The Jewel Thief

In a university classroom, Roman Reynolds, the professor, hopped down from the desk in front of the chalkboard that faced five rows holding just under a hundred students. In between that desk and those students stood one of the department’s adjunct professors, Cassie Riesling.

He had been up there for a powerful recitation from Venus and Adonis, where he played the god that rejected the goddess, but things had changed now.

Roman looked at the book in his hand, at the lines from act five of William Shakespeare’s King Henry V. This week’s theme, and the following week, in his Shakespeare class was romantic love.

He laughed, “‘Marry, you would put me to verses or to dance for your sake, Kate, why you undid me: for the one I have neither words nor measure, and for the other I have no strength in measure, yet a reasonable measure in strength. If I could win a lady at leap-frog, or by vaulting into my saddle with my armour on my back, under the correction of bragging be it spoken, I should quickly leap into a wife.’”

There were some whistles from a few of the students. Roman adored the way Cassie’s cheeks grew red. She moved a lock of her long blonde hair behind her ear, raising her hand to hide her blush from their audience. Her emerald earrings caught the sunlight streaming through the window behind Roman. Her green eyes were illuminated, and it was stirrings things deep inside of him. Her eyes had done that since the moment he met her eight months ago.

Roman took her hand and Cassie let out the slightest gasp. “‘Or if I might buffet for my love, or bound my horse for her favours, I could lay on like a butcher, and sit like a jack-an-apes, never off.” His voice was more intimate this time. Softer.

More whistles from the students. Roman couldn’t help but laugh. He kissed her knuckles. Everyone, including the dean who was sitting front row for Roman’s evaluation, knew Roman and Cassie were together.

He decided to skip a few lines. He put the book down. Her eyes grew wide, which really shouldn’t have happened. She knew he had most of Shakespeare’s plays memorized. It was how he wooed her, back at Christmastime. Now, April was peaking around the corner. The trees out the window had leaves budding.

“‘And while thou livest, dear Kate, take a fellow of plain and uncoined constancy; for he perforce must do thee right, because he hath not he gift to woo in other places: for these fellows of infinite tongue, that can rhyme themselves into ladies’ favours, they do always reason themselves out again.’” Roman ran his hand along her soft white cheek. It was only them, as far as he was concerned. “‘A speaker is a but a prater; a rhyme is but a ballad.’” Cassie leaned her head into his hand. “‘A good leg will fall; a straight back will stoop; a black beard will turn white; a curled pate will grow bald; a fair face will wither; a full eye will wax hollow: but a good heart,'" Roman ran his finger along her jaw, "'Kate, is the sun and the moon; or, rather, the sun, and not the moon - for it shines bright and never changes, but keeps his course truly.’”

Roman rested his forehead onto hers. Shakespeare really was the only man who had the words to express all Roman felt for Cassie, and all he knew she felt for him. The natural chemistry between the two of them had ignited, filling the air around them with electricity.

“‘If thou would have such a one, take me; and take me, take a soldier; take a soldier, take a king; and what sayest thou, then, to my one? Speak, my fair, and fairly, I pray thee.’”

“Yes, I will marry you!”

The response came from the usual class clown sitting at the back of the room. Everyone laughed, Roman and Cassie included. Roman was pulled from his trance.

“I have embarrassed you enough for today.” he said only to her, then turned to the class. “A hand for Professor Riesling!”

She gave the crowd a mock curtsey then returned quickly to her seat by the dean. As she did so, Roman rolled up the sleeves of his sweater. This was usually the coldest room in the department, considering it had one wall made entirely of windows. Roman had only been working here for six months, so he didn’t know how this room got in the summer.

“And that, gentlemen, is why when it comes to the proper ways of making a lady swoon, Romeo has nothing on King Henry the fifth.” Roman winked at Cassie, who had now pulled a packet of crackers from her purse. Her eyes said he was definitely going to hear about that little charade later.

Roman saw the dean lean over, say something to her, and she chuckled. He had forgotten the dean was here. Not that he would’ve changed anything. He lived to embarrass Cassie, especially when he had the excuse that it would be for the educating of his pupils.

Roman checked his watch. 9:35. Ten minutes before the class was over. After that, he had a couple of hours before his next class, three hours of office hours, then dinner with his parents at six o’clock. He and Cassie would announce their engagement. He had proposed last night, where they soon learned the ring was too big because it immediately slid off Cassie’s finger and onto the wooden floor of his living room. It was in a box in his office, ready to be taken to the jeweler.

“Now,” Roman went to the chalkboard, “with the few minutes we have left, let’s look at the imagery in those last few lines.”

Behind him, he heard the door to his classroom open. Roman started writing A good leg will fall but he only got to a goo before he heard very close behind him, “Mr. Reynolds.”

Roman turned to see two men in black suits. The same two men that had been following him for the past week. Roman knew by the way they walked that they were law enforcement, and from their suits that they were not local law enforcement. One man had chocolate skin and the other had skin that looked like coffee with a splash of milk. They both looked as tall and broad shouldered as Roman was.

Coffee with Milk was walking toward Roman. Chocolate stayed between Roman and the door, which was the only way out.

Coffee With Milk pulled a set handcuffs from his pocket. “FBI. You’re under arrest for jewel theft.”

The first gasp was from Cassie. His students reacted as well, some gasping and one girl screaming.

Roman immediately put his hands up. “I am armed.” Coffee with Milk turned him against the chalkboard, and not with the most gentle bedside manner, then started patting.

“What is going on?” Cassie was next to Roman. “Who the hell are you?”

“Cassie, don’t.” Roman said calmly. Coffee with Milk took the small handgun that Roman had tucked under his sweater, into his pants. Roman would give anything to tell Cassie to put her hair down, but he bit his tongue. If he mentioned it, even looked at her earrings, the agents would look too.

“Why do you have a gun?” Cassie was hysterical. “ROMAN!”

Roman’s boss appeared next to Cassie. He was approaching sixty, had a head of silver hair, but walked with as much authority as these men did. “I am the dean of this department. What is the meaning of this?”

“Mr. Reynolds and a team of two others stole thousands of dollars worth of gems from the Tower of London.” Chocolate said rather viciously, “We’ve been after them for a while.”

Coffee with Milk took the knife that had been strapped to Roman’s ankle. Roman could practically see in his mind a team of FBI agents looking in his office and his home. They had the engagement ring. He was a fool and left it out, instead of keeping it in the safe. Not that it would’ve mattered. The FBI was already in his safe too. The one in his home and in his work office.

Roman watched a couple of his students run from the benches then yank Coffee with Milk off him.

“Let him go!”

“Get off of him!”

“Don’t, boys!” Roman growled at the two boys, both of whom were on the university’s football team. They were big boys, who now had a chocolate bar of an FBI agent pointing his gun at them. The boys backed away, hands in the air. They still looked angry but there was also fear in their eyes. Coffee With Milk regained his footing and glared hard at the boys.

Roman looked at Cassie. “Call my dad.”

Cassie was crying. She took his face in her hands. “Roman…you didn’t do this. You didn’t." She searched his eyes. "Right?”

And with that, all his bravery was gone. There were many secrets he had hidden from her. Secrets he should have told her before he asked her to marry him. Shame dropped onto him like an anchor crashing onto the ocean floor. “Call my dad, tell him what happened.”

Her eyes grew wide. She somehow became even more pale. He watched her heart shatter, and it shattered his own. “Oh my God.” Her three words were a tremor.

Roman never wanted her to find out like this. He couldn’t tell her that this wasn’t the only reason the FBI had to arrest him, or that they had followed them to the OB/GYN last week. “I’m so sorry, Cass.”

Coffee With Milk grabbed Roman’s upper arm. “Afraid even dear old dad, the former US district attorney, can’t untangle you now, Reynolds.” His words were practically a hiss.

What infuriated Roman most was that Cassie had heard them.

She looked ready to be sick, and Roman was pretty sure she hadn't taken a breath in half a minute, so he looked at the dean. “Call my dad.”

The man nodded. He was worried, but seemed the only level head in the room. He set a hand on Cassie’s upper back. Even he could tell she wasn’t well.

Then it happened. The final punch to the gut. The thing that would ensure she would never want anything to do with Roman ever again.

Chocolate Bar stepped beside Cassie, opening a small plastic bag. “I’m going to need your earrings, ma’am.”