Inspector Heinrich Lunge is assigned to a case to capture the famous theif, Lupin III. He must collaborate with a local Inspector to bring him to justice and save valuable artifacts.
Work in progress!
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Chapter 1
The hotel was fairly basic, but had the essentials. 24 hour reception, linen changes and all that jazz. The lobby was decked out with brown rugs and a fake marble coated floor. Inspector Heinrich Lunge had concluded that it was just vinyl when he felt his shoes sticking to them.
The investigation he was on had been going slowly, but he was sure he was finally onto something. Unfortunately, he had been called off the case and assigned to another. It was all so dreadfully inconvenient. Had he just had a few more days he was certain it would have been a closed case. But, who was to argue? Not him. He was in no position to.
He had arrived at the hotel to meet with the local officials. He had been travelling all day and was really in no mood to chat. He just wanted to basics and the go ahead and he would be on his way. But, as always, that was not an option. He would have to go through the motions.
He walked to the table off to the far right of the doorway and nodded a greeting to the 3 people who had seated themselves comfortably in the hideous and time-worn chairs. Two men, one with grey hair and one with black hair, stood up and offered their hands to shake followed by the brown haired woman who seemed to be as uninterested as Heinrich in the meeting.
"Ah, well. Welcome to our city. We hope you find it interesting." The black haired man had an annoyingly squeaky voice. Heinrich had already done his research on him. He was essentially the 'second in command' for the local police department. Josef Muntz. A man who had a spotless reputation and known as the one who always catches his criminals.
"I am not here for sightseeing."
"Ah yes. Quite, quite. Well, at least sit with us and have a drink." He waved his hand to flag down a waiter. The sleeve of his suit slipped downwards to reveal an expensive Rolex hugging his wrist, something that caught Heinrich's eye. Gaudy, expensive and seemingly out of place on someone of his status. He was obviously very image conscious.
"Forgive me. I do not think we have the time."
Josef turned to his superior, the grey haired Gordon Adler, who merely shrugged off the comment and nodded that he should indeed not waste time.
"Very well, Inspector." He lowered his hand. "I suppose you are right. We won't waste anymore of your time. We are fortunate that you took on this case in the first place."
"Enough babbling!" Gordon's voice boomed, causing some of the hotel staff to stop and turn to look at him. "Forgive him, Inspector. He talks too much nonsense. He's still new to his position and knows not of the politics of…" He was interrupted by Heinrich waving his hand dismissively. "Without further ado I will enlighten you on the situation. The thief we are tracking has been sighted nearby and we are certain that he is targeting the museums. As you are aware..." He was caught off guard by Heinrich's fingers suddenly sparking to life at his side, tapping against his trench coat as if typing on a keyboard. "Er… Well… As you are probably aware, we have a string of museums housing various artifacts and valuable state treasures throughout the city."
"What makes you so sure that he is targeting them?"
"He sent us a calling card." Josef butted in and launched his hand forward, the card poking out between his fingers for Heinrich to take.
"Shouldn't this be in a bag as evidence?"
"Well…"
"You are mixing up your DNA and possibly ruining any chances of finding a print." Heinrich's face was deadpan. In his opinion, this man was nothing more than a bumbling idiot playing at cops.
"Relax, Inspector. This thief would never leave prints. We have that from a very good source!" Gordon tapped the side of his nose. This made Lunge's nose wrinkle a little bit. He hated when people played games.
"Anyway," continued Gordon, "We want you and our Inspector here to join forces and collaborate on this case. She has already been working very hard, haven't you dear?" He reached over and took the female Inspector by the arm and dragged her forwards.
"Wow. Thank you. Patronize me. I love you too." Her voice oozed of acidic sarcasm. She hated Gordon's habit of talking down to her. And now he'd done it in front of her new work partner. She could barely even look Heinrich in the face. "Way to make me look great in front of the new guy."
Gordon jabbed her in the ribs with his elbow. "Now, now. Temper tantrums. I don't think Inspector Lunge cares much for y…"
"I assure you, I see no changes in my opinion of you." Lunge interrupted Gordon before he could make her red face turn even redder.
"Well, great." She sighed and shook her head. "There's a god afterall."
"This feisty, highly strung gal is Inspector Rachel Prince. I would advise caution when dealing with her. She has a head full of knowledge, but she's easily fried." Josef grinned over at her hoping that she was taking his bait. She gave him a sour look and walked her way over to stand by the new Inspector.
"No. It's only you who need to be cautious." Her finger pointed at Josef, who in turn rolled his eyes and gathered his jacket and bag.
Gordon shook his head and handed Lunge a stack of files and paperwork. "This is a collection of names, locations, aliases, known targets and whatnot. If you need extra information ask your new partner. She will fill you in on the rest."
Heinrich pulled a pair of passports from inside one of the folders. They had his and Rachel's photos inside and false names. He found it very odd that they would go to such trouble just for a thief. Undercover work with aliases? He had to suspect that he was more than just a thief.
The two men said their goodbyes and walked out of the hotel's main entrance.
"Assholes."
Heinrich's attention suddenly switched to the fuming female at his side who had just muttered an insult under her breath.
"Problem?"
"No. No, it's all good." She heaved a sigh and stretched her arms in the air. A faint click was heard from one of her shoulders as she relaxed again. "To work?"
Heinrich gestured with his hand for her to approach the reception desk and handed her the passports as she walked by. She gave them a onceover just before she got to the desk and couldn't help but laugh to herself over the names. She leaned backwards with a smirk to her partner. "Mr and Mrs Broom? Seriously?" Stoic as always, he didn't respond, so she threw the passports onto the desk and greeted the clerk as cheerfully as she could. "Well, heyyy. We have a room booked."
The receptionist took the passports and gave them a glance. She looked from the picture of Rachel and up to her grinning face. A grin far too wide to be natural. Then she looked down at Heinrich's picture and low and behold he was pulling the exact same face in real life as on the photo. A stern, poker face as was the norm. "Ah yes. Mr and Mrs Broom." She closed the passports and handed them back, cocking an eyebrow at Rachel who was stifling giggles over hearing the name once more. "We have your room ready if you'd like to take your things up." She reached for the key and placed it on the desk.
"Ahh, great! I can't wait to dump all my stuff and relax." Rachel was OK at small talk, she thought. At least, better than Heinrich was doing so far. He hadn't said a single thing to the receptionist the whole time he'd been stood there.
"Yes. I'm sure you want to relax! You must be tired from travelling."
"Oh ever so tired." Rachel feigned a yawn and grabbed the keys. "And Mr here needs his beauty sleep in the afternoons. Mm-hmm. So, don't let maids or anything bother us during the afternoon, 'kay?" She cracked a smile at Lunge who was giving her a harsh frown. She could feel his eyes boring into the back of her head.
The receptionist gave a small giggle and nodded. "Well, dial 1 for room service should you need anything."
With keys in hand and proud of herself for her quick thinking, Rachel spun on her heels and marched past her partner smugly. He was still frowning at her as he hauled both of their luggage into the elevator. The doors closed with a clatter.
"Beauty sleep?"
"Oh come on. It was the first thing I could think of! Even you have to admit that was some quick thinking. I gave us some free time to do some serious work and not be disturbed!"
He just nodded and stayed silent as the doors clattered open to reveal a hallway. They wandered down towards the end to find their room number.
