Lost Luggage - Home Work

Like the last elephant leaving the zoo I paused to turn out the lights, scanning the board room for one last time. Seeing the brief case snug under the desk, slightly ajar and totally unattended, I returned to the long table and dropped down onto my knees sliding the case out and lifting it up past my eye level onto the desk.

Without wanting to invade their privacy I quickly decided to see if I could find out whose case it was. I carefully removed the news paper, and manila envelopes spreading those out beside me, and settled into one of the comfy chairs supplied for investors. I noticed for the first time how supple the padding was and how supportive and firm the arms and back are.

The remains of the case were unimpressive, who ever owns it is reading a Dick Francis novel, and they were using a creased playing card (the nine of hearts) as a bookmark on page 34-35. It seems the main character awakes and is unsure where he is. There was a selection of Bic pencils, some with the ends chewed to splinters. Also some sachets of silicone were still in the bottom of the brief case, though the cheep stitching was coming loose inside, and the faux leather showed signs of wear. It wasn't a new brief case. I tried to remember now who was sat either side of where I found it. But all the investors seem to blur into one.

I took another look at the evidence, noticing the crossword puzzle on the news paper, it was almost finished, and had been filled in with a pencil. That's cheating. I flipped the broadsheet over to catch sight of the masthead and date, a two day old copy of the New Your Times. They're not so quick at solving puzzles. New York is a clue, there had been a couple of investors from America. There was a Texan, which I thought was clichéd the minute he walked in, and there was the guy who reminded me of Woody Allan. It could have been either of them I guess. But I figure it's not the Texan, he was all show and bluster, his money nearly sang and danced all through the pitch, he was making such a production of it. There's no way he'd own such a shabby case.

So it was the balding nervous guy. His pencil chewing habits and his nervous twitch were easy to remember, I could imagine him forgetting his brief case. So very much in character given how he'd acted all through the meeting. I snapped the latches shut , and took the case with me as I left the rented function room. Hitting the lights I headed to the supervisors office to see if they had a lost property box. Seeing as the bald guy was too tight to offer to invest I'd leave it to him to come back and fetch his case.

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