Little black notebook

It was a sunny day in 1884, with few clouds in the sky. I had just finished school and was going to tutor a classmate, when a tall officer bumped into me.

“Oh, I am sorry Ma’am.” He said in a deep voice,” You wouldn’t happen to know Kelly Parks?”

“Yes I know her, who are you?” I responded warily.

“I am Mr.Grand, Her great grandfather died two days ago and left her something in his will.”

“I am Kelly Parks, but I didn’t know I had any living Great grandparents?”

“Oh, he liked to keep his life quite private. Now that this is covered, I will get our carriage ready!”

“Carriage?”

“Yes, we need to go to your great grandfather’s personal representative, there you can claim your inheritance.”

A lavish black carriage came to transport us.

We arrived at an office building to be greeted by a short, stout man.

“Hello!” he said,” let’s go in.” entering the building I saw many of my family members, many of which I have only seen by picture.

“Great now that everyone is here let’s walk-in shall we?” We all followed him into a large room, with a big brown rectangular table.

We all took our seats and let the representative start talking "Ok, my name is Mr.Ford lets start, Jack, Mr.Park left you his jelly collection, Abby you have been left with 1,000 dollars and...”

I had zoned out thinking about all the possible things I could have been left, 500 dollars, more jellies, a house?! I didn’t know and was panicking for some reason.

“Kelly, Kelly...Kelly anybody there?” The short man said

“Oh sorry I zoned out, what do you need?”

“It is your turn to claim your inheritance... Ok, so your great grandfather left you, a little black notebook...”

ONLY A NOTEBOOK?!

"...and 20,000 dollars.”

“ 20,000 dollars?! That can last me for life!”

He handed me my new possessions. However, I became quite perplexed when I noticed the notebook was locked and I was not given a key.

“You can cash in your check at the local bank, and as for the notebook, I have no idea what you have to do with it,” he said,” ok you can all leave now.”

As I was exiting the front door the officer, Mr. Grand, pulled me aside, “where is the notebook?” he asked urgently.

“What?”

“The notebook, the one your great grandfather left you?” I was so caught up with everything happening so quickly I forgot about it.

“I have it here, why do you care so much?” I asked holding it in the air.

“I knew your grandfather, he was a great man, and the day before his death he sent me a letter, and it contained this,” he held a note in front of me and read it out loud,

Dear Mr.Grand, I have written my will. In it, I have given my granddaughter Kelly Parks, a 17-year-old girl, a little black notebook. Locked. She has the key to the notebook, and although she may not know this she wears it daily. It was a gift from someone close to her. After I pass, read this to her.

your friend,

Mr.Parks

“We should head to my house, my father isn’t there and we need to figure out where this key is.”

We opened the door to a mess; flour, wheat, and eggs everywhere. My father must have been baking while I was asleep. He does that often and always makes a mess. We sat down, “what do you wear daily?” he asked. Straight to business.

“Well… I don’t know, I alternate clothes every day. Like everybody, I mean it would be disgusting if I didn’t,” I rambled,” The only thing I wear daily is this heart locket from my mom, she passed away while I was still young.” And then it clicked.

The locket!

I excitedly lifted it from my chest and jiggled it into the lock.

Mr. Grand peered over my shoulder with great intrigue. Then a wave of utter disappointment hit. It was empty! I mean what is the point of putting a lock on something with nothing in it!?

“ Well, that was… anticlimactic.” Mr.Grand said.

He then bid me farewell and left my home pondering his old friend’s actions.

Later that evening I sat by the fire scanning every page of the notebook.

After about half an hour of just staring at blank pages, I decided to just toss it in the fire and enjoy my new wealth.However, a few seconds later something caught my eye. The pages. There was something in it. I rushed over to the fire and grabbed what was left of the little black notebook.

“What kind of a man uses invisible ink that is exposed by fire?” I said to myself. I wish I had thought of invisible ink before. Now a bunch of the pages are burnt off.

I skimmed the pages, trying to see if I salvaged anything interesting from the flames. I came across a few pages which read,

December 3rd

1883 Hello Kelly, If you are reading this I am dead, I am your great grandfather, I was in debt to the government, so I had to take a loan from a Loan Shark, he worked for an illegal organization, it was called The Sharks, their leader is unknown... I am in a lot of debt and if I don't pay them back, they will do bad things to me...

January 20th, 1884

hello kelly, I am close to finding out who the leader is, If I do I can report him to the police...

February 13th, 1884

I think I figured out who the...

(the next few pages were burnt off so it jumped straight to 2 days ago.)

I figured out who it is! Kelly, it is Mick...

"Mick Who!? Ahhhh, the rest of the page is burned, great idea throwing the notebook in the fire!" I said sarcastically

The next and final page, which wasn't burnt, said,

Now that you know who the leader of the loan sharks is, go to 457 Canter Ave, there is a building called All Safes, where you can store belongings. I keep my information in safe 34, the code is, 23 45 6, but Mick might have already gotten to it. As a precaution, in my house, 5607 peter ave, I have a secret safe, in my living room behind the coat closet, the code is 34 50 17.

“How convenient” I thought, “My fathers bakery is on Canter Ave.”

I grabbed my coat and headed out. However, just as I locked my front door I see Mr. Grand. “Hello Kelly, I was just coming to see you. I was so curious as to whether you found anything hidden in the notebook.”

I excitedly explained to him my findings and invited him to tag along. Afterall, I know if I was in his shoes, I would be eager to find out the mystery too.

The street is not too far from home, so we strolled over. We passed my father’s bakery and stopped next door at All Safes.

"Hello we are looking for safe 34," said Mr.Grand

"Right away," said the shop owner, he motioned for us to follow him," here is safe 34, I will give the two of you some privacy," he said while walking away. I entered the combination, eager to see what was left inside. It creaked open, displaying a stack full of papers. Before I got a chance to grab them, Mr.Grand took them and said, "I will hold them for safekeeping, I have deep pockets, and I am a big man. Therefore, if anyone wants them, they will have to go through me.

We left the storage store and were walking to the police station when a young boy, no older than 12, bumped into Mr. Grand

"Watch where you are going kid!"

"Sorry," the kid said with a foreign accent, then he kept walking.

We arrived at the police station

"Mr.Grand grab the evidence," I said

I looked at him as he patted his pockets with a panicked look on his face, "I don't have the evidence!" he said, "oh no, I think that boy who bumped into me was a pickpocket!”

“Are you sure you don’t have it,” I asked

“Completely sure,” he responded

“Ok I guess we have to go to my great grandfather's house.” We got into a carriage, and once it stopped, I had a loss of words, the house, no not a house... the mansion, It was huge! I just stood there, staring at the beautiful house. I must have seemed completely bizarre to Mr.Grand, just gawking. We walked in and followed my great grandfather's instructions. Once again I was dumbfounded. It was empty. The first thing that came to my mind was, what irony, the first safe I opened, I expected to be empty, but the second one, which I expected to be full of evidence, isn't.

"what are we going to do now?" I said

"I don't know!" he said

"Let’s just go h-" I stopped mid-sentence, something caught my eye. Wood shavings. There is only one lumber yard in town-which happens to be abandoned, ever since the owner passed- and it is near. I explained my epiphany to Mr.Grand, then we headed over. I was glad to have a companion during this newfound quest, the lumber yard is not on the nice side of town. When we arrived I saw a few men walking around dressed in black. Then it hit me, the only people that know about the evidence are myself and Mr.Grand.Unless my great grandfather told others. Though I don’t think he would have told anyone, what if Mr.Grand leaked the information!? I have to test him,

“Hey, I forgot to ask, what is your first name?”

“Oh, it is Mick coincidentally,”

I knew he was involved with the loan sharks! He is their leader! That is why he got pickpocketed, and how the sharks knew to steal the evidence from my great grandfather's house, but then why did my grandfather write to him? I will figure that out. “Let's go find the evidence,” I said

“But it could be dangerous, I will go,”

“Fine,” I said, but only to follow him, so I can prove once and for all that he is the leader of the loan sharks, I followed him in and overheard muffled bits of his conversation with the sharks, "Hey, so the girl still thinks... cop and that I ... so punch me a few times to make it seem real, and I will ... her some fake evidence to frame someone, maybe her grandfathers personal representative,” I raced back to the entrance, pretending to have been waiting for him.Five minutes later, he came out all bruised, "Let's go to the police and hand them the evidence," he said in a raspy voice, I looked at the evidence, and saw that the person he was framing was a guy called Mick Venchezo, What a lair I thought.

We arrived at the police station and Mick handed an officer the evidence, "wait, can I talk to you for a minute officer?" I asked, I was gonna tell him everything, "sure thing," he replied. He pulled me aside, and I told him everything, about how I met Mr.Grand, the notebook, then when we walked out the officer said," Mick Grand you are under arrest for the accusation of being the leader of the loan sharks, and many more charges, too many for me to say,"

"can I just ask him a question?" I asked

"sure,"

"If my Great Grandfather knew you were the leader, then why did he send you a letter?"

"I wrote it, it was fake,"

"that is all I need,”

and I left.