Without any further delay, Bobby and Narvy left The Engineering Club and made their way to the police station. After a fifteen-minute walk, they arrived at their destination. The police station stood before them, a large modern building with sleek architecture. Bobby and Narvy found the entrance doors and walked through them without hesitation. Once they got inside, they noticed a reception area in front of them. They approached one of the counters, hoping someone would come to their service. Eventually, a staff member noticed them.

“Hello, how may I help you?” asked the woman. “We found these gloves in a manhole, and we want to know who they belong to,” explained Narvy as he handed over the gloves. The woman held them and briefly examined them. “Very interesting. What do you want us to do with them?” she asked. “We found them in Bytari, and we think they probably belong to that mysterious hacker,” answered Bobby. “We thought you could turn them inside out and scan the fingerprints,” he added. At that moment, the woman understood what had to be done. “I’m just a receptionist, you’ll have to talk to someone else if you want help with that,” she explained. “I’ll call one of our inspectors right now,” she added. The woman grabbed the telephone near her and had a short discussion.

Within three minutes, the inspector arrived in the room. “Hello, what do you need help with?” he asked. Narvy told him everything he had already explained to the receptionist. “We can do that, we’ve done stuff like this before,” stated the inspector. “Great,” replied Narvy. “In fact, we actually have an application for cases like this,” explained the inspector. “In every major city across the country, the respective police unit keeps a copy of everyone’s fingerprints. In these cases we scan the fingerprints, load them onto our computer and see whose fingerprints they resemble the most,” he added. “How are you going to do that?” Bobby asked. “You’ll need the fingerprints of the Bytari citizens.” “We’ll call someone in the Bytari department and ask them to share the files,” explained the inspector.

“How long will this take?” asked Bobby. “About half an hour,” answered the inspector. “Can I walk around the city in the meantime?” asked Bobby. “Sure, but I would stay near the police station if I were you,” replied the inspector. As someone who didn’t like to sit in a waiting room for long periods of time, Bobby was happy to hear this. “Don’t worry, I’ll be here,” commented Narvy, feeling as if someone had to stay in the room. “Can I please have the gloves?” asked the inspector. Before handing them over, Narvy turned the gloves inside out. Instead of putting his hands in them, he pressed the finger sleeves inward. While doing this, he took his time and was very careful not to smudge the fingerprints. “Alright, I’ll get to work on this. See you soon,” announced the inspector. He immediately left the room and went somewhere Bobby and Narvy couldn’t see. With no choice but to wait, Narvy approached a row of chairs and sat on one of them. Bobby did the same but only lasted for five minutes. “I’m going to go for a walk,” he announced. “Okay, just make sure to come back in twenty minutes,” replied Narvy.

Bobby walked through the sliding doors and left the waiting room. He found a couple of small buildings near the police station. They consisted of an antique shop, a dairy, and a motorcycle equipment shop. Despite living in Fluvaria his whole life, Bobby had never seen these particular shops before, so he decided to explore them. After twenty-five minutes of browsing, Bobby decided to walk back. He had not found anything interesting in any of the shops. When he returned to the police station, Narvy was still sitting on a chair waiting. “Sorry I’m late,” stated Bobby. “It’s fine,” replied Narvy. “Have they come back yet?” asked Bobby. “No, but they should be here any minute now,” replied Narvy.

Just then, the man they saw half an hour ago entered the room. “Hello,” said the inspector. “We scanned the fingerprints and compared them to every citizen in Bytari. The closest match we could find were the fingerprints of someone called Julia Henswell,” he explained. At first, the name didn’t ring any bells. But when Bobby thought about it for a couple more seconds, he realised the problem. “Wait, isn’t that Elsa’s aunt?” he asked. “It is,” replied Narvy. “Thanks for the information, we really appreciate it,” Narvy said to the inspector. “You’re welcome,” replied the inspector.

Bobby and Narvy left the police station. “What do we do?” asked Bobby. “I know she’s the hacker, but she’s Elsa’s aunt. Elsa’s going to be so upset and I don’t want to do that to her,” he added. “I think it will be for the best if we just tell Elsa now,” explained Narvy. “She’s going to find out eventually,” he added. “If you insist,” replied Bobby, sounding unsure. Without hesitation, Narvy wrote a text message and sent it to Elsa.

Meanwhile, Elsa and Julia were spending some time together in a restaurant. It was one of the highest-rated restaurants in Bytari. As they sat in the large ornate room, they ate their meals and occasionally spoke to each other. Elsa was having a plate of sausages, mushrooms, and mashed potatoes, with a vanilla milkshake. While Julia was having a chicken Caesar salad with a white wine. “Enjoying your meal?” asked Julia. “Yeah. These sausages are really tasty,” answered Elsa. “Is your salad nice?” she asked. “Yes, the vegetables are really fresh, and the chicken isn’t overcooked,” answered Julia. “It was a great idea coming here,” commented Elsa. “Thanks,” replied Julia.

Just then, Elsa’s phone vibrated. She took it out of her pocket and saw the message she had received. Hi Elsa. I have some good news and some bad news. The good news is that we found the hacker’s identity. The bad news is that Julia’s the hacker, Narvy explained in a text message. Elsa questioned what she just read, but she knew Narvy wouldn’t lie to her. She knew what she had to do but it took her a few moments to build up her courage to talk to Julia. “Can I ask you something?” asked Elsa. “Yes, of course,” replied Julia. “Are you really the hacker?” asked Elsa in a tone that progressively got quieter. Julia was taken aback by the question, but she remained her confident self. “Elsa, I think we need to talk in private,” explained Julia. “Let’s go to the car,” she added. Julia paid the bill, and they left the table before they could finish their meals. Once they arrived at the car, they sat inside it in silence.

“Let me answer the question you asked me back there,” stated Julia. “The answer to that question is yes.” Elsa didn’t know what to say. “Why did you have to be a hacker?” she blurted. “Once you learn computer science, you have everything at your disposal,” explained Julia. “You can steal files with the power of coding and sell valuable data. Sure it’s theft, but if people wake up with missing files, that’s their problem. You can just relax and spend your money on whatever you want,” she added. “How long have you been doing this for?” asked Elsa. “Only three months, and I’m already making so much profit,” answered Julia. For the next couple of seconds, Elsa sat in the car motionless, giving Julia nothing but a look of disbelief and disappointment. “What’s wrong?” asked Julia. “You’re more than welcome to join me. We can earn so much money, and you can buy all the designer clothes you want,” she explained. “You can also buy your own mansion; you can drive around in the most expensive car. You could even buy The Diamond Spa Centre,” she added. “Did you forget that I’m part of a crime-fighting team?” replied Elsa. “You could live a double life,” suggested Julia.

She continued to speak, but Elsa didn’t pay attention. Instead, she opened the car door. “Where are you going?” asked Julia once she noticed. “I’m going home. I need some time to myself,” replied Elsa. She walked away from Julia’s car and didn’t look back. Upon arriving at the train station, she ordered a ticket and waited for the train to come. Once the train arrived, Elsa boarded it and began her long ride home.