Master of disguise

Some people turn into specialists in one topic. Mr. Thomas was one of them, in his case, a master of disguise. At such point that Thomas was not even his real name rather than one that helped him to compose a disguise and had been adopted ever since.

When he was a child, he used to love to wear costumes as his daily clothes. It took a lot a work to convince little Mr. Thomas to wear his school uniform. But finally, he was content on wearing his favorite masks to go to school. It is very usual among kids, it is not? So, his parents could never imagine that it would turn into a lifestyle.

The yeas have passed and instead of changing his behaviour, Mr. Thomas’s abilities could not stop growing. He could be whoever he wanted and whatever he wanted. His great teenage crises was not a heartbreak, but been unmasked inside a Chinese disguise. He was in a typical Chinese neighbourhood and his accent gave himself away. Since that day, he locked himself in his room to practice mandarin incessantly.

His dedication and talent were both limitless. His parents were pretty sure he would follow an artistic career and were caught by surprise when Mr. Thomas entered the law school. There was a kind of a relief, after all, parents often love the most tradicional professions that seem to be a financial safe harbor for the future generations. Nevertheless, there was also a fear for his coice been an effort to please others but himself, what could led him to a miserable life. Money is not everything. Soon, the life events would enlight all of it.

In college, Mr. Thomas was brilliant. His knowledge, often being easily confused with that of a teacher. Even because at certain times that was exactly the disguise he wore.

Because of his excellent academic performance, the most promising careers in law seemed to open up for Mr. Thomas day by day. Was the ability to disguise himself just a hobby taken very seriously and would it be like this forever? Still, he showed no signs that he was looking for an internship. He continued his temporary work in bars, cafeterias and other places, some of them known to be very dangerous.

The genius student became so well known in his field that internships positions started looking for him. Large law firms, multinational companies, hyper-technological startups, governments of all kinds. But he was not interested in any of this, and declined each invitation with a smile on his face. He had something else in mind.

He was patient enough to wait his graduation to start his project. It was a full-time plan and it would be impossible to reconcile with the responsibilities of academic life, even though he found it much easier than everyone said it was before he got to college. Then, to the surprise of many, one day he opened his office as a private detective.

The combination of his knowledge of the law, his analytical capacity and his ability to disguise was the perfect match. In his first case, the fire of a museum that some suspected to be criminal, easily managed to arrest the culprits by disguising himself as a buyer of clandestine artifacts.

He discovered that museum staff were diverting historical items, and when an audit of the collection was scheduled, someone accidentally lit his cigarette on a gasoline trail scattered all over the place.

After the repercussion of his achievement, thousands of cases began to fill his e-mail box. He didn’t want that much success. Every time he started to organize the cases and answer his clients, more and more orders arrived. That way, it was impossible to work.

So he adopted the name “Mr. Thomas”, changed his face completely and rented a new office on the other side of the town, in a very remote place. He decided that he would take only cases with less visibility and the work would be as he always wanted.

Mr Thomas was wrong. After a few months, he thought about his work in that region. He had disguised himself as a tree to catch a chicken thief who was, after all, a fox. He had dressed up as a postman, pizza delivery man and street musician to find evidence of betrayal by the same husband in different weeks. Her client always forgave him, then he became suspicious of betrayal in an endless cycle.

The price of living out of the spotlight was this, living with eternal human mediocrity. Perhaps the spotlight was not that bad. At least, there were illusory moments of greatness. He needed a new name, a new look and a new office, in the downtown area.

Now he was known as Mr Robinson. He decided to specialize in crimes that seemed impossible even to the most renowned authorities. And, once again achieved great results and extraordinary fame. One of the most curious cases was that of the double serial killer.

No, he didn’t just kill two people. But after the hard work of a detective, in which he disguised himself as a stray dog, he discovered that they were twins who lived the life of a single person and took advantage of their similarity to always have the perfect alibi. The case had been open for more than a decade.

With the success, of course, the spotlight and the crazy pace returned. But Mr. Robinson was perfectly calm. Now, he knew exactly what to do. Whenever work got out of hand, he changed his name, appearance and office. It was Mr. Anderson, Adam, William, Victor, Eric, Henry, Marco, Mrs. Rose among many other identities.

Suddenly, a whole generation of extraordinary detectives seemed to be emerging. Which did not last long because his obsession with disguises grew more and more, and the gentleman who each time had a different name began to have a different profession each time. Salesman, electrician, dentist, clown, pharmacist, watchman, taxi driver, taxidermist, engineer, porter, secretary, watchmaker, tennis player, acrobat, street musician, astronaut … He could be anyone he wants to the point where he really forgot who he was before it all started.

Today, we can be precise in saying that he or she is out there somewhere, doing something. His family doesn’t know how to find him anymore, because they can call him by any name or recognise him by any appearance. They have even thought about hiring a private detective, but such a difficult case would require someone especially talented. Someone like the master of disguise.