The Polperro library was surrounded by townspeople, the police in their dark uniforms scattered around, growing denser closer to the proximity of the crime-scene. The librarian stood at a corner, hugging her shoulders and weeping at the catastrophe that had unravelled at her work place. She would have to give up all her savings for re-establishment. Who, besides a serious book addict or desperate scientist would bother and rob a library? And with this much destruction? The inside of the hall was a havoc: books, mainly of the children’s section were everywhere, two of the rolling ladders had fallen off their rails, crashing into the bust of Aesop that was now crumbling mournfully onto the floor. As far as the authorities were concerned, there wasn’t very many obvious clues on who might have done the deed or how they might have gotten in at the first place. They theorized that whoever it was had used some long distance picking tool to pop open the clasp. A crowbar? Maybe even a sword.

Among the group were the Davies, lingering by in curiosity after running their errands in the market place. The mother catched parts of rumors and gossip from others standing nearby while the father calculated the possible criminal he knew all too well.

“There were pirates here” Malachi whispered as he watched the commotion around him.

“Pirates, dear?” his wife questioned. She had her eye on their sons who kept on trying to get into the disaster and examine it for themselves. “How do you know?”

Malachi’s moustache twitched. The library, more specifically children’s novellas had been under attack the same night one so-called sea-merchant docked in with his crew of twenty-five children! The answer was all too obvious. He had even had them in his house! He bit his lower lip, contemplating hard whether Laurel should be told and whether she would believe him in the first place. He leaned close to her so as to make sure no one else would hear and jump into unproved conclusion, regardless of whether he was right.

“It was Amias”

“AMIAS?!!” she shrieked. She looked back at him like he’d said the most rubbish word to ever exist in the English dictionary. Malachi almost flinched in case she’d slap him. “How on Earth could it have been Amias? That sweet man just touched shore last night. How could he possibly-“

“Because he’s a pirate”

“Oh, Malachi! Is this because you’re still jealous of him?”

Malachi started losing his patience. Laurel had always had a soft spot for Amias until he went missing one day. She’d always sneak him cookies and try to converse for hours on end when she saw him through the orphanage fence. He never seemed interested, yet Malachi had always been the backup in her eyes- until Amias vanished. He hated remembering how much she cried on the note that the boy was lost.

His nostrils flared, “This is nothing about childhood love-bugs. He’s a pirate! Him and his stolen children!” Just then, the deafening screech of a megaphone silenced the couple’s argument.

“Attention everyone!” the Police Chief called, “we have found an item that could have belonged to the thief” he turned over slightly as a small brown sac, supposedly filled with coins, was handed to him by another member. Everyone watched eagerly as the Chief examined it closely, his eyes squinting hard through the spectacles. Dangling from the rope that tied the bag shut was a label which the he seemed extremely interested in. Something had been written there. Everyone stared in awe as he read it to himself silently.

“Polite buggers” he chuckled. The smile vanished from his gruff face just as fast as it had appeared. “Now,” he cleared his throat, “Who might ‘Captain Amias and crew’ be?”

The crowd exploded. Almost everyone had lived and grown up in Polperro and so everyone knew each other in town all too well. All around, shocked murmurs of ‘the lost boy’ echoed, the bafflement of Amias being discussed as if he were some sort of legendary phantom. Laurel stared at her husband in heart-broken disbelief.

“So, its true?” she sobbed.

Malachi, smiling in his correctness, ploughed through the gathering towards the chief, on his way to volunteer for the capture of Amias Keggard.