Chapter 3

Niall stood outside the Jewelry store, his hand shaking slightly. He didn't know why he felt so nervous. He could just pretend to browse around the store. After 30 seconds of debating with himself, he walked towards the door. It would probably look more suspicious if he stood there, staring through the window.

The bell chimed as he entered the shop. Nothing on the door looked off. The lock had no scratches on it as it shone in the sunlight. He stepped further away from the door as he took in his surroundings.

It had a high, vaulted ceiling, with ornate chandeliers hanging lower down, letting off a soft light. The walls were a cream color and there were Chestnut beams dotted around to help hold up the ceiling. The display cases lined the walls. Everything was in pristine condition, not a thing out of place. Niall was surprised by how big the store actually was, compared to the front of the establishment, that made it look small and quaint.

"Can I help you find anything, sir?" An employee inquired.

"Just browsing, thanks," Niall said with a tight-lipped smile.

The employee, who's name tag said Caroline, sent him a small smile and walked off to help other customers.

Well dressed people milled about. Making small talk with each other about meaningless topics. Niall took a deep breath before he started walking around the store. Is there anything the police missed? How did the thief get in and out if he didnt break the lock? Did he already have a key?

Then he focused his attention to the walls. It didn't look like there were any major scuff marks. There were air vents, about seven feet up the wall, every 15 feet or so.

"Check the screws," Niall muttered under his breath, as he remembered watching a documentary where the criminal escaped through the vests.

He slowly made his way along the store, studying each vent cover carefully. All the screws were in their proper place so far, and Niall was starting to lose hope. He'd checked all the vents, all the way to the back of the store, and nothing was missing. Scratch that idea, Niall thought.

A very disgruntled Niall walked to the front of the store again, not liking that he'd have to disappoint William. As he moved to grab the door handle, he glanced over his shoulder and noticed a vent hidden in the corner of the room that he hadn't noticed before. He walked closer to the vent, keeping his eyes on it the whole time.

Once he was close enough to see the details of it, he noticed slight black marks dragging down the wall, all the way from the vent to halfway to the floor. As if someone had put their shoes against the wall. Niall quickly looked around him to see if anyone was watching before slipping behind the jewelry case to examine the vent. There should have been four screws. One on each corner.

Niall had to stifle a shout, because upon further inspection, he noticed two screws missing and the cover was slightly off center. He quickly got down on the floor, looking around for the missing screws. He felt around in the shadows until he found them, rolled under the overlap of the case.

Checking around him again, he stood up and quickly exited the shop. Pocketing the screws as he walked. Niall flagged down a cab, giving the cabbie his address, and heading home.

15 minutes later they pulled up in front of Niall' apartment building. He paid the driver and jogged up the stairs to the front door, talking them by two. Feeling too fidgety to wait for the elevator, Niall took the stairs all the way up to his home on the 8th floor. Once he stood in front of his and Liam's door, he took a minute to catch his breath. He had started to pat down his pockets before remembering he'd lost his key a week ago and they haven't gotten a new one made. He bent down and took a spare key out from under the doormat. If Liam knew Niall put that key there, he'd have his head for putting it in such an obvious place.

"I need your help," Niall said, placing his hands on the table in front of him. Still slightly out of breath from his trip up the stairs.

"Hello to you too," Liam replied, not even glancing up from his computer screen.

"Yes, hello, but please, this is urgent!" Niall whined.

Liam sighed and peeled his eyes away from the computer to stare at Niall. Niall stared right back at him. After a 45 second staring contest, Liam gave in.

"Fine," he muttered, causing Niall to grin, "what do you need?"

"Could you get security camera footage for me?" Niall asked innocently.

"Are you insane?" Liam asked, "why one earth do you need that sort of thing?"

"Well you see, one of my patients at the hospital is a detective and he asked me to help him investigate something because he's stuck at the hospital right now, but he needs the footage to see if anything looks out of the ordinary. I mean it's not his case -that's why I need you to hack in and get it- but the team that is investigating it keeps letting the guy get away…" Niall rambled.

"Ok, ok," Liam laughed, "calm down man, I'll try to get it,"

"Yes! Thank you Lima!" Niall yelled, jumping to hug Liam

"No yelling, inside voice," Liam chuckled, releasing his from the hug, "and I told you not to call me Lima!" He called after Niall' retreating figure.

"Whatever!" Niall shouted as he made his way to his room so he can put the screws in a safe place.

Liam let out a small laugh, shaking his head at his best friend. He's never been able to say no to him. He finished up what he was doing while waiting for Niall to come back to tell him exactly what he was looking for. Two minutes later, Niall sauntered back into the room, now dressed in sweatpants and a T-shirt instead of his work scrubs.

"Alright, so, you know the big bank robberies?" Niall asked. Liam nodded.

"I've seen them on the news, yes." He confirmed.

"Well I need the security footage from the last robbery," Niall said.

"Alright. that shouldn't be too difficult," Liam said as he started tapping away at his computer, "I've gotten into the police system a few times before."

"I know," Niall said like it's nothing, "I told the Detective that too."

"You did what?!" Liam shrieked, "why would you tell him that?! Niall, what I did was illegal!"

"I told him that I had an idea of how to get the camera footage, but that it wouldn't be a way that's legal," Niall explained, "and he didn't have an issue with it. Said he would have gotten it from someone at work by now if he was able to go."

"Then why doesn't he just ask someone from work to get it for him anyway?" Liam questioned.

"Because he's on sick leave right now, he's not allowed to be involved in any cases." Niall replied.

"Still illegal though, Niall" Liam repeated

"Yes I know, but it's not like we're baddies taking the footage for blackmail. We're getting it for a Detective for goodness sake!" Niall argued.

"Ok ok," Liam put his hands up to surrender, "while you were rambling I already got the footage." He laughed.

"No way. Really?" Niall said in disbelief, "that was fast!"

Liam just smiled as he moved the file over to a flash drive and removed it from the computer.

"Here you go," he said as he handed the USB device over to Niall, "a 15 hour video of a jewelry store."