Playing cards with Ryeowook when he didn’t have any customers at his shop turned into a routine that Kyuhyun was grateful for a few weeks later. It’s been nearly a month since he’s arrived in Mamacita now, and any news on the outlaws they are trying to catch has been scarce.

It seems that Leeteuk’s laid low the past month as well, which made some of the other counties law enforcement wonder if the thief had been captured, but telegraphs sent to many of the other sheriff offices come back negative. Leeteuk’s either laying low till the heat of his arrest warrant dies off, or he’s planning something that requires time for him to make his move.

Kyuhyun’s taken to wearing just his casual clothing while he’s out and about, especially since he’s only got a few suits that he wants to keep clean and intact. Even Siwon’s taken to not wearing his tan jacket when he’s sitting outside watching the world go by as he’s polishing his guns.

It’s kind of ironic that they managed to capture Leeteuk at all when the thief breaks into Heechul’s bar a few nights before Kyuhyun’s about ready to give up on his grand scheme to capture the outlaw.

It’s also sort of funny that Leeteuk goes along with his arrest, smiling and chatty as he’s booked by Siwon and placed behind bars with most of his personal possessions on him. Siwon’s confident that the thief doesn’t have anything on his person that could help him escape the small jail cell that he’s being held in, the small room doesn’t even have a window, so he can’t communicate with any accomplices without their knowledge.

Heechul’s upset, as any good citizen should be, that his bar had been targeted by the thief while he and Sally had gone to Seoul on personal business, and wants a good reason why Leeteuk would think his bar had anything valuable worth stealing.

“He’s not giving a reason other than he’s a thief, and a bar would be a good place to steal from since it’s always got a customer.” Siwon replies to Heechul’s demands for an explanation.

Kyuhyun is wise to stay away from Siwon and the office for a few days after that, opting to introduce himself to Eunhyuk and ask him for a place to stay for a week claiming he’d been renting the deputy room from Siwon and now that the man has a criminal behind bars, Kyuhyun feints fear at being in such a close proximity to a thief.

Eunhyuk agrees quickly, sympathizing with Kyuhyun once he finds out the younger man is taking a vacation from the gambling circuit. While Siwon’s busy dealing with Heechul and watching Leeteuk, Kyuhyun meets up with Sungmin again, finalizing plans for the eventual escape that they both know Leeteuk will attempt in order to steal the jeweled crown that Sungmin finally has orders to be shipped off to Seoul to its intended resting place. Sungmin’s worried that if things go horribly wrong, the crown really will be stolen and he’ll be out of a job and barred from banking ever again.

“Don’t worry hyung.” Kyuhyun promises, a soft smile on his face, one that is completely genuine. “I will make damn sure that you won’t lose your livelihood.”

Kyuhyun’s got a hunch that Leeteuk’s accomplices are hiding in plain sight and after eliminating most of the people on his original list of suspects, he’s down to 3. It could be Heechul, the man was overly upset about his bar being hit too conveniently while he’s been gone to Seoul, or it could be Shindong, the local blacksmith whose been forced to take out a couple of loans for materials to be able to finish outstanding customer orders, or it could be Heechul’s saloon girl Sally, who’d been sighing softly over the fact her parents want her to settle down, get married and not worry about being independent. (Kyuhyun may have gotten a little too friendly with her recently after more than one drink.)

Siwon’s been beside himself with pride at capturing the thief and has been buying shots for everyone at the bar later on that night, causing the majority of the people in the town to be at Heechul’s bar, not even noticing that there are 2 people missing from the crowd that gathers around the man of the hour.

Kyuhyun’s busy staking out the Sheriff’s office from beside the bar, which he’d noticed had undergone a small name change since Heechul’s been back. He wonders suddenly if Heechul had sold the bar in order to gain money, but then dismisses it a moment later. Heechul wouldn’t have gotten as upset as he had if he’d sold it to another person.

Kyuhyun’s sent off a telegraph to a friend to dig up information on Heechul, even though the man claims to have been born and raised in Mamacita. After a few hours of waiting, and hearing those in the bar getting drunk as Siwon spends more money on celebrating his catch, Kyuhyun spots a not so small frame slinking around the side of the Sheriff’s office.

‘I knew it!’ Kyuhyun thinks as he smirks in the darkness as he gets a glimpse of red hair on the back of a head from the small patch of light that comes from the bar. It could only mean the blacksmith was Leeteuk’s accomplice. He watches as Shindong goes up to the door, jiggles the lock that Siwon’s clearly placed on it to help keep Leeteuk in, and visitors out while he’s buying shots and then looks around to see if anyone’s outside.

Kyuhyun mentally cheers in success at figuring out an accomplice when Shindong then pulls something out of his pocket, and the lock on the door falls away. ‘No surprise there, he’s probably got the master keys for the entire town.’ Kyuhyun mentally snorts at how stupid Shindong really was.

Surprisingly, Shindong comes back out only a moment later, glancing around again suspiciously before shutting the door and placing the lock back on, the click audible amongst the muted noises coming from the bar. He then carefully walks away from the door, hands going to his pockets as he skirts around toward where his shop is and disappearing into the darkness.

Kyuhyun’s confused. Why would Shindong break into the office, only to come out a moment later? Sighing, Kyuhyun decides that since Shindong’s the only other person in town not at the bar, he can go into the bar and maybe have a drink, but decides against it as he yawns tiredly. Staking out a place to watch for criminal activity is more work than he realized.

Whatever Shindong did that night, nothing came out of it for a few days. Siwon’s been acting like a puffed up rooster, getting random pats on the back from local residents and some of the girls who fawn over Eunhyuk have even been flirting with the Sheriff.

For some reason on a particularly beautiful day in Mamacita, Kyuhyun’s wearing one of his suits while playing cards with Ryeowook. They’ve gotten in a nice routine by this point, and Kyuhyun’s gained a nice tidy sum of money from his stay, playing cards against many of the more adventurous residents of the town.

The sun isn’t very high in the sky, and the heat seems to have died down enough that many people are out and about in Mamacita, and even Kangin is busy selling some new fruits to locals when Siwon comes out of the office, a smile on his face. He saunters over to where Kyuhyun and Ryeowook are sitting, twirling a piece of moustache between his fingers. “So, tomorrow is the day that Leeteuk gets shipped off to the county where he first committed his crimes.” Siwon says conversationally to Kyuhyun.

Ryeowook’s gotten used to the Sheriff coming over to chitchat with the gambler, not realizing that the man is a deputy. Kyuhyun’s told Siwon a little bit of his plan, and why he’s acting like he’s not close to the older man, and Siwon’s agreed that it’s best not to get all the residents in Mamacita up in a fit because the town suddenly had gotten a deputy.

No one except Kyuhyun notices when a shadowy figure slips out of the Sheriff’s office while Siwon’s back is turned, busy chatting with Kyuhyun and Ryeowook at the table in front of Heechul’s bar.

Siwon’s sitting over in the shade later in the day, contemplating on if he wants to give Leeteuk a meal for lunch or not when the local newspaper comes around. On the front of the page, in big bold letters is ‘Breaking News!’ with the heading underneath it ‘Sheriff failed catching thief!’ and a picture snapped of Leeteuk giving a peace sign as he tilts his head into the camera shot, blocking what Siwon can see is a view of Ryeowook’s barber shop, and the table where Kyuhyun and Ryeowook play cards.

Siwon jumps up, eyes wide and scrambles into the office, and issues a strangled grunt as he spots the cell where Leeteuk had been sitting empty, the door wide open. Racing outside, Siwon looks up and down the street before looking at the picture on the newspaper again, and realizing that it had probably been taken earlier that morning while he’d been preoccupied with other matters (namely flirting shamelessly with one of the girls who followed Eunhyuk around), or when he’d been talking with his deputy.

Siwon stares, dumbfounded as he realizes that his one chance at getting a decent wage to afford something nice is gone as he is spotted by two girls, who stare at him and start whispering as they walk by.

‘, that news is spread all around town now.’ Siwon mentally groans, trying to express himself wordlessly as he gets stares and looks that convey shame and distrust on him.

Without another word, he gets up and slinks over to Heechul’s bar. “Give me a shot.” He demands, his voice gruff with unshed emotions.

Heechul gives Sally a look as she pours a shot for Siwon. “What’s wrong my criminal chasing friend?” He asks.

Siwon stares over at Heechul in disbelief before he breaks down and tells the younger man about the jail break.

Meanwhile, Kyuhyun had snuck over to Sungmin’s bank, telling him the plan was a go in hushed whispers, as the banker points to his right pocket to nonverbally tell Kyuhyun where the key to the box that the crown will be kept in during transport is. He’s already seen Siwon in the bar drinking so this next step will be interesting to watch.

“I almost bet that Leeteuk’s got another plan involved because Shindong’s the only person who must have given him a copy of the key to the cell.” Kyuhyun confides in Sungmin. “This is where things get crucial. If he’s going to hit the bank, you need to show off the crown as if it’s the most beautiful thing in the world, the most precious and set it into the box before placing it in the wagon for transport.” Kyuhyun says.

Sungmin’s eyes light up. “I can do that. The crown really is a work of beauty to be admired.” He replies, a smile on his face.

“Good.” Kyuhyun glances around before bidding the banker good afternoon before heading back to the table. Ryeowook had gotten a couple of customers when Siwon had come to the bar. Kyuhyun settles down just as Ryeowook comes out of his barber shop, waving at the customer as he leaves before heading over and settling down to finish their game of cards.