It was close to midnight. Ethan and his wife, Michelle were returning home from a friend's wedding dinner when they saw a package at their doorstep. They were both puzzled, as they remembered they had not bought anything online.
"Who could have sent that package?" Ethan asked.
"I have no idea," Michelle replied. "It could have been a mistaken delivery, let's find out who the intended recipient is." When they checked the package, they saw that it was addressed to Elijah Lam and his wife Catherine Kwok, the owners living 3 units directly theirs.
"Let's return the package to the rightful owner," Michelle suggested. "I'll go with you, it's already late at night," Ethan chipped in. Michelle agreed.
The unit was surrounded by a large security gate. The wooden door was left wide open. Ethan rang the doorbell, but there was no answer. "Hello?" he called out, but there was still no answer. Suddenly, he noticed that even though the living room was dark, there was light coming from the study.
"That's strange," Ethan mused. "There's light coming from the study. Could there be someone in the house?" Although Michelle wanted to leave the package outside the unit and return home, Ethan felt strongly that something was amiss. He suggested checking out the unit. The security gate was unlocked, so Ethan and Michelle rushed into the unit, where they saw Elijah and Catherine in the study, being tied to their chairs, blindfolded and gagged. The study had been ransacked.
"Quick, call the police," Ethan said hurriedly. Michelle immediately called the police while Ethan untied both Elijah and Catherine, and removed their blindfolds and gags. When the police arrived, Elijah and Catherine recounted what had happened. It turned out that they were returning home from an overseas holiday earlier that day when they smelled cigarette smoke in the flat, which puzzled them, as neither Elijah nor Catherine smoked. As they were wondering if there were anyone else in the flat, 3 masked men suddenly rushed out from the study, brandishing knives. The men ordered them to the study at knifepoint, tied them to the chairs and blindfolded them. They had also made off with cash and jewelry amounting to $20,000. The police recovered 3 cigarette butts from the kitchen, and with the DNA results from the cigarette butts, the culprits were apprehended in no time, and most of the valuables were recovered. For their courageous act, Ethan and Michelle were given commendations by the police.