It began as an ordinary evening on the job there was some fatal car accident near the empire state building and I had to get the story, I was pissed off at the moment cause Ben Sirolac the chief of the paper wouldn't let me take a terrorist story. I had taken a few photos and got down a few eye witness reports when there came a shattering scream from a gallery across, from the wreak and as a reporter I couldn't be more curious, so I went in to the gallery, where there was some convention going on, and managed to ask the head of the convention what had happened and why there was all that commotion but all he managed to say was that some diamond was stolen so I waited until the cops on scene could provide something " uhm excuse me" I finally got one cops attention " I'm Helen Gerson reporter for Morning Time could you please tell me what happened? " I asked him " well miss Gerson the priceless ruby on display at this convention had supposedly been stolen " he said " do the police know who's the culprit ?" I asked " I'm sorry but I'm not aloud to give anything else out to the press" he said so I had no other choice but to return to my office and type the car crash story and so I did having forgotten the ruby all together. Weeks later the chief assigned me to a case of a robbed diamond shop and I was asking the owner what he saw " so you opened your shop and it all looked fine" I repeated his answer " yeah and then I noticed all the diamonds gone......and then I saw some one he or she I can't tell it all happened so fast, the person pulled up by a grappling hook ........ I think it was a grappling hook and then he or she said something" the frightened owner said it seemed like the poor old man nearly had a heart attack " well could you recall it ?" I asked " well it sounded sort of like yooooou no , no I think it was yoo-hoo" surely the old man was out of his mind or so I thought " yoo-hoo?" I repeated "yes I believe so" he told me " well do you recall anything else?" I wanted some useful information " well oh a red ruby hung around the neck" yesssssssss I thought a red ruby the same as stolen at that gallery I have a lead, I rushed out and without looking rushed right in to someone.

" oh I'm sorry ma'am" he said " oh no it was completely my fault" I said he looked very unusual like some European prince and for some reason I had an unusual feeling about him "hey I recall seeing you at that gallery a few weeks ago " I said " yes that was my ruby that was stolen and I own the corporation of this store" he said " oh where are my matters I'm Darius WonCuquar" he said " Helen Gerson" I said " beautiful name for a beautiful woman" he flattered me "awe well" I couldn't help smile "how about dinner? Tonight " he asked " well I usually don't but you seem like a respected gentleman" I said and agreed, his limousine would pick me up about 9:00 p.m. and bring me to his mansion I got to say it was exiting. I went home and got ready I wore a silver dress and wore my wavy red hair up.

At nine on the dot the limousine pulled up and I got in. When we reached the mansion I was so nervous and didn't know why there was no reason we had dinner and he was very interesting to talk to, I then asked to go freshen up and while in the third flour bathroom I could have sworn I heard something so I went through the dark rooms to see what it was I had just went in to one of the rooms when I saw a dark figure and of course knew it to be the thief "you don't mess with a reporter's date" I took a vase and smashed it over he's head and for once saw him in the clear, he had black fuzzy hair a mustache and goatee and wore a green vest type shirt and leather pants with the red ruby around his neck, Darius had came in to see what was up and saw the scene he smiled " very good Helen dear" the thief was snapping out of it "ow what did you do that for?" he rubbed his head and looked at me "Tolycus how nice to see you again" Darius said and put his arm around me " you know him?" I asked "aww nuts" the thief said "aren't you going to call the cops?'' I asked but no one paid attention to me " Tolycus I am going to get rid of you once and for all" Darius took out a golden dagger and pointed at the unarmed thief " Darius no he's unarmed" I said " shut up, I have been waiting for this a long time" he raised the dagger, Tolycus, as I figured was the thief's name, was still down on the floor where I hit him " hey come on can't we discuss this" he said " yeah leave him alone" I agreed "I said shut up" Darius told me he was about to kill the thief when I turned and kicked him in the knee with my heel and he fell, the thief got up and used the grappling hook out the window " you coming?'' he asked me and I nodded no point in staying, he took me around the waist and we jumped down ,oh shit, I thought when jumping out the third flour window " yooooooooo-hooooo" he yelled and of course I couldn't help laughing. He put me down on the side walk "thank you dear lady" he faked Darius's accent and I smiled "so what is your name?" he asked "I'm Helen Gerson" "I'm Talycus" he said "so what were you doing with bozo over there?" He asked "he was my date" I said, a cab pulled up and I got in. I got home with my hair a mess and my only evening gown ripped, so I did the only thing I could, went to bed and called in sick the next morning, but that night I had a very unusual dream, it was the replay of the night's events except this time around Tolycus got in the cab with me and instead of going to bed alone......ha ha ha,.... you get the picture, well I bet if I had a dream book you know what it would say, I have the hots for a thief, so typical of a journalist to fall for a bad guy. That whole day I spent in bed, eating chocolate fudge ice-cream and watching soap operas but I couldn't stop thinking of Tolycus no matter what I did until I felt like shooting myself in the head to shut it up, and I kept on saying this is not right, shut up Helen, he's a thief, he's not for me, shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, over and over again till I had to do the only thing left, go to work. I went and said my cold lightened up and of course was assigned some stupid research paper on some old tree. The next thing I realized was that it was past ten and I hadn't thought of Tolycus since three......... well there I go again. I shut of my computer, took my purse, and left the office. I had just stepped out of the office when Darius conferred me from behind and grabbed me "you disappointed me Helen, God knows how long I've been waiting to kill Tolycus and you have to go and spoil that for me, don't you?" he said. I tried to kick him and struggle free, but he felt as hard as stone and my heels didn't even effect him "you caught me off guard last time, it won't happen again" he said "If I can't have Tolycus's life for now I'll just take your beautiful body and then your life" he said, then he must have gassed me because the next thing I recalled was waking up tied to a table in what I believed to be Darius's basement because through a small window near the ceiling I saw his red cadilac in the garage. I waited God knows how long, until Darius came in, he wore some robe thing below the waist that looked like a bath towel, oh shit I'm most likely to get raped or killed or both here, I thought " what the hell do you want from me? You son of a bitch" I screamed but he paid no attention to me. He couldn't find something so he exited the room. Once again I tried to free myself but it didn't work, then I heard something and glanced up at the window " missed me?"

"maybe, if you find the keys to get me out" I said, though I really was glad to see him. "Who needs the keys" he jumped down and picked the handcuff locks in a glance. "Come on hurry" I got up and climbed out the tiny window after Tolycus but just then Darius came back in he said something and rushed after me and in all the commotion I must have slammed my head on the window and passed out cause when I came to I was on a silky red couch in a place not mine nor Darius' so I assumed Tolycus lived here, I got up of the couch and looked around it was nice red silk curtains covered the door to the balcony, wool rugs lay on the floor. Then Tolycus came in I was startled " hi " I said "well hello Helen" he smiled " Tolycus " I said " so how do you like my place? my latest job is keeping me in comfortable life style for a while?'' he asked " it's beautiful so how do you and Darius know each other?" I asked "we're old buddies" he said sarcastically, I sat back down on the couch "Darius is a crook, he's not a very nice guy, hey the first time I met him he ripped me off, of five gold coins" Tolycus said " and you're a thief" I added " no you see what I do is an art after all I am the King of thieves '' he said," wine?" he offered a bottle of some expensive brand I would never be able to buy "sure" I agreed. We had a few drinks and it was about two in the morning he then reached in to his pocket an gave me a pendent with this ruby heart on it " I can't take it" I said " sure you can, if someone like me is giving you something that's worth something you really should take advantage of this rare moment" he said and I have to agree he was right, a few more drinks later I was so stoned I would have done anything, maybe I wouldn't regret it so much, but Tolycus did nothing to take advantage of me, that night I don't even know how I got home since Tolycus was just as drunk as me but somehow I did. I gotta say being a reporter and not being able to report the big story about the jewel thief is tough especially with what happened next morning didn’t exactly make it better.

That morning was Saturday, I woke up so late it's scary I mean 1 p.m. is a little extreme, I still wore the same clothes from yesterday, and since I hadn't even started my story from Thursday I thought I should go in to the dark room and produce the film from my camera which I always wear around my neck, as I saw the 24 photos clearly I noticed a few I didn't recall taking there was a photo from when I hit Tolycus with the vase and a few from last night I must have took them when I was drunk, but in all of them he wore the stolen jewel and if the cops saw this his face would be all over the place and I couldn't do that to him even if he is a thief. I couldn't let anyone see them but as a reporter I didn't have the heart to throw them away so I put them in an envelope and in my purse. Slowly I was recalling what Tolycus told me last night and who this Darius creep was and why he wanted to kill Tolycus, because he once long ago stole these jewels and ever since that Darius was after him, and Tolycus has lost the jewels a while ago and even if he had them Tolycus said he would never give them to that creep. I then had gone to Manhattan to investigate a story and get some cool photos and you won't believe it I even don't because I don't know how it happened some one got my wallet and all the papers from my purse I only realized this when I went to a coffee shop and every thing was missing including the photos they only left my brush mirror and the pendent, probably because it was all the way at the bottom, "oh shit, fucking shit" I exclaimed, thank god I had my metro card in my pocket but everything else was gone and I hadn't realized the damage I just thought that some pickpocket got it and would probably rip up those photos, and anyway I planned to go to the hotel suit Tolycus was staying at, he asked me to help him to convict Darius ...... well actually I insisted on helping him, so Darius would get off Tolycus's back and all the people he killed and things he took from them would rest plus we had to find out what was so significant about the jewels Tolycus stole those years ago that Darius still hunts him till today, with all this on my mind the stolen photos just seemed to slip by. Instead of heading home I went to the hotel, I don't exactly recall the name of the hotel but I know where it's located. After I finally got past the security guard, who kept on asking me where's my key and/or the person I was with, I got up to his 5th floor suite and he was out so I did what I could do, I used my hair pin to pick the lock, hey you hang out with a thief and it's bound to rub off. I waited about two hours watched some t.v, ate some.....uhm...... whatever that was, and he still hasn't shown up. I didn't know what awaited me not even the half of it, I figured Tolycus was out on a job and wouldn't come in till late so I just decided to make haste of the room's Jacuzzi, so I put up my hair and went for it wearing nothing, I would probably be out before he came in and if not, hey there is an upside, but I must've fallen asleep in the Jacuzzi. About an hour later a noise woke me up but I had still had my eyes closed thinking I would see Tolycus when I open them but the many footsteps I heard made me jump up and put on my dress as quickly as I could before whom ever it was came in to the bathroom and all I did was stare cluelessly as I saw a few cops and a detective approached me "Miss. Gerson you're under arrest" he said and slapped a hand cuff on my wrist, all I had time for is to grab my coat in my other hand "for what? What's going on where's Tolycus, huh?" all I could do is mumble "for breaking in to my hotel room" Darius stood there and smiled devilishly as the cops read me my rights. Even in all of the mess I figured out what happened, Tolycus had used Darius' name to pay for the room and Darius found out, he must have somehow seen me break in and got me arrested pretending it really was him who rented out the room. So there I was in the cell of the precinct, I had to spend the night but I wasn't really thinking of that. In the morning my sister Rita had bailed me out, she works in the financial business as in buying and selling stocks, and we are no way alike in looks except we both have reddish strawberry hair but mine is wavy and long hers is straight and short, I have blue eyes and she has brown, well you get the idea, I of course was glad to see Rita " Helen, what the hell for did I just pay two hundred dollars for? You owe me.............for the seventh time" she said sort of sarcastically "Rita you will never understand it, but I'll tell you anyway" I said. I explained it all from my date with Darius to getting arrested in Tolycus's hotel " O.K. now, Helen are you crazy? He's a thief just turn him in and it'll all be over, plus I gotta yell at you for...WHAT THE HELL WHERE YOU DOING AT NIGHT WITH A THIEF IN HIS HOTEL GETTING DRUNK! Do you know what could have happened...mmmh mhhhh.....if mom wasn't dead she'd kill herself right after she'd strangle you" Rita yelled "I'm a big girl I can handle it, and anyway Tolycus is nice and dangerous plus nothing that I wouldn't want to happen would happen" I said as we walked towards the subway about a block away "so you're saying if he wanted to fuck you nothing would happen" Rita said, "I never said that! All I said was, nothing that I didn't want, would happen" I pointed out, we were walking through times square and all these passing people kept staring, Rita is very aggressive and loud you see, " so you're saying you want to fuck him?" she said in her usual high tone and some Chinese guys stared at me as they passed by "Rita it's my life and my choice, just because you're three years older makes no reason for you to rule my life" I exclaimed " OK, you're right, it's just that I'm worried for you" she stopped, now we just were standing in the middle of a sidewalk talking "say what does this thief of yours look like?" she asked me and so far I haven't suspected a thing "well....he has... like mushy brown hair, a mustache and goatee, brown eyes "I described Tolycus "does he wear a ruby around his neck?" Rita asked "why?" I asked suspiciously "cause if I'm not mistaken that's him on the cover of Morning Rush paper" what Rita said shocked me, I sprung around and stared blindly at the newspaper box with the headline story ' THE FACE OF A JEWEL THIEF ' and on the front page Tolycus's picture, it took me a slight second before I recognized the photo to be one of the ones I took, the ones that were stolen!! " Sorry Rita but gotta run " I took off like a bullet "Helen!?" she called "SORRY" I yelled back and dodged through the crowd towards the subway. Oh god what was going to happen? Would he ever forgive me? Oh damn, I thought as I ducked in to a train.