CHAPTER ONE
The Blue Giant
Just like professionals ... YoYo took off his glasses, as he always did when he had something important to say. With the other hand he adjusted his greenish-red plaid beret, without which he hadn t gone out in public since the beginning of his Inspector-Hamilton phase. Outwitted the alarm, cleared everything out, didn t leave a trace. An absolutely professional burglary. That s how it s done, gentlemen! His eyes were sparkling.
For MM, YoYo s exuberance was quite off the mark. Restlessly, she slid around on her bicycle seat. If they are professionals, then that s even worse, she said, more to herself than to her three friends who were sitting in front of her on the railing of the supermarket parking lot like chickens on a perch. As always, YoYo occupied the center place. Sitting between Bo and Simon, who towered over him by at least a head, he looked a bit like a ruffled chick. Normally MM would sit on the outside next to Bo, but today she hadn t even taken the time to get off her bicycle. She hadn t been able to wait, even for a second, to tell them the news.
Top pros, top-of-the-line pros YoYo could hardly contain himself. As a world expert on everything, he was, of course, a world expert on burglary. I once read about a burglary where the criminals, disguised as a moving company, drove up in broad daylight with a van and calmly took out everything. In the end, they claimed a receipt from the porter for their time and even got a tip ...
While YoYo told his stories of the coolest burglaries in the world with growing excitement, MM again saw her father in her mind when he came home after lunch, wearing his rumpled shirt that stretched over his stomach with the slipped purple bow tie. She d known immediately that something bad had happened. Wordlessly, he plopped down in the chair. He stared at the ceiling for what seemed like forever.
All gone, he finally said.
What gone? she asked, though she already knew the answer.
Everything. Everything stolen.
Giant Blue, too? She held her breath.
He just closed his