The Luck of the Irish {Sequel to Kiss Me, I'm Irish}

Chapter 4: Crime of the Century

Things were not going well for Holly. That was the understatement of the century. She was beginning to wonder what she had done to constantly get stuck with literally every insane, ridiculous case happening on her watch. She silently thought she was getting too old for police work and debated an early retirement while she waited for the Lower Elements Police's technical genius, the centaur Foaly, to bring up all the details on the screens. It had been a while since the last major issue in the Lower Elements, and Holly wasn't the least bit shocked the time had come for a major crisis once again.

    "You know, one of these days Foaly, I'm just going to quit," she announced, sinking down into her chair. She knew she better get comfortable because whatever Foaly had to tell her could not be good. It was never good.

    "Please don't do that," Foaly retorted, typing aimlessly away on his keyboard.  "Who else could I trust to help me with these difficult cases?"

    "Perhaps Grub? Or Trouble? Or ooooo! Maybe even Chix," Holly suggested with a smirk.

    "Heaven's no!" Foaly replied. "To all of them. None of them would be able to handle a case of this magnitude. This is the crime of the century. I need the best of the best."

    Holly snorted. "I'd be careful saying that about Trouble. He is the commander, you know."

    Foaly waved her off. "Yeah, but he's too busy with his personal life to get involved in something like this. Too busy being at Lili's beck and call."

    "Speaking of something like this," Holly started, tapping her fingers on the desk in front of her, "are you ever going to tell me what this case exactly is, or are you just going to keep me in anticipation?"

    Foaly shot her a pointed glare, but said nothing as he pulled up a video from a local news station. He muted the video, and then cleared his throat before he began to speak. "Well, it would appear an important fairy artifact has been stolen from the National Archives here in Haven," he explained. "So far, they have no clues as to who is responsible for it. No evidence left behind."

    Holly nodded. Whoever they were dealing with was a professional. There was no doubt about that. Only a seasoned thief would be able to pull off a stunt like that without detection. She wasn't unduly worried. There weren't many artifacts that were actually worth stealing; she doubted this one was any different. "What artifact was it?" she asked.

    Foaly sighed. "Well, that's the bad news. It was the gem from Frond's crown."

    Holly swore she felt her heart sink. Frond was the first Elfin King, the one who led the battle against the humans- the battle which ultimately led the People to reside underground. It was him who created The Book, and all the rules the People lived by. The gem from his crown, legend had it, possessed incredible power. It had never been truly tested, and for a good reason.

    "Okay, so that's a problem," she expressed. "We need to get that back as soon as possible before it's power is used for some evil plot."

    Foaly sighed. "The problem with that, Holly, is that whoever stole it is more than likely very aware of the gem's capabilities. Most petty thieves wouldn't have been able to get past security in the Archives. Whoever stole it knows what they're doing."

    Holly swore under her breath. "So whoever we're dealing with is definitely no amateur. But who is it? I feel like we have most of the people who I would suspect locked up in maximum security prisons or they're dead."

    Foaly began running a check in his head of possible suspects. "Well... that's mostly true."

    "Mostly true?" Holly questioned. "Who am I missing?"

    Foaly raised an eyebrow. "You mean to tell me you can't think of a single person who wouldn't want to steal an all-powerful gem for some nefarious purpose?"

    Holly caught on. "You can't be serious. You don't seriously think Artemis stole it, do you?"

    Foaly shrugged, crossing the room. He started rifling through some paperwork on his desk for a moment before turning to look at her. "Well, I mean, he did just visit the Archives not long ago. Did you not attend the unveiling of the new exhibit about your lovely first encounter together a week ago?"

    Holly sighed, but nodded. She had nearly forgotten that the National Archives had finally put together something for Holly's kidnapping technically over a decade ago now. It was a bit overkill, in Holly's opinion, and she didn't really want to attend it. But Artemis persuaded her to tag along with him, so she went. Boy was it awkward standing at an exhibit about your kidnapping with your kidnapper- no matter how great terms you are on now.

    "I did go," Holly muttered. "And I did let him wander around looking at everything before we left, but that doesn't mean he did it. Artemis is supposed to be on the straight and narrow now. I mean, I'm fairly certain Diana would strangle him for us if he wasn't."

    Foaly shrugged. "I wouldn't be so sure. People in love do stupid things all the time. Plus there's always the possibility that she isn't aware of any of his extracurricular activities. She's pretty busy herself these days."

    Holly really hated it when Foaly had good points. She didn't want to let herself believe that Artemis had stolen it. He had been doing so well in not committing crimes and staying out of trouble. Why all of sudden would that change? She knew his brain was a complex and confusing place, but she truly didn't think he would've relapsed to thievery.

    "Well, if he took it, why would he want it?" Holly tried to reason. "I don't think he has any sort of goals of world domination. I mean, I guess I've been wrong before, but I hope I'm not this time."

    Foaly sighed, shuffling some papers before he turned off the monitors. "I don't know, Holly. There aren't any other leads. It's either him, or we're dealing with someone brand new," he admitted. "And honestly, I would rather it be him. At least then we know what we're dealing with."

    Holly frowned. She didn't want to think her friend would resume a life of crime, especially when he had been doing so well. Foaly caught her glance and he spoke again.

    "I don't want it to be him either, alright?" he stated. "But I don't know who else it could be."

    Holly didn't say anything for a moment, but she didn't have time to reply before her phone started ringing. She pulled it from her pocket and glanced at the caller ID. "Speak of the devil," she mused, and then answered it. "This better be good, Artemis..."