The Theft

"Tell me about the case you got yesterday", Milin asked as he raised his cigar to give a smoke,while leaning his back against the chair.Milin and the detective both were sitting at the balcony of the detective wearing heavy woollen clothes as it was too cold that morning,and Christmas was arriving."Very simple yet too suspicious",the detective said with a deep breath,as he took a sip of his whisky.The sunny,wintry holiday morning has the best ever ambience to listen to any gripping story,so tell me about the case story Milin chuckled and said". "Yes, indeed, already the festival feeling is here,streets were started to get decorated with lights and decorative items",detective said.If you,are,so interested let me tell you the story.

"Two people came to meet me yesterday in the police station one was the victim,John and another was the friend,Steve.When I first noticed them, both of them was sitting on a wooden bench in the Police Station almost sticking together,on yesterday's winter morning when temperature was relatively lower compared to other days.After getting the permission to meet me both of them almost hurriedly entered my room and started to say,"Sir we are in a grave probl.....","Relax,relax sit down both of you and let me know what's your problem",I said.Their whole body was covered with fluffy woollen clothes and gloves,still it could not prevent John from shivering.Though I knew his shivering was more because of his trouble rather than the chilling temperature.They sat down,but I could see the trace of the misfortune or trouble that John got into,in his pale-faced look,tears rolled down his cheeks to get dried up leaving marks of their trail,and leaving his lifeless eyes a bit moist."Now say",I said.My words seemed to be like injected life into John's veins again."I am looted sir ! My locker is empty !",even before he finished the sentence his voice changed as he weeped.

"Stop crying",I said as I patted his back,as a sign of showing him support,he raised his head and finally started to say his story as he rubbed his gloomy,red and lifeless eyes to clear his vision.

"I returned home late yesterday and straightaway went to sleep,as I was very tired.I skipped dinner and changed clothes and fell asleep.But today morning I opened my eyes with great difficulty,and found a hankercheif fallen on the ground,which ofcouse was not mine,I,picked it up with half-sleepy eyes and smelled it to realize I was anaesthesized yesterday,the realization taken my sleep away totally,because no one was their in my room yesterday.The thief must have broken into my house during the silent night when,it was dark everywhere including the house's inside".Now his friend Steve started to say suddenly,"The thief was careful and clever enough to convert the situation to his benefit,maybe because he knew that John stays alone.He slowly grabbed the key from under John's pillow,and progressed to open the almirah.The thief tried to make the least possible sound he could,to open the handle of the almirah with a jerk".

"After that?",Milin asked the detective."I already started to grow suspicion over Steve".After thinking about 2 minutes,I asked Steve"how did you know that Mr.John keeps his keyset below his pillow while sleeping?".I thought my question would rattle him,but he very confidently answered my question by saying,"I stayed in his house many times,I saw him doing that"."His eyes didn't blink while he said,his head was very still,he had a smile on his face while he was answering,I knew the confidence he was showing was very fake.He certainly knows something,yet I diverted my attention to John to ask about the objects that were in his almirah.There were few clothes but the locker had €100000.It's huge amount isn't it?"."Yes it is!",Milin said.I asked John,"Did he/she steal all the cash?",I asked.John sadly replied,"Yes,all".I asked again,"So you mean,your almirah was full of clothes,but his attention went to the locker down,and without any hesitation he opened it,and as he expected,the locker had enough cash to satisfy him...........Was the main door open? by the way,or was the lock broken?",I asked."This time John didn't say anything he just looked at Steve,and Steve replied,"No it was locked!"I gazed at him,with my eyebrow wrinkles on my forehead,"How do you know that !!"."I have a duplicate key,and John himself gave it to me,today morning I entered his room as I was having the duplicate key,to find his almirah wide open,all his wealth looted and he was sleeping,later we both realized that John was anaesthesized.",Steve said.

"But his answers were not satisfying,may be because of preconceived notion,but I felt Steve was the real culprit and was behind everything,But my next question was that how the thief got inside then,the answer I got from them was balcony.The thief used rope to climb up to break into his house"."Didn't you ask them about any clues?",Milin asked."Ofcourse,I did.A strange clue got into my hand.They handed over me a longcoat,that we usually wear in winter months.I guess the thief was feeling uncomfortable inside John's room with the coat on.So,he kept it hanging on a chair's side,but in hurry and tensed mood he forgot to take it away with him.But there was a problem,Steve has a strong alibi.I cannot blame him directly".The detective after longtime took another sip of whisky to relax,and rested his back on the chair,and stretched his legs to take a deep breathe."I see,you are involved in a very strange case then",Milin said."Yes true,€100000 is no joke!"."By the way I can give you a suggestion ,ask Steve to wear the coat, just check if it fits on him",Milin said."That's the problem,man,that's the problem.I told you he has a strong alibi,he told me he could have easily removed the coat(clue),that morning when he entered John's room,as John was unconscious".After thinking about 2 minutes Milin suggested,"Still try to check whether he fits in that blue,long coat",and added,"I should leave now,it's high time now,need to get back to work",and left the detective's house.The detective was lying in his chair for almost 1 hour,to figure out the dimensions of the case.Suddenly with a jerk,the detective stood up and dropped the glass of whisky from his hand,which got shattered on the floor.He recalled all the conversation with his friend,that happened few minutes ago,before he left.He clearly remember,he spoke about the "longcoat" as the clue,but his friend did mention "blue,long coat"........the coat was indeed blue.Now the question arises in his mind,is that,without watching the coat how did he know it was blue? !