Chapter 1

“How are we sure that she was indeed the woman behind these burglaries, lieutenant?”

Tanong ng kaibigan at kasamahan sa trabaho ni Luis Harrington, si Philip.

“Hindi pa tayo nakaka siguro, all we have is speculations and don’t get me wrong, she was absolutely far from being a thief, I mean come on man, look at her!”

Tila nahuhumaling na dagdag pa ni Phil habang matamang tinititigan ang litrato ng isang babaeng posibleng suspect sa mga nangyayaring sunod-sunod na nakawan sa Paris.

“A princess huh?”

Naka ngising sabi nito, if rolling an eye will make Luis Harrington less of a man, he doesn’t sure if he gives a damn about it.

“Get a hold of yourself, Phil. Give me that!”

Luis snapped at Phil as he snatched the picture from his hands.

“Come on dude, you are being a priss, there is nothing wrong to admire her right?”

Tila batang sabi pa ni Phil, dahilan para lalo lamang mangunot ang noo ni Luis.

“Fine, she is pretty and she is a princess and so what? Hindi porque maganda siya and probably living life in high standards that doesn’t mean that she’s innocent, Phil. So get a hold of yourself or you will be off this case.”

Seryosong sabi ni Luis saka sinamaan ng tingin si Phil.

“You need s*x man.”

Naiiling na sabi nito, naiinis naman na dinampot ni Luis ang isang plastic na baso at walang habas iyong ibinato sa kasama na nakuha pa siyang pag tawanan.

“Next time, it’s a hammer.”

He warned, Phil’s smile grew even wider and signalled his hand as if he was zipping his mouth shut.

“I have to change the original plan, I will secretly follow her, you on the other hand will do some research about this woman, where she goes, what she does, what’s her job and everything you need to know, it doesn’t matter just gather everything we can use to prove that she was the one who’s behind all these crimes.”

Luis said, Phil’s eyebrow creased and Luis knew exactly why.

Ang orihinal na plano kasi ay si Phil ang susunod sa kanilang suspect at siya naman ang dapat na naka assign sa pag ri-research tungkol sa kanilang suspect.

“By the way you are admiring this woman on her pictures, I can already tell that you wouldn’t be able to do your job right, so we have to change duties.”

Paliwanag niya.

“Well you are right by that but come on, man. You just blew away my chances of being able to get to know her.”

Naka simangot na sabi nito, hindi naman napigilan ni Luis ang mapangiti.

“That’s the point, Phil. You can’t be assigned on following her so you won’t have the chance to know her.”

“Chance to know who?”

Sabay pa silang napalingon ni Phil sa pinto ng kanilang opisina kung saan nangaling ang boses, bumungad sa kanila ang kunot na kunot ang noong si Anna, isa pa sa mga kasamahan niya sa trabaho.

“The princess suspect.”

Si Phil na ang sumagot, napairap naman si Anna bago tuluyang pumasok sa loob.

“Basta talaga babae Philip, wala kang pinapalampas.”

Naiiling na sabi nito saka inagaw ang litrato mula kay Luis.

“Aba syempre, and she’s not just a woman, she’s a princess and damn man, she’s beautiful. Who knows right? She might be the woman that I am looking for.”

Malaki ang ngising sabi ni Phil saka dumungaw pa sa litrato, mabilis namang inilayo iyon ni Anna mula rito.

“The woman that you’re looking for? So you go with criminals now?”

Naiiling na sabi ni Luis.

“Criminal? Whatever happens to the rule ‘proven until guilty’? She’s our suspect, hindi pa napapatunayan na siya nga ang matagal na nating hinanap na mag nanakaw, and don’t get me wrong but I am handling this case for months now, I refuse to believe that the person behind these burglaries is a woman, let alone a princess.”

Mahabang litanya ni Phil.

“When will you ever change?”

Halos sabay na sabi ni Luis at Anna saka sabay ring umiling.

“Your judgements makes me sick, I am out of here!”

Naka simangot na sabi ni Phil saka umaktong isang babae, he even flipped his imaginary long hair to justify the act.

“So how’s the case? Any improvements?”

Seryosong tanong ni Anna saka pinasadahan ng tingin ang nag kalat na files sa lamesa.

“So far we have gotten a lead.”

Luis said as he handed her an unopened envelope.

“And all these leads, ang babaeng ito ang itinuturo?”

Kunot-noong tanong ni Anna saka itinuro ang litrato ng kanilang suspect.

“Kitana Dawn Yousaf Al-Sayed, first born princess of Jalil, daughter of Sheikh Shalef Bin Yousaf Al-Sayed. The burglaries has taken place the moment she arrived in Paris, it stops when she’s back to the Philippines, the jewelleries and other valuable things disappears usually mga mamahaling alahas na pag aari ng mga pamilyang myembro ng alta sociedad, I can discuss this to you some other time, Anna, but for now, this is all we knew.”

Mahabang paliwanag ni Luis.

“This woman was also a member of this society?”

Anna asked. Luis only nodded.

“You mentioned that she’s a princess so don’t you think that already gives us a reason why? Burglaries happen ilang araw matapos ang event ng mga taong ito, she was a member so the woman was there, isn’t that enough to explain why?”

Kunot-noong tanong ulit ni Anna, mabilis namang sumangayon si Luis.

“Yes, those reasons explains it very well, Anna. But are we able to explain these?”

Sagot ni Luis saka inilapag ang isa pang envelope na nag lalaman ng mga litrato ng babae.

“She’s acquainted to Alessandros?”

Naguguluhang sabi ni Anna habang pinapasadahan ng tingin ang mga litrato.

“Acquainted to Alessandros, ang taong bumibili ng mga nakaw na alahas and illegally exports them to Mexico. Don’t you think maybe this woman was also a member of that organization?”

Luis said almost thinking.

Anna only nodded and handed him back the images.

“We will find that out, we need to keep track on this woman, know every details about her.”

Anna said.

“Phil and I are already got it covered, I want you to gather information about this little princess’s castle.”

Maka hulugang sabi ni Luis, tila nakuha naman ni Anna ang ibig niyang sabihin at mabilis siyang tinanguan.