As Luck Would Have It

Anthony shoved his hand in his pocket to
find his phone to get pictures of the crime scene while the police were still
busy. They didn’t like him being there in “their” crime scene, but this one
matched the others he’d already been following.

Six bank robberies in as many weeks, all seemingly different.
But what everyone else seemed to miss was the small picture that had been
stamped in the corner of the vault. A calling card. Six clovers with a dancing
leprechaun in the center.

He checked to make sure no one was watching and quickly
snapped a few pictures of the stamp, broken lockboxes, and gold coins spread
across the floor.

“Hey, you there. What are you doing—oh. You.” Chief Daniel
Stevens grunted. “Who let you through security?”

“The door was open, so I figured you invited me.” Anthony
dropped his phone back in his pocket. “Any leads?”

He already knew the answer but figured he’d humor his old
friend.

“Nothing that we can find. No forced entry until they get to
the lockboxes. No fingerprints, though they got careless and there’s a shoe
print in the corner over there.” Chief Stevens chuckled when Anthony turned to
look. “I never get over the enjoyment of finding something you didn’t.”

“That’s because it doesn’t happen often.” Anthony grinned. He
took another quick picture of the shoe print before turning back to the chief.

“Fair enough.” Chief Stevens shook his head. “Any chance
you’ll let me in on what you’ve found?”

Anthony shook his head. “Not yet. I have a few pieces left to
put together and then maybe I’ll share a little.”

“You know I could have you arrested, right?”

“I do. But I also know you won’t.” Anthony tipped his hat and
caught the chief’s smile as he left the vault, ducking under the caution tape.
The two had been friends for decades, but Stevens had a gruff façade to
maintain in front of his squad.

The truth was that Anthony needed a lot more than what he’d
found before he could do something about it, and that bothered him. The calling
card of the leprechaun should have been enough, but there was something about
it that was just out of reach. 

Anthony hid in an alcove and flipped through his pictures to
make sure he could actually see them—taking pictures too fast had blurred his
evidence before. Everything looked mostly okay, enough that he could compare it
to the others. But the shoe print . . . that was something else entirely. That
meant the burglar was getting sloppy. 

He slipped out of the bank and passed a crowd of disgruntled
customers demanding to know what was going on with their money. Same as every
other scene. It wasn’t the group he was looking for, though.

There. The Leprechaun, as Anthony liked to call him, stood
off to the side at the street corner. There weren’t many features that showed
him off unless you knew what to look for. The leprechaun mask hid any features,
but it couldn’t hide his height as he towered over everyone. The fiery red of
his hair was too bright to be natural, but that was part of the disguise. It
was interesting that he would be so bold as to stand out like that after
breaking into a bank. But then, many criminals liked to watch the outcome of
their crimes.

Anthony darted down the steps and into the crowd, keeping his
eyes on the flash of red hair as he went. He apologized as he pushed people
aside, grumbling when they wouldn’t let him by. Finally, he broke through, but
the Leprechaun had eluded him. 

Anthony glanced up at the sign in the diner window in front
of him and smiled. At least he could get some of his favorite coffee and figure
out his next move while he talked to an old friend. He went inside, found a
spot at one of the corner booths, and took out his phone again to send the
pictures over to his computer.

“Hey, Tony. It’s been a while.” Fiona stood over him with a
coffee pot in her hand. Her hair was up in a ponytail, and she’d gone with pink
lipstick instead of her regular cherry red. “Want the usual?”

“If you remember what that was.” Anthony smiled up at her.
The fact that the bank was across the street wasn’t the only reason he’d chosen
this diner. Fiona had been a friend for years. “How are things here?”

Fiona nodded toward the chaos outside. “Well, that’s
certainly not helping business, that’s for sure.” 

“I’d think it’d bring people in just watch all the
excitement.” Anthony flipped his mug over and waited for Fiona to pour the
coffee before he added two packets of sugar and some creamer.

She shook her head. “No, they all want to get out of the way.
Shame. All those people who lost money. Those rotten thieves just don’t
appreciate the hard earnings of others.” 

Anthony knew for a fact that only a few safes had actually
been emptied, and most of those only had mementos that meant something to the
family. There was never anything missing that was worth enough to make the
news—besides the actual break-in, that is.

“They’ll be taken care of by the bank’s insurance.” Anthony
stirred his coffee and took a sip. “Best coffee in town, as usual.”

“You’re just saying that to butter me up.” Fiona laughed.
“I’ll let you know if I hear anything. But for now, you still want the usual?”

Anthony nodded and handed her the menu. “Thank you.”

He sent a quick note to the chief. +Pretty sure he went into
the building across the street. He disappeared right around there.+ 

While he waited for breakfast, he opened his laptop and sent
all the images over from his phone. He opened another program on his computer
and set up a collage of the evidence so he could study it all together. It
wasn’t as nice as having it all up on his board at home, but it’d do for now.

Anthony slid the last image into place just as Fiona brought
his eggs and sausage. “Thank you. Oh, and can I get some orange juice?”

“Of course.” Fiona put a hand on his shoulder as she walked
by. 

Anthony took a bite of his sausage. There would be another
hit on another bank in the next few hours, and he needed to figure out which
one it could be. So far, the bank robberies had been random. That is, unless he
was missing something, and that bothered him even more. He went back to the
pictures of the stamps, hoping they would tell him something. 

“Those are some fun pictures. Getting ready for a St.
Patrick’s Day scavenger hunt or something?” Fiona’s voice made Anthony jump.

“I wish it was for something like that.” Anthony lowered the
screen of his laptop. 

“Oh, sorry. I didn’t just see something I wasn’t supposed to,
did I?” Fiona bit her lip. She was the only one who really knew that Anthony
was a private detective. She’d helped a couple of times before, but this was
much bigger than the other cases.

Anthony pulled out some cash to pay for his food. “No,
they’re just pictures I’ve been gathering.”

“Oh, good. But if it helps, I’ve seen that mark before.”

“You have?” Anthony raised his eyebrows and reopened his
computer. “This one?”

Fiona leaned closer and nodded. “Yeah, it’s a symbol I used
to see in college in a few places. I figured it was a club or something.” 

“Did it always have these clovers?” Anthony’s fingers were
tingling, just like they did whenever there was a new break in a case.

She shook her head. “Not like this. That’s why I didn’t catch
it at first. Usually, the clovers were all the way around. Like the numbers on
a clock. This one’s missing a few.” 

He’d noticed that they were different at each bank, but other
than the changing number of clovers, there wasn’t much to go on. It was part of
the randomness of the robberies. 

“Fiona, think hard. Do you remember exactly where you saw
them?” He shoved his laptop and notes in his backpack. Finally. Something more.
The shoe print could wait.

“Not exactly, but they were in a few places on campus. By the
dorms, near the language arts building, and the library. Oh, and on some of the
streetlights at the bar just off 16th. The Golden Harp, I think? There were
probably more, but those are the ones I passed all the time.” 

Anthony drank the orange juice she had brought him, stood,
and kissed her on the cheek. “You’re the best. Thank you.” 

He paid and headed straight for the subway. If he hurried, he
could check out the stamps she was talking about before the next heist.