The Case of the Missing Report

“Oh my gosh. I’m so glad you two are here. I need your help in finding a paper,” Kramer exclaimed as Harry and Angel walked into the room. “Harry, you look in the file cabinet in the corner of the room. Angel, check inside the closet. I’ll check the desk. It has to be in here, and we only have minutes to find it,” Kramer demanded, attacking the desk immediately. His wrinkled fingers pushed aside stray blank white papers. Clearly not what he was searching for.

Angel and Harry exchanged glances, shrugged and immediately ran to their positions within the well-lit 625 square feet room. Two doors stood as the port of entry, one in the front and the other approximately 15 feet and a couple of shelves away from the other. The room was cluttered with empty desk, which seemed oblivious to the occupants, who were deeply scavenging for the missing item.

“Kramer, what does it look like? What’s on it?” Harry’s youthful voice filled the room. Angel paused, waiting to hear the response.

Kramer lifted his head towards Harry, secretly jealous of his headful of curly brown hair. “It’s a file. You’ll know it immediately. The name Brock will be printed on the top. It’s a confidential historical report on Brock, and I need to find it. Rumor has it, the boss is arriving soon to collect that report.”

Angel blinked her brown eyes and cast them towards Kramer. Her long straight black hair swung to the left, following her swift head turn. “Where was the report last seen?”

The obvious question. Kramer knew it was coming. “Well, I was looking at it this afternoon. I swear it was right here on the desk. I thought I placed it down in front of me when I left the room. When I returned, it was gone. Either someone hid it from me, or they stole it. Before I think the worst, we need to uncover where it could be hidden and then figure out the culprit after,” Kramer commanded, exasperation gripping his throat.

“Ok, calm down. We’ll find it,” Harry assured and began scouring the file cabinet. He thrusted open every drawer. Disappointment filled each of the four drawers. “Why is there even a file cabinet in here if it’s not going to be used. Each of these drawers are empty and seem like no one has used them in years.” His final remark, slamming the drawer in disgust.

“Well, it was here when I transferred to this room, 10 years ago. I don’t think I’ve ever used it,” Kramer responded, his voice trailed off with the last sentence.

“You never used it, obviously. It’s empty. Why did you even make me look over here?” Harry retorted with a hint of anger.

“Oh,” Kramer chuckled sorrowfully. “I guess I forgot.”

Angel’s turn to regain order before chaos pulled them off their mission. “Dude, we don’t have time for this. We need to look for the file.”

“Oh, right!” Kramer, coming to his senses, pointed to several desks throughout the room. “Harry, check the inside of those desks. There’s the off chance someone may have hid the report in there.”

“Who the hell would do something like that? Steal a report and then hide it in a desk?” Harry shook his head in disbelief, making the curls dance.

“Clearly a mastermind. It would make sense. Take the report and then hide it,” Kramer supplied.

Angel snorted, “yeah, a juvenile mastermind. Sounds like something a kid would do. Ok, nothing here.” She closed the closet doors and headed over to the desk to assist Kramer.

“No time for jokes! We need to find it. We have…” Kramer stopped to glance at his watch, while Angel took over checking each sheet on Kramer’s desk. “Maybe, 2 minutes or so.”

Harry whipped around the room, and started weaving through the maze of twenty individual desks. Kramer stood watching Harry, lost in the observation of the young man on his mission. Angel stood up from her searching on the desk and tapped Kramer on the shoulder, bringing him back to focus on aiding her. Kramer shook an apology out of his head to Angel, who just smiled at the forgetfulness of Kramer. Like water to a duck, she was unaffected by it.

Harry reached the last desk, realizing the results replicated his previous assignment. “Come on, man. These are just like the blasted file cabinet. Kramer! Why do you keep wasting my time with useless tasks? Give me something better!” He claimed, as his face glowed red with impatience and acrimony.

Once again, Kramer stopped, relying more on Angel to continue the desk search. “Fine, young man, you can be our look-out. Just go outside the room. Stand by the door and let me know when you see anyone coming. Remember, the boss should be walking down the hall soon. If he’s alone, then I may be able to stall for time and trust the two of you to find the stupid report.” Kramer dove back to the desk to support Angel. He opened and closed the side drawers, instructing Angel to double-check the top.

Harry walked out of the room, but left the door ajar with his foot. He scanned the empty hallway, which was no surprise considering how late in the afternoon it was. Why would anyone stick around on a Friday? Why am I even here on a Friday? He thought to himself. The silence of the halls began mocking him for assisting Kramer instead of leaving. Suddenly, the echoes of footsteps whispered into his ears. He shot up as fear chilled his spine and clutched his stomach. Throwing his head in the direction of the footsteps, the sound increased gradually, syncing with his cardiac rhythm. He poked his head through the door, witnessing Angel and Kramer still focused on the desk, practically disassembling it with their search. “Someone’s coming, you guys!”

Kramer froze. Angel stood up. Harry turned back towards the hallway just in time to see two men in dark-colored suits round the corner. One was easily one foot taller than the other, who was talking. “Yes, Kramer has the report ready for us. Right this way, Mr. Welch.” Harry recognized the shorter Japanese man. Mr. Suzuki. He was, definitely, the boss. Harry had spent many hours in Suzuki’s office over his behavior. If Suzuki was accompanying Welch, this must be a highly significant file.

“It’s Suzuki!” Harry slid back into the room, closing the door quietly behind him. “We better hurry, Kramer, or it’s your job!”

Kramer, who’s eyes remained glued to the door when Harry walked in, shook in fear. “No, I can’t lose this job. All my years of work would be for nothing. I just can’t—” He paused. There, next to the doorway, on top of the shelf, sat two sheets of paper with writing on it. Kramer swiftly danced around the desk towards the doorway, grabbing the paper just as Suzuki opened it.

“Oh, there he is, Kramer! This is Mr. Welch. Brock’s father. He’s here to collect his report card. I assume you have it ready?” Suzuki stared at Kramer, waiting for his expected response.

Kramer slyly glanced down at the sheets in his hand, hoping they were the report he spent the past five minutes looking for in haste. He returned a smile to Suzuki. “Yes, right here, sir. Thanks for coming. Mr. Welch, you have a wonderful son. I am sorry to see him transfer out, but I do hope that he finds his place at his new school. It’s unfortunate he won’t be joining us after winter break.”

“Quite alright,” a deep voice replied. “He spoke highly of you, Kramer. I see why. You still have students in the classroom with you after school. They must really enjoy your lesson to stay this long right before break. Keep up the great work,” Welch thrusted his hand out in appreciation. Kramer gripped it tightly, bowing in gratefulness. Welch and Suzuki turned and walked back to the front of the school.

Kramer sighed, while Angel and Harry stood dumbfounded. They waited for Kramer to explain how the report card was on the shelf. Wondering if Kramer knew who the culprit was.

Kramer turned to his two young students with a feeble smile on his face. “Well done, you two. I don’t know how I could have done it without your support.”

Angel and Harry turned towards each other, shaking their heads. Harry pursed his lips, withholding his tongue. He knew if he spoke, hurtful words would unintentionally exit his mouth. Angel was courageous enough to speak on their behalf. “Kramer, um, how did you know the report card was there? I mean, we practically tore the classroom apart looking for it.”

“I didn’t,” Kramer responded quickly. “I noticed it when Harry walked back into the room.”

Harry was unable to hold his frustration in any longer. “Then, who the hell put it there?” His voiced boomed throughout the room, startling Kramer.

Once his nerves had settled, Kramer shrugged his shoulders, but instantly halted with his shoulder in the raised position. It flooded back to him. “I know who did it!” A twinkle in his eye became the praise to his memory. “It’s elementary, my dear students. See, I was sitting at my desk looking over the grades when the phone rang. I answered it and discovered Mrs. Grande calling about her computer again. She needed help with Google Classroom. I rushed to the door because I wanted to return before Suzuki came, but realized the report card was still in my hand. Not wanting to bring it with me, I placed it on the shelf near the door. I guess… I…forgot about it?” His deduction quickly transformed into embarrassment, blood rushed to his head. “Luckily, you two came back in time to help me look for it. Sorry.”

Angel and Harry collapsed. Typical Kramer. “Dude, I think it’s time for you to retire! You’re lucky that Angel wanted to come back to give you your Christmas present. But seriously, start looking into retiring and watching Sherlock. You keep forgetting things.” They shared a laugh, concluding the case of the missing report.