Liv Richter ’23 - The Blue Sapphire Heist

The Blue Sapphire Heist

by Liv Richter ’23

It was late on a Friday night in New York City. Detective Lucy Dane was on her way to catch the 10:30 AC night train to Maine. Her boss, Mr. Fletcher, called her in to immediately be sent out with two of her fellow detectives, James Morgan and Veronica Davis, to step in on a jewelry robbery. She had just been released from a previous case, which had just been solved and closed off. Lucy felt tired from the long day and was ready to return home to her daughter. However, that’s not how it worked in the life of a detective. Lucy brushed past these thoughts and briefly read the files as she walked along the sidewalk. A serious jewelry heist had been committed in the past sixteen hours, the main item stolen being a five hundred million dollar sapphire necklace. The necklace was stolen from the Heights Museum in New York City around 6:00 A.M. Lead investigators were certain that the necklace was being sent north for further exchange, so Lucy and her partners were being sent to follow their tracks. Lucy walked into the train station, hoping to find James and Veronica before boarding the train. Fifteen minutes later, she was settled and seated at a table in the train carriage. Lucy started to unpack her bag when someone hovered over her, and she looked up to see Veronica. They both smiled and exchanged a quick greeting before getting into the case details.

Veronica breathed out, “So what are we working with?” Lucy shuffled the papers around, “Jewelry heist. Leads suggest that the goods are being sent north. Probably to be auctioned off for much higher than its worth.”

Before the conversation continued the women were approached by a young man wearing a dark hat and trench coat. They were greeted by James Morgan as he slipped into the table seating next to Veronica.

He took off his hat and said, “We were promised a break after the past two weeks of working nonstop. I haven’t gotten a good night of sleep in days.”

“I know! I was supposed to be traveling this weekend, but that was obviously canceled. I don’t think this case will take too long,” said Veronica.

“Hopefully you’re right. Anyway, I’m caught up on the case. I don’t think the necklace could have gone far if it was only taken early this morning. I was given some evidence back at the station from the scene to look over and we have security footage to review.”

James pulled out a laptop, along with a plastic bag containing evidence left at the crime scene. The bag contained a few folded scraps of paper with writing on them.

“How could they leave so much paper behind for us to find?” asked Veronica.

“Must have been in too much of a rush,” James replied, as he opened up his computer.

“Yes, but a rush to where? Transcripts are stating that they don’t know where the robbers disappeared after taking the necklace. We need to rewatch this security footage of when it was taken at the museum,” Lucy added.

James typed on his computer then turned it to display the screen to the three of them. The footage started to play and Lucy noted the robbers did not try to cover up or cut the security cameras before continuing their crime. The thieves were swift in opening the protective boxing and removing the necklace. As soon as the necklace was

placed into their bag they were off and walking away. The camera cut from one view to another as they moved rooms in the museum. They turned one more corner and the next viewpoint was shown, but they were gone.

“Where could they have disappeared to? There was no other place to go after turning that corner,” said Lucy.

“Well there had to have been another exit out,” James replied.

The three sat in silence for a minute when Veronica spoke up, “Or maybe they created one. The prior footage shows them entering the museum through the second floor, but the necklace was on the first. They obviously didn’t go back the way they came, so they must have opened an exit in the blind spot of the camera.”

“That makes sense. If they wanted to go up they would have just gone the way they initially came. So that means they must have gone down and opened a passage through the floor. But what would that lead to?” James added.

Veronica looked up quickly and blurted out, “The lower platforms of the train station, they’re under the museum. Lucy, call in the station and ask for the security footage of all platforms. They had to have escaped through there.”

A few minutes passed until the footage was finally sent over. After loading the footage onto the screen, James sped up the video and they all watched carefully. No one was seen dropping out of the ceiling, but two men came out of the station bathroom.

Lucy interrupted, “Wait, we never saw them go into the bathroom. They only came out.” James zoomed in on the two men and rewound the video. “This has to be them and look at the time on the footage. It’s 6:12 A.M. that is just a few minutes after the robbery,” said Veronica.

The three continued to watch and expected the men to leave the train platform, but they never did. They are seen walking around the platforms or sitting in the same spot on the benches.

“They’re just wandering around and it looks like they stayed for hours,” said James. “Yes, but they disappear somewhere after a few hours. Maybe they hopped on one of the trains?” Veronica suggested. “Maybe they did just that. Hand me the scrap paper they left behind. It could have something to do with this,” stated James.

Lucy passed the folded paper to James and he opened it. A mix of letters and numbers was written in black ink. It read P:AC 03:10 ME. He set it on the table and they all glanced at it.

“It must be written in code. Maybe it will spell out the train they took,” said Veronica.

Lucy slid the paper closer to herself. She always loved cracking different codes and puzzles during cases. Lucy first thought about the last place the thieves were seen.

“The train station platforms,” thought Lucy.

She connected relations between what was known and what was written on the paper.

“I’m thinking the first part is standing for the train platform because we know there is one named AC. It is the same train platform used to board our train. Then ME stands for Maine, so maybe we are sharing a destination with them.”

Veronica added in, “What about 03:10? It must mean the time, but I did not see any 3:10 trains to Maine. I checked the whole schedule when my ticket was sent. The only other time with 3,1,0 was our train.”

They all sat still looking back and forth

at each other.

James leaned in and whispered, “I think we all know what this information means. We need to search all the carts for our suspects.”

Both women nodded and they all stood up from their seats. Lucy and Veronica turned toward the left carts while James headed to the carts on the right. The girls passed through two train carts while being cautious of their surroundings and fellow passengers. They continued through an empty carriage when Veronica heard a creak under her feet. The two looked down onto a rug below them. Lucy lifted it up to find the outline of a trap door on the floor. She and Veronica shared a glance before she lifted the latch of the door to reveal a black bag. Veronica pulled the bag out and opened it to reveal one sparkly sapphire necklace.

The two shared a smile when Lucy asked, “If we have the necklace, where are the robbers? Are they on the train?”

Right then James walked through the carriage door with two men in handcuffs.

“I found these two a few carts back and overheard their entire conversation. Our robbers were talking about the auction and their plan to sell the necklace. I recorded the whole thing for evidence of their confession,” James said with a smug smile.

“Anything to say for yourselves?” asked Veronica.

The two robbers silently looked down in defeat.

“That’s what we thought,” remarked Lucy.

The train was ordered for an immediate stop at the next upcoming station to release the detectives and their perpetrators. The next train was caught to New York City, and the three prepared for the short train ride home. When they finally arrived in the city, crowds welcomed them onto the platform. The robbers were escorted to jail as soon as they stepped off the train. Following behind them, Lucy handed the bag of valuable jewels to her boss, Mr. Fletcher. The bag was then handed over to a police officer for the necklace to be returned to the Heights Museum.

Mr. Fletcher approached them, “Amazing work, detectives. I’m sorry to have called you into this so late, but I needed my best at work. And like always, you pulled it off efficiently and successfully. Now return home and follow my orders of resting!”

Mr. Fletcher turned from his detectives and left them standing on the platform.

James turned towards the stairs and yelled back at the girls, “See you two Monday morning!”

Lucy and Veronica smiled back at him.

“See you then James!” Lucy yelled.

The women walked together towards the stairs in the opposite direction. When they reached the top of the sidewalk, they said their goodbyes and departed. Each detective headed their separate ways home with the warm satisfaction of yet another successfully solved case.