Busman's Holiday
Danny couldn't help but notice the man seemingly casing the small seaside house. The beach was almost entire deserted as Danny slowly walked along, enjoying the the feeling of his feet sinking into the wet sand. Ahead was one man, looking not at the seat but at the house among the palms ashore. The man was wearing a white linen shirt and a straw hat, and slowly walked back and forth to examine the house from different angles. Danny had plenty of time to surreptitiously observe him since he was already walking in that direction. As he picked his way over strings of seaweed he kept an eye on the man. Conveniently he would pass close to him anyway. In fact the guy wasn't even trying to hide his interest in the house, to the degree it wouldn't be strange to ask him.
"Thinking of buying that house are ya?" the man in the hawaiian shirt asked Charlie. He had just been casually walking down the beach.
"Haha, well, not really" Charlie laughed.
"Oh?" asked the other man, encouragingly. He was muscular, but friendly and earnest looking. He wore a gray baseball cap.
"Well," said Charlie with a sigh as if beginning a big story, "it's my brother's house, but he's in a sort of Catch 22 because he's been arrested for a crime he didn't commit, the evidence that will prove his innocence are in this house, but the court won't grant access to his property."
"I'm sure the investigators will find it" assured Danny.
"But this isn't a crime scene, they'll never come here, and the other side's lawyers are too good at keeping our access denied here." explained Charlie as the two of them them made their way around the house. Out beyond the wave-lapped wet sand the sand was burning hot on Daniel's bare feet. Charlie was wearing sneakers. The house was a cute little house, probably a vacation home. It was mainly white with blue trim, and a pink tiled roof. The doors were locked and the windows secure. Charlie, a bus driver by occupation, felt totally out of his element trying to break into a house.
They conversed about the situation a bit more. At last Danny seemed to reach a decision. He scanned the surrounding area but there was no one else in sight in this remote area. He nodded and pointed to the roof.
"We can probably remove some roof tiles and get in through there."
Charlie hadn't thought of that, he was excited about this idea. Around one side was a small water tank which they were able to climb onto and then onto the rounded clay tiles of the roof.
"Only put your weight on the center of the tiles so they don't break" cautioned Danny.
They carefully crept up the roof to a place midway up the side facing the remotest part of the beach. The tiles were warm under Danny's bare feet. Charlie jiggled a tile until it slid carefully out from under the one above it revealing a hole into the attic. Charlie carefully placed the tile on the roof beside them, making sure it wasn't about to slide off, and then they carefully removed more tiles until they had created a hole between the lattice of supporting beams under the tiles, through which they could descend into the house. Charlie carefully lowered himself down onto one of the beams above the insulation "floor" of the attic and then got out of the way for Danny. Danny was very careful not to step on any exposed nails with his bare feet.
It was very dim in the attic, though plenty of light came through the cracks in the tiles. Charlie produced a small flashlight from his pocket and shined it in the direction he thought the trapdoor to the rest of the house was, quickly finding it. He pulled it open and was about to drop below when Danny whispered to shake all the sand off his shoes first. They both realized there was no reason to whisper but it felt appropriate. They then carefully dropped down into a hallway.
The house was sparcely but nicely furnished, as befits a vacation home. They entered a back room with a desk and a bed in it. The blinds were closed , so the room was dark except for the flashlight. Charlie was about to flip the lightswitch but Danny waved him away. Charlie was shaking a bit with nervousness but Danny seemed calm and composed, almost in his element. Charlie passed an expensive watch on a shelf a he approached the desk, and then quickly glanced back to see if Danny would pocket it but he similarly ignored it. Charlie sifted through the folders until he found the one he was looking, which was labeled "McGuffin."
With an air of authority Danny gently took the folder from Charlie and leafed through it's contents. It was as described, records and correspondence that appeared to exculpate Charlie's brother. He handed it back to Charlie.
The main mission complete Charlie finally had time to reflect that he was now alone in a house he'd just broken into with a muscular man he knew nothing about. One who seemed strangely in his element in these circumstances.
"You seem pretty calm for someone who's just broken into a house" said Charlie with a forced chuckle, hoping Danny would confess to being a lot more nervous than he looked. Instead Danny laughed and said
"Oh, just another day in the life, you know," which didn't make Charlie feel better at all. As Charlie begin to look visibly nervous Danny grinned at him wolfishly for a moment, and then continued
"I'm a police officer."
Charlie turned pale. This was terrible in a totally different way. But then Danny winked and said "Come on, let's get out of here"