Free Black Book of Arabia by Hend Al Qassemi

then?” asked Sheikha’s father.
    â€œVery hard to say,” said the officer, taking a sip of tea. “Without surveillance cameras or an eyewitness, I cannot rule out a professional job. I am afraid we have seen this before: professional thieves targeting the royal family, but usually it involves a trusted maid, friend or person from the household even.”
    â€œThat has been happening since the Middle Ages,” said Sheikha’s father.
    â€œYes, but today’s thieves have telephoto lenses and night-vision goggles to watch your comings and goings, all-terrain vehicles to approach your palace from the open desert, and they can track your location through your social media—Instagram, Facebook, Viber, WhatsApp.”
    Sheikha’s father glanced at his daughter.
    â€œI take it you posted to social media while you were gone,” said the officer.
    Sheikha nodded.
    â€œThey knew you were gone,” he said. “You would be amazed at what we have seen. Sometimes thieves plantaudio bugs and even spy cams in a home to track the family’s movements.”
    The idea of a spy camera anywhere near her bedroom made Sheikha shudder.
    â€œHow do they get inside to plant these devices?” Sheikha’s father asked.
    â€œSometimes they have accomplices who work in home services—electricians, plumbers, even people who install televisions. That kind of thing. Often they recruit someone who works for the family.”
    â€œI told you, our servants have been with us for decades,” said Sheikha’s father. “If they would steal they would not steal clothes that don’t fit them, and most certainly they would not steal their mistress’s wedding gown and then remain in the house to be caught red-handed.”
    â€œUnderstood,” said the police captain. “But never underestimate the power of greed.”
    â€œI would trust them with my life,” said Sheikha’s father, raising his voice. “I dismissed my nurses, trusting these maids to bring me my heart and blood pressure medication.”
    â€œOf course,” said the officer. “I did not mean to implicate your staff. Now if these thieves are professionals, chances are they will strike another palace. They will not stop if they got away with it once. God willing, we will catch them next time and they will still have your things.”
    â€œGod willing,” said Sheikha.
    The officer asked a few more questions over tea and then left. Sheikha hurried upstairs to get her jewelry so she could drop it off at the jeweler’s before it closed. The chauffeurwalked her into the shop for security. When Sheikha opened the box for the jeweler, she found to her horror that it was empty. She instantly called Lulu on her mobile, but she did not answer. The chauffeur drove Sheikha back home as she called Lulu’s number again and again. There was no answer. When they got home, Lulu was gone.
    Sheikha still found it hard to believe that Lulu could do such a thing. Yet it seemed clear that the culprit could be no other, and so she had no choice but to call the police again. As she waited for the captain to arrive, she received a text from Lulu:
I love you, Sheikha. You are all my family and more. It hurt me that you would think that I would bite the hand that fed me. You gave me a roof when I was a lost stranger here. Why would I ever want to hurt you?
    Sheikha still did not want to believe that someone she had once loved could hurt her so much. She texted Lulu back:
Please return my things and there will be no scandal.
    Lulu did not answer.
    â€œWhat evidence do you have that she took your jewels?” asked the officer when he arrived.
    â€œShe saw I had taken them out of the safe and was putting them in the jewelry box, and now she is gone, and the jewels are gone. She must have gone through my room while we were down here discussing the case.”
    â€œDo you have a picture of