The Pickpocket on the Train

In bold: key vocabulary. Tap any word in the text to see its definition.

Nina was late. She pushed through the crowd in Central Station at rush hour, with her suitcase in one hand and her phone in the other. Her train to Lisbon left in six minutes, and she had a job interview there in the morning.

She was standing in the line for the platform when a young man in a gray hood bumped into her hard, as if he was hurrying after someone. "Sorry," he said, and he was gone. A moment later, she put her hand in her jacket pocket. Her wallet wasn't there. Her tickets and her passport were inside it.

"Hey!" she shouted. "That man has my wallet!" The man in the gray hood was already running across the hall. Nina dropped her phone into her bag and ran after him, pulling her suitcase behind her. People jumped out of the way. A woman dropped her coffee.

The thief jumped over a barrier and went down the stairs to platform nine. Nina followed. Her suitcase banged on every step. Below, a train was closing its doors. It was not hers, but she did not care. The thief pushed through them at the last second. Nina arrived a moment later, and she threw herself between the doors before they closed.

Inside the train, it was noisy and crowded. She could not see the gray hood anywhere. Then she saw it, at the end of the carriage, next to the emergency door. He was standing very still, watching the carriage. "Stop!" she shouted. He turned, and for one second they looked at each other. Then the train began to move.

The man did something she did not expect. He took a badge out of his pocket and held it up. "Police," he said quietly. "Please don't shout. I've been following the real thief since Madrid." He pointed at an older man in a blue coat, three seats away, who was holding two wallets. One of them was hers.

The old man saw the badge and froze. The officer caught him in two steps. A few minutes later, Nina was sitting in a small office at the next station, with her wallet in her hands and a paper cup of tea. "So you weren't the thief," she said. "No," the officer smiled. "But you were a very good witness. You almost caught me."

"I missed my train," she said. "I know," he said. "But the next one to Lisbon leaves in an hour, and it's free." Nina looked at her wallet, then at him, and for the first time that day, she laughed.