The Jolene and Isabelle Chronicles

Heist at the Royal Ontario Museum

I've been coming to evening events at the Royal Ontario Museum since I started university. They're always packed with people. Packed with witnesses. It's almost impossible to do what I've been planning to do for years. But this time is different.

This time, there's a snowstorm keeping most of the guests from attending. But for some reason the event planners didn't use the weather as an excuse to cancel the masquerade gala.

I'm wearing a red floor-length ballgown. On my face, I'm sporting a glittery full-face mask that has feathers on the forehead. It's completely impractical for most crimes, but for tonight it is perfect for what I intend to do.

Security rummaged through my bag and the pockets of my coat for safety reasons. They swiped a metal detector over the rest of me. Little do they know that my wood, bone, and plastic tools aren't detectable with a metal detector. I hid them in secret pockets sewn into the skirt of my gown.

I've been using after hours events to case this joint for years. I know every nook. Every cranny. Every hiding place. Every exhibit. And I know how to steal them and replace them with replicas undetected.

First, I go to the second floor dinosaur exhibit and I grab myself a drink. Most of the guests who actually made it here are in the basement looking at the new limited time exhibits.

I have the place to myself.

It's an unnerving feeling, but if I can get rid of the guards near my target, there will be no witnesses.

You see, down the hall from the dinosaurs, there is an Earth's Treasures exhibit. And in that exhibit, there are plenty of shiny things to swipe.

I finish my drink and walk through the dinosaur exhibit, taking my sweet time. I have all night and the longer I wait, the less likely it is the guards will catch me.

I walk to the bathroom and when I'm in a stall, I take the tools from my gown and put them in my handbag.

I go back to grab another drink, then I stop by a food table and grab a plate of food. I pick at some hors-d'oeuvres as I pass through the hall of dinosaurs and stare at the fossils. If I had the resources, I'd be happy to pilfer them, but the gems are easier to hide.

After an hour or so, I move into the Earth's Treasures exhibit. I walk up to the guard.

"Hey, some guys hopped the fence in the dinosaur exhibit. They're using the triceratops' ribs as a xylophone. I couldn't find a guard in there..."

He's off before I can finish my lie, which means I have about three minutes. I take the tools out of my handbag and I'm about to get to work when I take a good look at the sapphire I'm about to steal.

It's a fake.

The sapphire is a fake.

I put the tools away and look at the other gems.

They're all fakes! Someone beat me to them.

"Looking for this?" someone says.

I turn and scowl right in her dumb, smug, arrogant, gorgeous face.

I know this woman. And she's holding up the sapphire I had come to steal with a mischievous look on her masked face. Her golden mask covers the top half of her face and it leaves her delicious, deceitful ruby lips exposed.

"You look beautiful tonight, Jolene. That glare you're giving me really compliments your outfit."

"What do you want, Isabelle?"

She walks closer to me and raises her hand. She caresses my mask before she takes it off.

"I want to send you on a little... treasure hunt. I'm sure you've guessed it by now, but the gems in the cases are fakes. I've hidden three of the real ones in different areas of the ROM. I have your number from our last... rendezvous."