Ravire Road Robbed: Chapter I

Hugh Hamilton

A musty hot stench soared across the city sky, slipping and sliding through air particles and lazy urban breezes towards its long sought after destination.
"My," said Ben sarcastically, "what a delightful musty hot stench."
"Yes," agreed Hugh, playing along with the thinly veiled sarcasm. "Almost refreshing."
Ben decided against pushing the tedium any further and lapsed back into his chair. Hugh continued slurping the long gone remains of his Solo™ and deciding whether or not he should kill a fly that was quietly crawling past the predictably Venetian blinds. Eventually he decided the fly didn't deserve to die and began wording a joke about Venusian blinds in his head.
"Ben, on Venus..."
Unfortunately Ben never heard what happened on Venus for at that moment a sharp succession of knocks wafted into their ears, coming, they suspected, from somewhere in the vicinity of the door.
"I'll get it," said Ben rising to his feet.
Hugh followed him and watched, vulgarities aside, the careful turning and pulling required to operate the door.
"Yes?" said Ben to the trenchcoat with the man inside it.
"Are you Ben and Hugh from Ben and Hugh's famous detective agency?"
"No," said Ben coolly. "We're Ben and Hugh from Ben and Hugh's unpublicised and mediocre detective agency."
"Ah good. Even better," said the man.
"Do come in," said Ben, showing him the way unnecessarily.
They walked back into the stuffy mess of the office and made themselves comfortable.
"So…" said Hugh in an attempt to prompt explanation.
The man got the hint.
"Do I have a case for you!"
Hugh and Ben exchanged glances.
"Well," said Ben. "Spit it out"
The man made a lame spitting noise then continued.
"Ravire Road Robbed," he said with his hands indicating a newspaper headline.
He saw the confused expressions on Hugh and Ben's faces and opened up his briefcase.
"Here," he said, handing them a folded up newspaper.
"I don't get it," said Hugh. "Was the whole street robbed or just one house?"
"The whole street," said the man triumphantly. "And they weren't houses, they were all banks."
"A whole street of banks?" said Ben cynically.
"Yes," said the man. "'The Great Banks of Ravire Road'. I'm surprised you haven't heard of it."
"So am I," said Ben.
"But the real mystery," continued the man, "is how it happened."
He paused for effect then made the headline gesture again.
"11am Wednesday. Broad daylight. All the money is there. 11:25am.The banks discover their vaults are empty. No sign of a break in. Security cameras saw nothing. Guards saw nothing."
"Ah," said Hugh, "one of these."
"Indeed," said the man.
Ben leaned over to Hugh conspiratorially.
"Should we take the case?"
"I dunno," said Hugh doubtfully. "It's not like we have the greatest track record in this department. We still don't know how Craper got the Ming Poodle from that room."
"Shush," said Ben hurriedly, then turned back to the man. "Why are you hiring us and how much?"