"The Case of the Mysterious
Man" Part 5 - by Ha
"I must say, Bo, you've
got quite a tackle," Inspector Chris Hewitt
observed, rubbing around
his abdomen. He was sitting on the sofa with
Dr. Hewitt and had just been
introduced to his son's new friends. The
long, blond wig he once wore
was on the coffee table. "Do you play
football?"
"Yes, Inspector Hewitt,"
Bo answered. He, Shirley, and Blake stood in
front of Inspector Hewitt.
Shirley studied the inspector carefully,
noting that except for his
hair color, he and Blake looked exactly the
same.
"Are you sure you're
okay, Chris?" Dr. Hewitt asked her husband with
concern.
"I'm fine, Lauren,"
Inspector Hewitt assured his wife. "Just got the
wind knocked out of me."
Blake looked at his
dad, still trying to believe that he was sitting
in front of him. "But
I attended your funeral and saw your body being
buried. Your friend
Frederickson saw you die."
Inspector Hewitt closed
his eyes and shook his head. "I'm afraid you
attended Frederickson's funeral
and saw his body buried in my grave,
Blake. He died in the
car bombing, not me."
"Wait a minute."
Bo was confused. "You mean Frederickson was blown
to bits? What about
the letter from him?"
"I typed it myself,"
Inspector Hewitt revealed. "Everything in it was
the absolute truth about
that night except for who died."
"So why lie about the
car bombing?" Bo could not believe Inspector
Hewitt just abandoned his
family. "Why didn't you let your family know
you were alive?"
"Because he's hiding
from someone," Shirley said. "Someone who is
apparently very dangerous."
Inspector Hewitt looked
at Shirley. Shirley read the expression on
his face, seeing that her
observation was correct. "If Inspector
Hewitt told his family he
survived the car bombing, he would've placed
them in danger as well."
"You're correct, Shirley,"
Inspector Hewitt said. "I could not let
them use my family to get
to me." He said "them" with a touch of
hatred.
"Who are you talking
about, Dad?" Blake did not understand.
Inspector Hewitt was
silent. "E.N.I.G.M.A.," he said finally.
"E.N.I.G.M.A.?" Blake
said.
"E.N.I.G.M.A."
Inspector Hewitt nodded. "The Establishment for
Nefarious, Insidious, Global,
and Malicious Acts."
"Nice name," Bo commented
dryly. "No wonder they shortened it.
What's E.N.I.G.M.A.?"
"The most dangerous
criminal organization in the world," Inspector
Hewitt said.
"I've never heard of
them," Shirley said.
"No one has," Inspector
Hewitt said. "That's why they're so
dangerous."
"So this E.N.I.G.M.A.
organization tried to kill you and got your
friend instead," Bo said.
"Why?"
"It's a long story,
but it'll explain everything." Inspector Hewitt
sighed. "Besides, I
have failed, and E.N.I.G.M.A. has triumphed
again."
"Before you start,
how did you know where we were?" Blake asked his
dad.
"All the time I was
hiding, I still kept an eye on you," Inspector
Hewitt explained. "One
of my friends at my old workplace kept me
informed about you and your
mom. He believed he was doing it on behalf
of Frederickson. From
him I learned about your mom's new job in her
hometown and he gave me the
address."
Rosa, the maid, came
into the living room carrying a glass of water.
She handed it to Inspector
Hewitt. "Your water, Inspector Hewitt," she
said.
"Thank you, Rosa,"
Inspector Hewitt said, taking a sip of water.
"Can I get you anything
else?" Rosa asked the inspector.
"No, that'll be all
Rosa," Inspector Hewitt replied. "Just get the
table ready for dinner.
After my story, I'll be going."
Rosa nodded and returned
to the kitchen. Before anyone could ask the
inspector why he was leaving
after dinner, he began his tale.
"A week before I left
for England, I was assisting the San Francisco
police with a stolen diamond-smuggling
ring. Interpol and the San
Francisco police had been
keeping an eye on these guys for a while. We
caught them by surprise at
a harbor warehouse when they were about to
get the diamonds out of the
country. Seeing that they were caught with
the goods and totally outnumbered,
they surrendered. However, there
were three men who didn't.
They stood out from the rest because they
were wearing weird-looking
masks over their heads. They were two foxes
and a rat. Instead
of giving up, they ran for the back exit. The guys
in fox masks were closer
to the exit, but the guy with the rat mask was
lagging behind. I was
the closest, so I tackled the rat guy and held
him down. He struggled
to get out of my grip, buy I was too strong for
him. He looked at his
fellow masked men, who were about to help him,
but then they saw three policemen
running toward them. They looked at
their captured friend and
said, 'Remember your oath.' Then they bolted
out the door, leaving my
prisoner to his fate.
"He and the rest of
the smugglers were brought to the closest police
station. I learned
that the two other masked men had gotten away. I
became curious about them,
so I asked the ringleader about them while
he was interrogated.
He had just denied his right to counsel and
confessed to everything when
I brought up the matter. He said that
they weren't part of the
smuggling ring; they were hired to transport
the diamonds out of the country.
The ringleader had just met them that
day and knew nothing else
about them.
"Next I interrogated
the man I tackled. His rat mask was off. I had
it examined and found it
had a small voice distorter near the mouth.
As for the guy, he was young-looking
and had unruly blond hair. He
looked like a regular street
punk. Like the ringleader, he refused a
lawyer. Throughout
the questioning, he kept looking around nervously.
He did acknowledge his involvement
with the smugglers and confirmed
what the ringleader said,
but he was evasive about who he was.
Finally, after fifteen minutes,
I got frustrated and banged my fist on
the table. 'Listen,
buddy,' I said angrily. 'My patience is wearing
thin.'
"'But they'll kill
me if I talk!' the man cried out. 'They'll kill me
if I break my oath!'
"'What are you talking
about?' I asked.
"The man still looked
around for something. He was trembling really
bad. 'Look, I was supposed
to take the diamonds out of the country.
I've already confessed to
that, but don't pump me for more information,
please!' he begged.
'I've taken an oath to keep our secrets, but I was
never good at keeping secrets.
If I talk, I'm a dead man!'
"I was puzzled.
'Oaths? Secrets? What are you talking about?'
"'If I spill the beans,
I'm a goner!' Suddenly, he got up and grabbed
me by my coat collar. 'I
can't take the pressure anymore! I know I'm
gonna break! I'm a
dead man! Dead!'
"I shoved him back
into his chair. 'Calm down!' I roared. He tried
to, but he was shaking nervously.
I calmed down myself and cleared my
head before I talked to him
again. 'Look, if I give you police
protection, will you tell
me who you are?'
"The man looked scared.
'It won't matter. They'll know. They have
eyes and ears everywhere.'
"Now I was really interested;
a good mystery always interested me, and
I stuck to it until I solved
it. I wondered who were 'they.' I tried
to reassure him. 'Look,
I promise you the best protection the San
Francisco police can provide.
I'll make sure of that,' I promised
sincerely. 'I'll have
men watch you twenty-four hours a day if
necessary.'
"The man heard what
I said and relaxed a little. 'Y-you sure?'
"'I give you my word,'
I said.
"I guess he saw the
light because he let out a sigh and calmed down.
'Okay, I can tell you're
an honest man and that you'll keep your
promise, but I'm risking
my life if I talk. I'm going to reveal to you
stuff that you probably won't
believe. But it's all true, and if they
find out, I'm a dead man.'
"I repeated my vow
that no one would come to him, offered him a glass
of water, and then I resigned
myself to listening to his story. After
he gulped down some water,
he began. He said that he was a member of a
secret worldwide criminal
society called the Establishment for
Nefarious, Insidious, Global,
and Malicious Acts, or E.N.I.G.M.A. for
short. He said it's
been around since the beginning of the twentieth
century. Basically,
E.N.I.G.M.A. hires out its agents to anyone who's
willing to pay. According
to my prisoner, if you've got a lot of cash,
E.N.I.G.M.A. agents will
steal, smuggle, kidnap, or kill for you. They
usually wore masks, sometimes
personalized, to hide their identities
while meeting their clients.
Their trademark is a puzzle hinting at
the crime they send to the
place where the crime will take place. 'Why
hint the police at the crime?'
I asked him. He replied, 'It gave the
local cops a chance to stop
us. We've got a lot of hi-tech gizmos and
we're good at what we do,
whether we steal or kill. The gizmos make
the job easy. Too easy.
So we throw the cops a bone.' He pointed out
that the vaguer the puzzle,
the more important the crime was. I asked
him what puzzles they used.
'Oh, any type, but mainly riddles,' he
answered. There I saw
why the group was called E.N.I.G.M.A. I asked
him about membership.
'Anyone can join if he or she proves himself or
herself to Mr. E,' he answered.
"'Mr. E?' I said.
'Who's that?'
"'The head of E.N.I.G.M.A.,'
he anmswered."
"Mr. E?" Bo tried
not to laugh. "What kind of name is that?"
Shirley gave Bo a look
she reserved for him when she was bothered by
him. Bo was immediately
quiet. "Mr. E. Mystery. Rather appropriate
for an organization named
E.N.I.G.M.A. Please continue, Inspector."
Inspector Hewitt nodded.
"I next asked him if he's ever seen Mr. E.
'Nope,' he replied.
'Only those with high-ranking identification
numbers and the proper clearance
know his identity and his location.
On a mission, he only speaks
to the field supervisor, the high-ranking
agent present.' I asked
him about ID numbers. 'Well, sir, the agent
with the rank of Number One
is second only to Mr. E.'"
"How 'Star Trek,'"
Bo commented.
Shirley gave Bo "the
look" again. Inspector Hewitt continued. "He
said that the larger the
number, the lower the rank. He said his rank
was so low that he was in
the millions, but he added he was a new
member. My next question
was about the oath. 'I don't recall it
exactly, but it basically
says that we pledge our loyalty to Mr. E and
E.N.I.G.M.A. We swear
never to reveal the existence of E.N.I.G.M.A. to
anyone, even under threat
of torture. If we break that oath, then we
would pay with our lives.'
He looked at me, sweat falling from his
brow. He resumed trembling.
'By telling you all this, Inspector, I've
broken my oath, and now I'm
supposed to die. If my fellow E.N.I.G.M.A.
agents find out about our
little talk, I'm a goner. I've also put you
in danger as well.'
He bowed his head in silence, as if that day was
the day of his execution.
I saw that he wasn't going to talk anymore,
so I left the interrogation
room and had a conference with the captain,
who watched everything through
the one-way mirror. I asked him if he
believed our paranoid prisoner.
I sure did. The captain was
skeptical, however.
'Secret organizations, huh?' he said. 'I believe
in concrete proof, and this
guy has nothing but his word and a mask he
could've bought at any costume
shop. I think he's lying, Hewitt.'
"'I don't, but even
if he is, he's shaken up about something,' I
pointed out. 'I want
him guarded around the clock until the date the
smugglers will appear in
court.'
The captain at first
refused to, in his own words, 'waste valuable
manpower on a wacko who says
he's part of some secret society.'
Eventually I persuaded him,
and I left the station hoping that my
prisoner would be all right.
"Imagine how shocked
I was when I was told my prisoner was found dead
in his cell. I was
at the airport, ready to go home, when a policeman
found me and informed me
that the 'wacko' I interrogated was dead,
apparently of a heart attack.
I called the coroner and gave him my
work and home phone numbers,
telling him to tell me how the aupotsy
went. From the time
I spent on the plane to the time I got home, I was
wondering how someone so
young could die of a heart attack. Despite
his behavior during the time
we talked, he seemed physically healthy.
After I got home, the coroner
in San Francisco called. He informed me
that he found a tiny puncture
wound on the man's arm that would've been
easy to miss by the untrained
eye."
"Poison?" Shirley asked.
"The coroner found
a tiny amount of an artificial stimulant in his
bloodstream," Inspector Hewitt
reported. "That tiny amount was enough
to give the guy a fatal heart
attack. There was no sign of forced
entry into his cell, so..."
"It had to be an inside
job!" Blake blurted out.
"The coroner and I
concluded that, too," Inspector Hewitt said. "He
was about to report his findings
when something happened to him."
"What happened, Dad?"
Blake asked.
"He was killed in a
car accident," Inspector Hewitt said grimly. "He
was trying to stop at a red
light. For some strange reason, his brakes
didn't work. His replacement
reported that the prisoner's death was
due to a sudden heart attack
brought on by stress."
"That's weird," Bo
commented.
"The new coroner was
either a member of E.N.I.G.M.A. or was paid off,"
Shirley concluded.
"Exactly what I was
thinking." Inspector Hewitt continued. "The
so-called wacko's paranoia
was starting to infect me. I now had an
interest in this sinister
organization while at the same time I was
afraid that there were E.N.I.G.M.A.
agents in my neighborhood. But I
was determined to find evidence
that proved this group existed. What
they did to my informant
and the coroner proved how dangerous they
were. I started researching
a number of unsolved crimes in the
archives that occured from
the beginning of the twentieth century to
the present. I noted
how many involved riddles and other puzzles. I
also researched a number
of solved crimes in the same time range and
found some similarities.
In all cases, the puzzles were thought of as
jokes. In the solved
cases, people were caught and if something was
stolen, it was recovered.
I guessed that any E.N.I.G.M.A. agents
involved covered their tracks
well and left their employers out to dry.
That's why E.N.I.G.M.A.
is so dangerous. Instead of competing with
other criminal groups, they
profit from them. They take their money,
do their dirty work, and
then disappear without a trace." Inspector
Hewitt sipped his water.
"They're good at covering their tracks.
They're good at infiltration.
They're in possession of highly-advanced
technology. I concluded
that if I didn't expose E.N.I.G.M.A., they
could easily dominate the
world.
"My colleagues in Interpol
didn't share my ideas on E.N.I.G.M.A. They
thought I was crazy to investigate
a 'fictional organization.' I
didn't care; I was determined
to expose E.N.I.G.M.A. I kept
researching and kept an eye
out. I didn't want to end up like my
informant and the coroner."
Inspector Hewitt sipped
his water again. "Then, my superior informed
me that there was a case
in England that Scotland Yard was having
trouble with. He had
recommended me to help them out because of my
reputation of always solving
the case. I think his ulterior motive was
to get my mind off E.N.I.G.M.A.
I went to England and rendezvoused
with an old college buddy
of mine, a fellow Interpol agent by the name
of Frederickson. He
was a conspiracy nut, so during the time I spent
in London, when I wasn't
working on the case, I'd discuss E.N.I.G.M.A.
with him. He was fascinated
by the subject. He mentioned that he's
heard rumors of a secret
and large criminal organization, but he didn't
have a name. In Frederickson,
I found a confidant.
"Well, I helped solve
the case, and I did go to a local tavern with
Frederickson and others to
celebrate. The letter I wrote to my family
as Frederickson pretty much
tells the truth about that night. There
was an explosion, but poor
Frederickson was the one who was killed, not
me." The inspector
bowed his head and tried to control himself.
Everyone in the room
was silent until Shirley spoke. "What happened
after the car exploded?"
Blake looked at his father, also wanting to
know.
Inspector Hewitt looked
at the kids, then his wife. "As I stared at
the flaming wreckage and
the other patrons of the tavern got out to see
what was going on, I realized
that the bomb was meant for me. I knew
who had rigged the bomb."
"E.N.I.G.M.A.," Blake
said.
"E.N.I.G.M.A.?" Bo
asked.
"E.N.I.G.M.A.," Inspector
Hewitt said with hatred. "It had to be them
because Frederickson's car
was their target, and I was riding with him.
I guessed that they've
been keeping a close eye on me since I made
their man talk. They
saw their opportunity to eliminate me and they
took it. By dumb luck,
they failed and instead killed an innocent man.
I was lucky that time,
but I knew that if E.N.I.G.M.A. found out I was
still alive, they would keep
trying until I was dead, and I was sure
that my luck would run out
sooner or later. Then, I thought about my
family." Inspector
Hewitt looked at his wife and son. "I was afraid
that E.N.I.G.M.A. would use
them to get to me, and I couldn't put my
family at risk. I had
only one course of action to take at that point
in order to protect my wife
and my son. From that night on, Inspector
Chris Hewitt had to die."
"How did you do it?"
Shirley asked.
"When the police came
to question everyone about the explosion, I
recognized one of the officers
who had assisted me during my stay in
London. I called him
over and gave my account of what happened. Then
I told him to relay a message
to the top officials at Scotland Yard.
The next day I met with them
and asked them to declare Inspector Chris
Hewitt of Interpol dead,
killed in a car bomb the previous night. They
were rather surprised by
my request, but I told them about my
suspicions, leaving E.N.I.G.M.A.
out of it. They knew my reputation in
Interpol, so they agreed
to my request. They called my family to tell
them of my 'death' and told
the newspapers that Frederickson was the
one killed in the explosion.
He was with me that night, and since he
was the same height and build
as I was and his body was burned beyond
recognition, it was so easy
to pull off the ruse. To make it up to
him, I took over his identity
and position. We managed to enlist the
coroner's office's assistance
in the matter, and with a few interesting
touches, including a wedding
ring identical to mine and properly
exposed to heat, Frederickson's
body was passed off as mine and that
was the corpse buried in
my grave. We did so well a cover-up that the
probe into my death turned
up nothing suspicious. We fooled everyone."
"What about the other
people at the tavern?" Shirley asked the
inspector. "They saw
you and Frederickson together, so they knew what
you two looked like.
How could you portray Frederickson without anyone
recognizing you?"
"Actually, I doubt
everyone was too drunk to remember us, so I felt
there was no danger of my
secret being exposed," Inspector Hewitt
answered.
"What about Frederickson's
co-workers?" Shirley asked. "They could've
known."
"Actually, Frederickson
was very much an introvert; he hardly talked
to anyone during or after
work. Before I came along, he kept to
himself," Inspector Hewitt
explained. "He was rather eccentric,
letting his hair grow long.
In fact, everyone in his department only
knew him by his long hair."
He pointed to the wig on the coffee table.
"As long as I wore
that wig, I was Frederickson. Like I said, I owed
him. I had persuaded
him to come to the tavern to celebrate, so his
death was my fault," he said
solemnly.
Dr. Hewitt took her
husband's hand and tried to comfort him. "You
didn't know, Chris."
Inspector Hewitt shook
his head. "I can't let that be an excuse,
Lauren. Thanks to me,
my friend is dead, and his killers are still on
the loose." He continued
his story after sipping some water. "I swore
to Frederickson that I would
reveal the group that killed him, and
during the time I was 'dead,'
I became Frederickson. I adopted his
mannerisms and took his job
and his flat. I continued my inquiries
into E.N.I.G.M.A., being
more determined to bring them to justice."
"Has E.N.I.G.M.A. tried
to kill you?" Blake asked with concern.
"No. I guess
they were also fooled by my charade," Inspector Hewitt
said.
"So what brings you
to Redington?" Bo asked the inspector.
Inspector Hewitt reached
into his pants pocket and pulled out a
wrinkled, folded piece of
paper. "This did," he said as he passed the
paper to Blake. "About
two weeks ago it was delivered to me at work
addressed to Frederickson
with no return address."
Blake opened the piece
of paper and looked at it. Shirley and Bo
looked over Blake's shoulder.
They saw and read silently the following
typed on it:
For your benefit, Mr.
Frederickson, friend of Chris Hewitt:
1. We will capture
a lady who is safe, but not at home.
2. Crimson dying
under heavy weight.
3. Playing is
easy, but the clothing is murder.
Try to stop us, if
you dare.
Blake handed the paper
to his mother so that she could have a look.
"Hey, I recognize the first
and third riddles!" Bo exclaimed. "The
first one was from the tabloid,
and the third one was sent here to the
Redington Police Department."
"What is it?" Dr. Hewitt
asked after she was finished reading the
paper to herself.
"A challenge," Shirley
concluded. "It's a challenge for Frederickson
to try to stop E.N.I.G.M.A.'s
latest crime--the theft of the Mona
Lisa."
"Does this mean E.N.I.G.M.A.
knows you're alive?" Blake asked his dad.
"No, although that's
what I thought at first," Inspector Hewitt
answered. "Since I
haven't had any unusual 'accidents,' I guess they
didn't know I was still alive."
"Since you and Frederickson
were together while you were in London, an
E.N.I.G.M.A. agent could
have been monitoring you and concluded that
you confided in Frederickson
about E.N.I.G.M.A.," Shirley said. "This
was their way of letting
Frederickson know about it."
Inspector Hewitt nodded
in agreement. "I believe this was
E.N.I.G.M.A.'s way of saying
'hi' to Frederickson, to give him a little
opportunity to try and stop
them."
"Feeling smug that
he would fail," Shirley said. "This E.N.I.G.M.A.
organization, or at least
Mr. E, has quite an ego."
"Did you try to solve
the riddles?" Blake asked his dad.
"To be honest, at the
time, I didn't have any idea what they meant,"
Inspector Hewitt admitted.
"Everything made sense after I heard that
the Mona Lisa was stolen.
Once that happened, I put two and two
together. I had an
urge to call the Paris Police and tell them all I
knew, but I was afraid that
somehow E.N.I.G.M.A. would find out and I
would really be dead.
I knew that E.N.I.G.M.A. committed crimes for
others, so I figured that
someone had hired them to steal the Mona
Lisa. The second and
third riddles were, respectively, the city where
the Mona Lisa would be brought
and the place where the Mona Lisa would
be given to the client."
"Well, we figured out
the first riddle," Bo said. "Anyone want to try
the others?"
Blake thought for a
moment. "I'm drawing a blank, so far."
Shirley recalled the
second riddle aloud. "Redington," she finally
announced.
"Exactly," Inspector
Hewitt agreed.
Blake understood and
looked at Shirley with admiration. Bo was
confused. "Huh?" he
said with a blank face.
"'Crimson dying under
heavy weight,'" Shirley repeated. "'Crimson' is
a type of red. 'Dying'
has nothing to do with death; here it means
dipping in dye. 'Heavy
weight' means 'ton.' Put it all together and
you get 'Redington.'"
"Exactly," Inspector
Hewitt said.
"So you mean to tell
me that the Mona Lisa is really in Redington?" Bo
asked, still trying to take
everything in.
"I'm afraid so," Inspector
Hewitt acknowledged. "Somewhere, in my
wife's hometown, is the painting
sought by law enforcement agencies
worldwide. I managed
to get approval to leave for Redington at once,
telling my superior at Scotland
Yard that I got an anonymous tip that
the Mona Lisa was there.
I did not mention the note. He was hesitant
at first, but he let me go
anyway, knowing my reputation before I
became Frederickson.
During my flight, I was afraid that E.N.I.G.M.A.
was tailing me to see if
I was a serious threat. Once I landed in
Redington, I checked into
a motel and searched every clothing store and
sporting goods store I could
find on foot so that I wasn't easy to
track. I figured that
the third riddle referred to one of those."
Dr. Hewitt looked at
the third riddle. "Well, it can be one of them."
Both Bo and Blake looked
at Shirley, wondering if she had some ideas.
She just stood there silently,
thinking and ready to listen to the rest
of the inspector's story.
Inspector Hewitt continued.
"Fighting jet lag and finding nothing, I
decided to take a break..."
"At a supermarket,"
Shirley finished. "I saw you there buying a
tabloid and a bottle of Pepto-Bismol.
You kept looking for
E.N.I.G.M.A. agents, your
fear of them has affected your stomach, and
you were rather upset when
you read the article about the Mona Lisa."
"Correct again, Shirley,"
Inspector Hewitt said, amazed at her powers
of deduction. "I wasn't
the same since I heard of that evil
organization."
"Hold on a minute."
Bo held up his hand to get everyone's attention.
He just remembered
something. "When you cornered us, did you really
think we were E.N.I.G.M.A.
agents?" he asked the inspector.
"Well, not quite.
I thought E.N.I.G.M.A. hired you to keep an eye on
me," Inspector Hewitt said.
"They've done it before in Peru."
"You didn't recognize
me?" Blake asked, amazed at how his dad did not
know his own son.
"To be honest, it's
been a while, son. Sorry for scaring you like
that," Inspector Hewitt apologized
to his son and his friends. "When I
saw Shirley and her hat,
I was about to panic."
"I guess you haven't
found the Mona Lisa, huh, Dad?" Blake said.
Inspector Hewitt shook
his head sadly. "I've searched every clothing
store and sporting goods
store I could, and I've found nothing." He
did not sound enthusiastic.
"I guess I'm too late." He looked at his
wife and son as he got up
from the sofa. "I'll be leaving now."
"Why?" Dr. Hewitt asked.
She could not believe that her husband,
thought dead, was going to
leave her and their son again.
"E.N.I.G.M.A.," Blake
said, trying not to express any emotion.
"I'm afraid so, son,"
Inspector Hewitt said as he put on his wig.
"They're still out there,
and I won't rest until I expose them." He
looked at Dr. Hewitt.
"You know I can't stay. If E.N.I.G.M.A. found
out that Frederickson and
Chris Hewitt were really the same person,
we'd all be dead."
"Why'd you bother coming
back?" Blake asked with a little anger in his
voice.
"Because," Inspector
Hewitt began, "I wanted to see my family one last
time before E.N.I.G.M.A.
got to me. I'm sure they know of my actions
and consider me a threat.
I've got to go before they get me."
Dr. Hewitt got up from
the sofa and hugged her husband tightly. Blake
joined the family embrace,
knowing that it would be the last one.
Shirley and Bo watched them.
The Hewitt family broke
up the group hug. "So you're going back to
England?" Blake looked
at his dad.
"If I'm lucky," Inspector
Hewitt said. "The Mona Lisa's been moved,
so no sense of being a sitting
target."
"Actually, you still
have a chance," Shirley told Inspector Hewitt.
"The Mona Lisa's still in
Redington."
All eyes were on Shirley.
"Come again?" Bo said.
"The Mona Lisa is still
in Redington. E.N.I.G.M.A. hasn't moved it
yet," Shirley said.
She looked at Bo and Blake. "I was going to tell
you before Inspector Hewitt
paid us a surprise visit. I managed to
pinpoint its exact location."
"You know where the
Mona Lisa is?" Inspector Hewitt's voice was full
of hope.
"I do," Shirley said
matter-of-factly.
"Where is it?" Blake
asked.
Everyone looked at
Shirley, who finally announced the location of the
stolen famous painting.
"The Redington Community Theater."
Everyone was silent.
Inspector Hewitt quickly thanked Shirley for her
help and ran out the door.
"This time I've got them," he said to
himself. Soon, a car
was heard leaving the area.
Blake looked at Shirley.
"How...?"
"I'll explain on our
way there," Shirley said before taking off after
the inspector. Before
Dr. Hewitt could stop them, Blake and Bo
followed her out the door
and into the night.
END OF PART FIVE
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