Accused

CHAPTER 4 -Accused

 

 

Everyone had assembled in the main hall for the breakfast except for our young heroes who strolled down after half an hour like the victims of anaemia and insomnia. They sat down at the table only to fill up their plates with the leftovers.

 

"What's the matter lads, was the bed uncomfortable or something, you don’t look well." Mrs. Mursel enquired.

 

"Well, to be honest, precisely the opposite. It was a bit too comfortable and we are not quite used to this kind of treatment, but don’t worry, we'll eventually get used to it after all we were born to live a king-size life." Jade replied

 

Later, Mr. Lewis informed them about the unveiling of the 'you know what'… Harry tried to tell him about the events but unfortunately Mr. Lewis had some important work and had to go.

 

"Where is it going to be held?" Harry enquired.

 

"At the 'Crystal Hall'." Mrs. Mursel replied.

 

The boys thought of meeting some newcomers and try to ingrain as much info, which may help them to stumble on some suspects.

 

"Oops! I…uh…um… sorry about that." A young man with long hair and a beard that somehow reminded Jude of Captain Jack Sparrow, accidentally stumbled upon an old woman, causing the tea cup to overturn and spoil her attire.

 

"And what do you have to say, young man, you've spoiled my newly ironed dress." she said crossly.

 

"I am sorry Miss Harrison, what I can do to compensate it." he said apologetically.

 

"Just don’t come in my way, that'll be more than enough." she replied.

 

Jade went forward to initiate a talk with him and to possibly fill the vacant place in their suspect list, not that accidentally spilling a cup of tea over an oldie makes you a criminal. But, still one can never say for sure.

 

"Not relatively such a good start for such a beautiful day, isn't it." Jade tried to initiate a conversation.

 

"It happens to me every Monday morning, dunno why only me. From being chased by mad dogs to bumping into old geezers, just my luck." he replied.

 

"S**t happens with everyone bro, don’t take it as a curse. The name's Jade and this is my brother Harry Lewis."

 

"I'm Larry Charlton. Nice to meet you."

 

"Our pleasure."

 

Larry introduced them to may other guests arrived there. They also met Bob, a very nonchalant person with a carefree personality. Unfortunately he was bound to wheelchair. He and Larry were brothers.

 

Bob and Larry had the habit of cracking lame jokes, they were so lame that the boys were having fits… for e.g. I'll be Burger King and you be McDonald's. I'll have it my way, and you'll be lovin' it, here's another lame one: I got an invite to a wedding that said “black tie only”. But when I got there, everyone else was in tuxedos.

 

After having a fun-filled afternoon, the boys got ready for 'the event'. They soon reached the place where the event was being held. The boys were looking for their dad, and wanted to tell him everything.

 

They eventually found him talking to some senior members. They decided to wait until later. Suddenly a booming voice filled the hall...

 

"Ladies and Gentlemen. I, Wilson Leonard, will be your host for today. To those who don't have an iota of an idea, we have gathered here to unveil a very prestigious ______<keep guessing>.

 

"The dark knight rises." Jade snickered.

 

"That's racist, bro."

 

The Wilson guy and Mr. Mursel pulled the curtain concealing the _______.

 

"This is no ordinary ornament, you see this is a family heirloom passed on from generation to generation. And now, after so many years of safekeeping, I want to pass it onto my daughter Eloise. There was a roar of applause after Mr. Mursel gave his long speech, which I am certain after reading it you'll throw this book in the nearest dustbin you find. Thus to prevent the inevitable, I have kept it aside.

 

After the exceptionally tiresome speech, Harry managed to find his father amidst his friends. He asked his dad if he could step out for a few minutes as they wanted to tell him something.

 

"Yea what's the matter." Mr. Lewis asked.

Harry and Jade took turns narrating him all the incidents which took place until now. Harry also showed him the car no. which he had noted down.

 

"This is getting way too far - Mr. Lewis said apprehensively -  I'll inform Mr. Mursel and Officer Henry about this. You boys did well enough, but from now, let the police handle it."

 

Before the boys could protest, Mr. Lewis got a phone call and he stepped aside.

 

"Bummer! And I thought that I'd get a chance to relish my fist on that moron who whacked us." Jade said dejectedly.

 

"Forget it, let's get back to the party." Harry said.

 

The boys found Miss Harrison was scolding another poor victim for not having proper table etiquette. Eloise was laughing at Larry and Bob's pick up lines.

 

"I am getting an uneasy feeling… something is just not right with the atmosphere over here." Harry said with a hint of suspicion.

 

As if to prove his point, CRASH… a smoke grenade came soaring in through blasting the window and filling the room with smoke… there was mayhem in the room, people were going nuts, and you can imagine the rest.

 

Jade and Frank quickly darted towards the door. Their vision was still blurred from the smoke. They heard a distinct sound of an engine and a bike speeding away. As if the fates were on their side, they found another pair of motorbikes parked.<now don’t ask me from where they got the ignition keys> Soon they were on their trail and beginning to close up fast.

 

The man who was riding, or it looked like a woman whatsoever had a bag behind which contained the obvious. Their target was trying to shake them off the track by maneuvering the way through ditches and trenches , but the boys knew their things and were both connoisseur at driving bikes.<dunno why the main characters are experts in more or less everything>.

 

The  boys could hear police sirens, good at least they had some backup.

 

But something happened which stupefied our heroes, the driver swiftly removed his bag, and tossed it up, as if it was some toy which he got bored with.     

That bag falls on the road from that height, well I'll leave it to you to figure out what'll happen.

 

You should have been there… Jade jumped from his motorcycle like…uh… how do I phrase it, like a somersault and managed to catch the bag before the heirloom in it got smashed into smithereens.

Harry's eyes were so fixated on Jade and the bag that he didn’t notice the tree branch ahead and BANG! Harry was thrown away from his bike but somehow he didn’t pass out and managed to stretch his arms back and flipped. His head was still dizzy from the hit but luckily he didn’t fracture any bone.

 

He lifted up Jade who was… let's say partly unconscious but still breathing from the fall. Unfortunately for him, it seemed that he had twisted his ankle due to the fall.

 

Anyhow Harry heaved Jade up, they couldn’t get the thug but at least they had recovered the loot and were still in one piece.

 

"Put your hands behind your back and do not dare move a muscle." a gruff voice spoke from behind. "What I am holding right now is a .40, you try to act tough, believe me, you won't have to worry about growing old."