Madness Indeed

I put my coat on hurriedly and turned up its collar at the sudden icy wind that swept up the streets like a great invisible serpent. Kevan was as close on my heels as one might get in the event of a chase. Of course we knew that Sir Madness Tuesday was leading us on a wild goose chase. He was far too clever for us to trail him this way, but still, chasing geese may bring some point into fruition. We kept our ears open for signs of disruption in the stony streets, following any flapping of fabric or tap of a boot heel; chasing shadows in the windows. I suddenly stopped and Kevan nearly toppled into me as I stood there. He peaked around my shoulders to see we had come to a dead end. Quite literally as Sir Madness Monday's hat sat on a wooden crate before us. I couldn't move. Kevan stepped towards the box and gingerly picked up the tweed dearstalker to reveal a metal thimble, an ace of diamonds, and two wooden matches beneath its brim.
"He tends to do that," came a voice out of the shadows. We whipped our heads around in two shakes of a lambs tale to reveal a petite blonde woman dressed in a smart navy blue pantsuit. She quirked her head to the side and revealed two perfectly deep dimples on either side of her pink ribbon lips.
"He likes to play games and as it would seem, you two are his newest conquest. I'd hold onto those if I were you," she continued as she gestured to the items which lay exposed against the rough wood. "You will probably need them." With that she turned on her heel and got into a black car which had been waiting silently just off the curb. I can only assume she'd been following Sir Madness Tuesday as well and simply bumped into us on her way. We stood silent for a few more moments before Kevan gently took my elbow and guided me back to our once comfortable abode. We splayed out the items on our kitchen table and stared at them for hours. I pulled my knees up to my chest and rocked back and forth while staring at those uninvited objects for hours on end.
Days, weeks, months passed with no sign of a breakthrough, no odd changes in the weather, no strangers at our door. Well, other than our usual tenants. Eventually Kevan and I began to move on with our lives. Put the hat and its belongings up on a shelf where we only occasionally gazed at it during an absent minded meal. Until one day...