Only Time Will Tell (A Luberto Story)

Chapter 29- The Missing Vespa Case

"Ah Giulia! Nice to see you like always. How can I help-"

The officer didn't get to finish her sentence, because Giulia slammed both of her hands on the desk.

"We have a missing Vespa report!!"

The officer jumped back in her seat. "Mama Mia.. a missing Vespa you say?" she shook her head and sat back in the chair. "Not again.."

The news made Alberto perk up; it was intriguing.

"Hang on.." Giulia said confused. "What did you just say?"

"I'm sorry, Giulia.. the officer sighed. "We have a thief on our hands. There have been missing reports being sent in every day for the past week! Our station is being bombarded with reports, we can't even keep up.. Everything from vespas, clothes, kitchenware, furniture, soldi, you name it. They're all going missing. And you know the craziest thing? We can't find any of them! We sent officers looking around the whole town, but we had no such luck. It's like all those things vanished. They're not anywhere on land!"

"So.. there's NOTHING we can do?" Giulia asked disappointedly.

"Trust me Giulia, we've tried everything.." the officer grunted. "Whoever this thief is does a great job at hiding stolen items, that's for sure.."

The three all looked disappointed. It seemed like there wasn't a glimmer of hope for them.

The officer continued to speak. "The newer models of Vespas have a gps tracker installed, now that I recall."

"But.. I don't know anyone who can afford one of those- jobs here just don't pay that much. You'd have to....win the Portorosso cup many times to even have a chance!" she added.

All three of them froze after hearing that last part. Ercole was the person who gave them that Vespa, and he did in fact win the Portorosso cup many times before the Underdogs, of course. Could Ercole possibly have the tracker they could use to find their Vespa?

"Umm- funny story.." Luca nervously laughed. "You see.. that Vespa belonged to.."

The officer glanced over at Luca, "Hm? Just spit it out, boy."

"Ercole.."

The officer's eyes widened, realizing that Ercole was the person they needed. How ironic! Everyone knew how Ercole's Vespa was the nicest in all of Portorosso. He bragged about it so much that it was practically engraved in everyone's mind. If it was so nice, there was a strong chance that it had the tracker they needed as well.

"Yeah.." Alberto added. "He gave it to us before- y'know- he left earlier today."

The officer thought it through for a moment. "If Ercole has the tracker device, then... he can track your missing Vespa! Which.. will probably be where all of the other missing things are as well! Yes, its perfect! The tracker leads us to the Vespa, and the vespa leads us to our thief.."

Alberto sighed, "Yeah but- how would we even reach Ercole? He already left, remember?"

The officer stood up from her chair and smiled confidently.

"Leave that to me.."
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Ercole stretched his muscles and stood up as the train slowly pulled into the station. After hours of waiting in the train, he was almost to his destination. In his back pocket he held the tracker for his Vespa. Half way through the ride, he realized he had forgotten to give it to Luca and Alberto when he gave them his Vespa. I'm sure they'll be fine without it, Ercole thought. Ercole brushed off the thought and realized that the train was starting to pull into the station. He would finally arrive at his new home;