Chapter 81: Two Thieves

"Nothing kills a man faster than his own head"

- Tyler Joseph

...

Beep-beep...

Just as Commissioner Gordon picked up the Phantom Thief's notice letter, Henry, who was standing nearby, suddenly heard his phone ring.

He picked up his phone and saw that it was his secretary calling, and he had a bad feeling that something was wrong.

"Oh no, Mr. Orpheus! We just found the Phantom Thief's notice letter in your office!"

As soon as the call was connected, the secretary delivered some bad news to Henry.

From the secretary's words, Henry learned that the content of the notice letter was exactly the same as the one faxed to the GCPD.

In fact, not only did the Orpheus Center and the GCPD receive the notice letter, but all the media platforms in Gotham received it at the same time.

This was not unusual, as the Phantom Thief never worried about a lot of people knowing about his notice letters.

On the contrary, he seemed worried that no one would know he was going to steal something, so he made a lot of noise to let everyone know.

"But why didn't I find anything when he first came? Instead, they found the notice letter in my office after I arrived at the police station."

Henry muttered to himself.

Harvey heard his voice and raised an eyebrow, asking, "Mr. Orpheus, you don't still think that the impostor you saw for the first time was the Phantom Thief, do you?"

"Harvey, what do you mean by that? Are you saying...?"

Finally realizing what Harvey was saying, Henry felt a bit slow.

"It's obvious that someone else, besides the Phantom Thief, is also targeting the 'Hope Diamond'."

At that moment, Commissioner Gordon put the notice letter in his hand and spoke in a serious tone.

"Jim, who do you think that person could be?"

Harvey asked.

Jim pondered for a moment before saying, "The 'Hope Diamond' has a reputation that far surpasses that of an ordinary gemstone, and an ordinary thief probably wouldn't dare touch it."

"In addition, this person is skilled at disguise. Although we can't determine the gender for now, the disguise appears to be that of a woman. If we assume this is a female thief, I can only think of one person."

"Are you saying she's back? But hasn't she retired from this business a long time ago?"

Harvey's expression changed.

Jim shook his head and said, "It's just a first guess. The impostor may not necessarily be female. Just like how the Phantom Thief disguised himself as female before, we can't determine their true gender until their identity is revealed."

Although most people in Gotham currently think of the Phantom Thief as male, in fact, the police department has listed his gender as 'suspected male' in the Phantom Thief's file because he was always disguised as a male.

Henry broke out into a cold sweat, and he shook his head with a wry smile, "I thought the infamous reputation of the 'Hope Diamond' would scare off a lot of thieves. After all, it hasn't been stolen from the Smithsonian Museum for so many years. But now, I didn't expect two big thieves to steal it as soon as the news got out."

"Hmph, that's because this is Gotham."

Harvey snorted.

Suddenly, Harvey seemed to remember something and turned to Henry and asked, "If I remember correctly, the diamond should still be at the Smithsonian, right?"

After getting a positive answer, Harvey looked serious and said, "Since the diamond hasn't been delivered to you yet, why not just cancel the exhibition? If there's no target, then neither the Phantom Thief nor any other thieves would have a reason to commit a crime."

"The Smithsonian Museum has canceled an exhibition before, so canceling it again shouldn't be a problem."

"This..."

Henry hesitated at the suggestion, "I'm afraid that won't work."

"I spent almost half of my savings purchasing a large amount of security equipment to protect the 'Hope Diamond'. If I cancel the exhibition, all that money will go to waste. In addition, I signed a contract with the Smithsonian Museum. If I cancel the exhibition without permission, I have to pay a large amount of liquidated damages."

"You can let us, the police, negotiate with the Smithsonian Museum to persuade them to voluntarily cancel the exhibition. This way, you won't breach the contract."

Harvey suggested.

"You can try, but I think the chance of success is low."

Henry didn't have much confidence in Harvey's idea.

"I don't know why, but they seem to have great importance to the exhibition plan in Gotham. Otherwise, they wouldn't have agreed to hold the exhibition again at my small venue after announcing the cancellation."

"I believe the Smithsonian Museum is prepared for the possibility of thieves targeting the 'Hope Diamond,' and yet they still decided to exhibit the diamond in Gotham."

"No matter the results, it's still worth trying to negotiate."

Jim agreed with Harvey's suggestion.

"Mr. Orpheus, can you bring the person in charge of negotiating the exhibition with the Smithsonian Museum who is still at your place? Please take us to meet her."

After he agreed, the group quickly headed to the Orpheus Jewelry Exhibition Center.

...

Wayne Manor, in Dick's small study.

"From the look on your face, has the Phantom Thief sent another notice letter, Master Richard?"

Alfred walked in with a tray of snacks and coffee and saw Dick staring at a white piece of paper on the computer screen.

There seemed to be a few lines of writing on the paper.

Without even needing to read what was written on it, Alfred could guess what the paper was.

Recently, Dick has only shown a similar expression when looking at one thing.

"Mhm."

Hearing Alfred's question, Dick didn't even turn his head; he just gave a slight nod.

"Don't overwork yourself; take breaks and rest, Master Richard. I have put down your afternoon tea."

Alfred knew this would happen, so he put the snacks and coffee on the table next to Dick.

"Thank you, Alfred."

Dick thanked him, and Alfred quietly left the room.

Not long after, Dick received a phone call from Barbara.

"Hey! Elf Boots, have you seen the Phantom Thief's notice letter?"

In the library, Barbara was talking to Dick as she sat in her own office.

"You want to get involved with Phantom Thief again?"

Dick frowned and asked.

"What else can I do? Last time, both you and Phantom Thief played me. Do you expect me to pretend like nothing happened?"

Barbara retorted.

"I admit that Phantom Thief is indeed more difficult than I originally thought, but that also means you need my help even more."

Dick was speechless for a moment when he realized that Barbara had made a good point.

Every time he faced the Phantom Thief, he was always one step behind and always ran out of time. He had to admit that the Phantom Thief was smart—at least not inferior to himself.

If he only has himself to depend on, he might be trapped in this frustrating cycle forever.

Dick wasn't the type to stubbornly refuse help or accept any assistance.

After thinking about it, he agreed to let Barbara join the case involving the Phantom Thief.

"I guess you've already deciphered the content of the notice letter by now?"

Barbara continued to ask.

"Almost. The Phantom Thief's riddle this time is much simpler than the last."

Dick gave a definite answer.

"The specific content of the notice letter says..."

...

A/N: If we reach 600 power stones today, I will release an additional chapter tomorrow.

patreon.com/Sothisq

You can find up to 20 advance chapters at my patreon.