morraha's blogs

The Kidnapping. Part 3.

May 11, 2012

The poor man sat trembling; the papers in his hands shaking like dry leaves in the autumn winds that blew around the house. Each piece of the thick heavy stock that fell to the floor thumped an echo to the heavy boots that belonged to the pacing soldier nearby.

He ought to have listened to the soldier; he ought to have let him examine the packets contents first, instead of brashly tearing it open to find…these. One bare foot scuffed across the wooden floor, shuffling the prints over and around each other as eyes, half blind from grief, once again read the letter in his hand.



To: Simon; Head engineer/weapons designer and informational relay for the Biffle Brigade.
From: Agent M; code master , junior weapons design assistant and bunker master for the Biffle Brigade.

Re: Adolfo’s stolen hat.


As yet there have been no confirmed sightings of the actual hat in question despite the plethora of possible matches that have been intercepted. I have included a list of several to be passed along to the coding and analysis department for further study.

http://www.bluecanvas.com/art-detail/370289

http://www.bluecanvas.com/art-detail/361989

http://www.bluecanvas.com/art-detail/365689

http://www.bluecanvas.com/art-detail/379689

http://www.bluecanvas.com/art-detail/368766

http://www.bluecanvas.com/art-detail/365903


I think it would be best to have our people weed out the obvious fakes and perhaps some of the more cunning imposters before presenting them to the victim for further confirmation. I would like to provide as little chance for false hopes and hard disappointments as possible. We both know how much harder that makes it to get the subject to focus on what may need to be done.

As far as the thief is concerned I have made very little progress. While tailing him I noticed that he seemed to be taking pictures of almost any and every hat spotted that even slightly resembled a fedora. At this point I am unsure if the thief is deliberately trying to confuse us with too much information or if he is just too silly to know the difference in hats. So far the only communication I have received was the enclosed photo stating a desire to negotiate. (http://www.bluecanvas.com/art-detail/365397) I am currently awaiting further developments in that area.

One last thing before I close; I have noticed these two men appearing in many of the same places I have followed the thief. I know that our client had already tried to utilize the services of The Inspector before calling us in, but in my mind that gives us all the more reason to be concerned about who these two men may be as well. Please respond with any information you can supply regarding these two.

http://www.bluecanvas.com/art-detail/343553

http://www.bluecanvas.com/art-detail/340257

Please reply as soon as you can.
M.


The last page fell from his hands as he stood and slowly stumbled to his studio. His eyes were clouded with tears, but his feet knew the way. They carried him to the chair that no longer faced his unadorned easel. His legs saved him the trouble of commanding them and buckled him into the seat as his hands kindly hid his face from the light.

He didn’t know how long he stayed like that. He never heard a sound as the soldier in heavy boots shuffled the papers and photos back into their manila sleeve and slowly thumped his way out the door. All he was aware of was the empty easel behind him.