“Can we talk please?” Cole called out to me. His voice was shaky and he sounded a little bit desperate. He kept clinging to the shoebox under his arm like it was filled with a million space credits. This was such terrible timing, but I didn’t want to send him away either!
“Yeah. But make it quick.”
Cole took a quick glance over his shoulder before he approached me. Just what was he so nervous about? He squeezed my forearm with his left hand, took another quick glance over his shoulder, and lowered his voice down to a nearly inaudible whisper. “I want to tell you everything. It’s about me and Phoebe. It will definitely clear things up, but I need to talk with you and Phoebe at the same time please!” Little droplets of sweat covered the top and bottom of Cole’s forehead. I looked down at the shoebox he was holding onto; he was pressing so hard against the lid that the middle part was starting to collapse in on itself.
I shook myself free from his deathlike grasp. “Fine. The three of us can talk. Follow me.” This might be what I needed to help get Phoebe to open up. She’d been silent the entire time. Cole followed me to the room in which Phoebe was being detained. Phoebe immediately turned her back toward us and let out a muffled cry. Cole locked the door behind us, and walked over to Phoebe. He reached out to her, but she wouldn’t let him touch her. Instead, she jumped out of her chair and moved to the end of the table while keeping her back to us the entire time.
Cole dropped the shoebox on the table, bit down on his lower lip, and ran his fingers through his red hair. “Earlier, you said you found a letter I wrote that was addressed to Phoebe. Yes. I wrote that letter, but it’s really not what it looks like. It has nothing to do with The Rings of Saturn.” Cole flipped the lid off of the shoebox and slid the box toward me. “Here, have a look inside.” I peered inside of the shoebox; it was filled all the way to the brim with folded pieces of paper. Some of the papers had a brownish tint to them. “Go ahead; read one.” I reached into the box and I pulled out a folded piece of paper; the corners to it were torn. Cole and Phoebe remained silent as I unfolded the piece of paper from out of its creases. My eyes scanned the words in front of me; it was a love letter addressed to Phoebe from Cole. I opened up another piece of paper; just like the one before it, this was a love letter addressed to Cole from Phoebe. I turned the piece of paper over; it was written on the back of a menu from Prometheus’s sandwich cart. The date on the menu was from August of last year.
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.