenoa a featherlike kiss on the lips. The touch was so gentle that Chenoa thought that she was dreaming.
“Thank you for being here and for saying that,” he responded to her declaration, while caressing her cheek with his right hand. “I waited a long time for the woman that would make me the happiest man on the Earth. And now that I have found her, it is time to start our life together.”
Chenoa realized that she had made the right choice of returning the artifacts, and already imagined the happy future in front of them. It had taken them a lot of time to reach that point, but now that they were here, she knew that nothing would prevent them from being happy together. God had answered her prayers, giving her an honest and good man with whom she would gladly spend her life.
“I guess it is time for us to get to know each other again, don’t you think?” Wood expressed her own thoughts.
“Our life is too short for us to let it go, let it pass unnoticed, and we must not travel the path alone. God and the people around us must become our light and guide towards something better and higher. We, however, must be ready to transform.” Chenoa wanted to let him know how much their life together meant to her.
“Transformation is a process, a long difficult process. But it is the only way for us to discover who we really are. Through the hard and happy moments of our lives, we will learn to love, accept, fight, suffer, say thank you… It is difficult, but not impossible. The only danger is to never gather the courage to start the journey. Because then we will be defeated even before we actually start living.”
Davis was right – we all needed to look at things from a different perspective. It was not always about the good and happy moments, as they may make the picture prettier, but are unable to complete it. No, life is a combination of good and bad, happiness and suffering, and it is always up to us to accept it or not.
End
Thank you
I hope you enjoyed ‘MYSTERY: Stolen (A Suspense Thriller Mystery novella)’ and would love to know what you thought about it. If you have a moment to spare, I would appreciate it if you could leave a review of this book at Amazon. Your opinion goes a long way in helping others decide if a book is for them.
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Thank you so much.
S. C. King
Author of ‘MYSTERY: Stolen (A Suspense Thriller Mystery novella)’
Booklist
A list of other mystery suspense thriller books published by S. C. King:
1. http://www.amazon.com/Mystery-Angles-Demons-Suspense-Thriller-ebook/dp/B00WAJZ2G6/ref=sr_1_24?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1429805149&sr=1-24&keywords=mystery
2. http://www.amazon.com/Mystery-Betrayal-Dunmore-Thriller-Suspense-ebook/dp/B00W40KRTS/ref=sr_1_25?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1429805192&sr=1-25&keywords=mystery
3. http://www.amazon.com/Mystery-Countdown-Mark-Thriller-Suspense-ebook/dp/B00W1RSO1C/ref=sr_1_22?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1429805014&sr=1-22&keywords=mystery
4. http://www.amazon.com/Mystery-Private-Suspense-Novel-Thriller-ebook/dp/B00XLFTPU2/ref=sr_1_51?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1431540014&sr=1-51&keywords=mystery
5. http://www.amazon.com/Mystery-Silent-Scream-Suspense-Thriller-ebook/dp/B00XZGF20Y/ref=sr_1_54?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1432171088&sr=1-54&keywords=mystery
6. http://www.amazon.com/Mystery-Gone-Suspense-Thriller-novel-ebook/dp/B00Y9H7M0G/ref=sr_1_89?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1432781467&sr=1-89&keywords=mystery
7. http://www.amazon.com/Mystery-Suspense-Thriller-novel-Romance-ebook/dp/B00YCYCX4Q/ref=sr_1_50?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1432781208&sr=1-50&keywords=mystery
8. http://www.amazon.com/Mystery-Missing-Suspense-Thriller-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B00YM1C2LI/ref=sr_1_89?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1433388784&sr=1-89&keywords=mystery
9. http://www.amazon.com/Mystery-Quiet-Suspense-Thriller-novel-ebook/dp/B00Z3EVXTK/ref=sr_1_35?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1434037193&sr=1-35&keywords=mystery
10. http://www.amazon.com/Mystery-Alien-Suspense-Thriller-Romance-ebook/dp/B00ZRXIOFS/ref=sr_1_55?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1434488628&sr=1-55&keywords=mystery
11. http://www.amazon.com/Mystery-Suspense-Thriller-novel-Romance-ebook/dp/B00ZYBRYD6/ref=sr_1_57?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1434684933&sr=1-57&keywords=mystery
12. http://www.amazon.com/Mystery-Haunted-Suspense-Thriller-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B010NTYARG/ref=sr_1_93?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1435930532&sr=1-93&keywords=mystery
13. http://www.amazon.com/Mystery-Inheritance-Suspense-Thriller-novella-ebook/dp/B01390FWBY/ref=sr_1_57?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1438529986&sr=1-57&keywords=mystery
14. http://www.amazon.com/Mystery-Killed-mystery-novella-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B013HDJVS8/ref=sr_1_13?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1439285046&sr=1-13&keywords=mystery
15. http://www.amazon.com/Thriller-Ruthless-S-C-King-ebook/dp/B01406YTUG/ref=sr_1_71?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1440133680&sr=1-71&keywords=mystery+thriller
16. http://www.amazon.com/Cozy-Mystery-Deadly-C-King-ebook/dp/B01480R12C/ref=sr_1_17?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1440133184&sr=1-17&keywords=cozy+mysteries