A Thief Observes

Downtown Island is in the southernmost area of Gotham City, and it is the largest island in the area with the Atlantic Ocean just within its reach.

Luxurious and exquisitely, Daggett's private collection hall is built on the south shore of Downtown Island, right next to the ocean.

Some people have sea-view houses and villas, but Daggett on the other hand has a sea-view estate.

Why Daggett decided to place his goods in a hall situated on the beach with all the humidity is a mystery for someone else to figure out.

Seriously, even Gotham's most absurd businessman, Wayne, would have the sense to not do this.

Well, Kid wasn't here to advise Daggett on his estate choices, he was here to alleviate Mr.Daggett one of his possessions.

However, Daggett's private beach extended for five kilometers and human presence was extremely minimal there. In addition, all audiences who heard the news and arrived would have to stay away due to the police.

That would make it difficult for Mathison to blend in with the venue in a disguise as a citizen from the general public. As a result, the difficulty setting was much higher than last time.

But to Mathison, all that meant that there would be better rewards at the end.

Even so, there is the problem of actually, you know, getting to the jewel.

At noon, Mathison switched his appearance to DiCaprio like when he bought the villa, and headed in a taxi Downtown with the sole purposed of scouting the area.

What separates a regular thief from a master thief?

The most important thing for a master thief is an escape plan. Having good disguises or having lightning fast reflexes does you no good if your caught. You have to be familiar with your surroundings well enough to ensure that he can easily lose his pursuers if he is spotted, but also to be able to plan a course of action that is in his best interests.

A master thief has a complete plan, from picking a target to choosing a date, to infiltrate, and then escape, all in one smooth set of steps.

Therefore, before making a move, one must be familiar with the whole area, anticipate the possible police patrols, and calculate the timing of the operation, without making a single mistake.

Catwoman, who Mathison met a while ago, was the best example of this. Though she had lightning quick reflexes, she had and escape plan worked into her contract and knew the lay of the land.

Unlike the norm however, Kaito Kid never to puts in the effort to think about the time the police are going to respond and how to get around them. With the existence of the teaser letter, the police have already arranged a net of heaven and earth at the target location.

Though the teaser might seem to be suicidal it does have its good points. So while a teaser letter may reveal the plans of Kaito Kid, it does reveal the police's plans as well.

The police, who knew what Mathison was trying to steal, could not spare police manpower to try to stop him at the major roads. This would be like admitting that despite their best efforts, Kid would get the gem anyway.

The might start doing this later down the line but that's a problem for future Kid.

After buying a tourist map of the island, he rented a car and went around the city for about three hours.

'As well as being close to the Atlantic Ocean, Downtown Island also has the Gotham River running through it. This river separates Downtown Island from Midtown Island, again, the only route connecting the two large islands… If you follow the Gotham River north into the Merchant River Basin, you can cross Midtown Island as a whole into the Industrial District, back to the stronghold.'

While sunbathing on the beach, he constructed an escape route back in his head.

It was impossible to go by land, as there was only one bridge that connected Downtown and Midtown Islands. The police could easily block it, and it was not safe to fly back on gliders as he heard that Gordon had deployed three police helicopters.

"Guess my method of entry hasn't changed then." Mathison said looking out at the ocean.

With a firm mind, Mathison went to the port and claimed a yacht in Jim Gordon's name, with a solemn warning to the owner that the boat was being borrowed for a covert operation and would need to be used for the whole night.

He also warned that no one could be told that he had commandeered the yacht, until early tomorrow morning, when he will go to recover it from the GCPD.

Every citizen knew Commissioner Gordon's face and he was so valued in the hearts of Gotham's citizens that the boat's owner agreed on the spot, without even asking to see his police officer's license.

With the yacht hidden under the Gotham River Bridge, most of the initial preparations were done. The next thing to do was to find out what was going on inside the collection hall, how the police were set up, whether Daggett had installed any high-tech anti-theft devices and so on.

However, this matter would need to wait until it was dark to proceed as daylight was not suitable for such operations.

After all, Kid will appear much later, he has a lot of time to observe the collection hall.

It's only two o'clock in the afternoon, just in time for a trip to the best tourist destination on Downtown Island – the public beach!

Downtown Island is the largest commercial district in Gotham, with the Gotham Financial Centre, the Statue of Justice, William Street, Gotham Broadcasting, and Gotham City Centre all located here. This makes Downtown Island one of Gotham's most major subdivisions.

In the afternoon, the entire coast, except for a few chartered private beaches, were almost full of people swimming along.

Mathison walked along the beach in a pair of beach trousers for he didn't want to go in the water.

Suddenly, he caught a glimpse of a familiar figure in the distance and smile mischievously.

He did not walk towards the figure but simply sat on a beach chair and closed his eyes.

'After staying up all night yesterday, I should rest now.'

Soon night fell and the cool evening breeze blew through just in time for Mathison to wake up.

By now, most of the tourists had already gone back one by one, only a small group of people were still on the beach, enjoying the night view.

The beach here got really cold during the night and the beautiful women who sweat in their bikinis during the day have now to put their jackets on.

As soon as Mathison woke up, he felt a coolness that seemed to make his mind think faster.

Putting on the black casual clothes he prepared, Mathison walked towards Daggett's private collection.

About twenty minutes later, he was near the location of Daggett's private beach which seemed oddly full of people. And the closer he went, the more pedestrians he ran into.

Young men and women, mostly, were blocked off from Daggett's private beach. The GCPD had already established a long barrier on the beach.

Most of them were fans of Kid and had come here to show their support.

In fact, many girls were holding up a sign that said: "Kaito Kid".

Well, it wasn't that many, only a dozen or so.

Of course, one could not dismiss the possibility that the GCPD had sent civilian policemen to blend in with the crowd.

Mathison quietly stepped around his fans and observed the long barrier of police.

He chuckled for a magic show was about to begin.