Something you had that was stolen.

Call me goody-two-shoes if you like (no, don't) but i've never stolen anything.  "Oh, that's what you would say."  I really haven't.  Unless there's something i've blanked through shame or protection.

But, the question says I had it, not that I stole it.  Do I know for certain that I owned something that was stolen?  No.  That said i've bought enough stuff from charity shops over the years that it's conceivable that some of it could have been stolen, bought then donated.  I guess.  Who really knows where everything they have came from?

Tell a story that beings with a ransom note.

Aren't ransom notes made of a letters cut from newspapers?  This was a scrappy old piece of paper scribbled over in awful, spidery handwriting.

"Look at your hands and stare at your fingers.  Pick one.  Which one would you miss the least?  I want you to pick.  I'm going to give you two minutes to choose and if you don't give me an answer then i'm going to see which I prefer and i'll be picking two.  Put yourself in that position.  Are you doing it now?  Come 10am on Thursday morning that's the very question i'll be putting to little Simon unless you do exactly what I say."