The Box

by Robert Swetz

  Legs looked to Raven and saw her nod. “Sometimes,” she replied. “I don’t usually grab the purses though. Little Paul does that, then he hands them off to me.”

  Michael’s eyebrows went up. “Now that sounds quite sensible. Not only are you fast, but a man walking around with a purse might attract some unwanted attention.” He saw Legs nod. He continued. “I want you to remember the last purse you stole.”

  “Little Paul wasn’t there for that. I was out running and I saw the opportunity. I grabbed it and kept going.”

  Michael smiled at that. “If I were in a different business, I’d probably hire you. But I’m not! Now we need to get to the meat of this discussion. I want you to think carefully, not about the last time you took a purse but about the time before that. Can you do that?”

  “Sure, it wasn’t that long ago. Little Paul grabbed that one.”

  “Good. Where were you when he did it?”

  “The bus stop.”

  “Which bus stop? There’s a million of them in the city.”

  “It’s about six blocks from our place,” she told him.

  “From your place? Where you live?”

  “No from the Scorpion’s building.”

  “So when you took it you were right in the neighborhood?”

  “Yes.”

  “I would think you would go after other people than the ones around here. Go where there’s more money.”

  “Usually we do,” she told him. “But we noticed that this woman did her shopping on certain days, so we figured she had just gotten paid.”

  “Very astute,” Michael said. “So you ripped her off. Since she was in the neighborhood, do you know who she was?”

  “Not really. I don’t know her name. We just see her around once in a while.”

  “You saw her around?”

  “Yeah. She lives like right next to our building.”

  Michael was surprised. “Right next door? And you still stole her purse?”

  “We figured it was her payday.”

  “Okay, good,” Michael replied. “We’ll come back to her later. Now let’s talk about the one before that.”

  Michael spent the next thirty minutes grilling Legs about stolen purses. But it was only the first few he was really interested in. “Okay, Miss Legs. We’re going to go for a little ride so you can show us exactly where some of those purses were stolen. Would you like that?”

  Legs shook her head. “No!” she said, more frightened than she had been.

  Michael leaned down over her. “Too bad!”

  --- §§§§§§§§§§ ---

  Michael finally felt like he was getting somewhere. After spending an interesting few hours with Legs, he let her go, a long way from Frank’s apartment where he wondered if Frank and his girlfriend were still tied to those chairs. The moment he set Legs fee, she had taken off running. He had been amused to see just how fast the girl could run. He had little doubt that in another situation, she could be a track star.

  He now had men taking pictures of all the women at three different locations where Legs had said she had taken purses recently. He knew it was like looking for a needle in a haystack, but he had no better idea as to how to find the woman. Legs had told him about what time of day she had taken the purses. Based on that, he figured that two of his men would be back in about an hour. The third one was taking pictures of all the people getting off the bus in the Scorpion’s part of town. He was going to have to wait a while longer for those pictures. If nothing came of any of it, he’d have people back in those locations taking pictures for the next week, or more if need be. This was the only solution he could think of to find the woman.

  The first batch of pictures that came in were taken in one of the downtown tourist areas. Consequently, there were so many pictures of women walking around it was almost too much to deal with, but one by one, Michael did his best to study the faces of each woman in the pictures.

  The second batch came in long before he was done with the first one. They were the pictures taken in one of the more prominent business districts. When Michael finished with the first batch, he didn’t even pause before starting to study the second group. He had realized from the first batch that if the gang was stealing purses in places with that many people, then they were being pretty damn bold about it. The second group taken in the business district only verified that fact. Whoever was stealing the purses, wasn’t worried in the least about being caught. Evidently, the Scorpions were better at that than he thought.

  There were so many pictures from the first two groups that he had to put off finishing the second group until after dinner. But as soon as he could, he went right back to studying them again. Fortunately, by that time, the final ones taken near the bus stop came in. By the time he got to the final group, he was glad to see there were so few. He looked at face after face of the women getting off the bus, but he was so tired of looking at faces of women, he realized he was no longer studying them close enough.

  He stopped and found one of the maids, asking her to bring him some coffee. He wandered around for a while just to clear his brain. The maid was back with his coffee in minutes. He sipped at it as he went back to the desk where he had been studying the pictures. This time, he forced himself to look more closely again. Picture after picture showed him women who basically had that same look about them. Poor. Downtrodden. Lifeless. After only a few minutes, he realized he wasn’t going to find the woman he was looking for there. But he was doing the job, looking for a needle in a haystack, so he kept going, intent on finishing what he started.

  He flipped past image after image, then he suddenly stopped. Was he too tired to continue? He flipped back to the previous picture for a second look. He saw another woman who looked just like all the others he had been reviewing. She had that same weary walked-on look that the others had. In truth, she was the most nondescript person he had ever seen. But still, there was something about her that made him look, and look again.

  He increased the size of the picture so he could see and study her face better. Was it possible? No. Yes, there was some resemblance. But no, it couldn’t be. She just looked too…not like the Francesca he had known. But still, there was that bit of resemblance. Either way, he wondered who she was.

  Copying the picture from his computer to his phone, he got up from his desk and went looking for his father. As he expected, his father was in his office. He didn’t need to knock, his father noticed him the moment he stood in the doorway.

  “Michael. How goes your little project?”

  “I’m not sure,” Michael replied. “Pop, I want to show you a photo, see what you think.”

  “Why ask me? You knew her better than I did.”

  “Because there’s a woman that reminds me a little of her, but I can’t tell if it’s her.”

  “Then why bother? It probably isn’t. You know perfectly well there’s lots of people out there who look like someone else.”

  “Yes. Still, I’d like your opinion.”

  “Sure. Let me see.”

  Michael showed him the picture of the woman. He even increased the size so his father could see her face better.

  “I don’t know,” his father told him. “To me, it doesn’t look that much like her, but I can see the resemblance. As I said, you knew her better. You dated her once.”

  “Yeah. Still….”

  “Still what?”

  “I’m going to keep looking, Michael told his father.”

  “Good!”

  “But I think I’ll find out a little more about this one.”

  “It’s your business, Michael,” he replied. “I wouldn’t waste too much time with it though.”

  “Of course not.”

  --- §§§§§§§§§§ ---

  Brian watched from the window as his mother headed off to work. His stomach growled. The two of them had finished off the last of the bread for breakfast. Each of them having a single slice of toast. Their dinner together the night before
had been almost nothing. He remembered her final words to him just before she left. “If you need to, go back to that soup kitchen for lunch.”

  “I don’t know, Mom,” he had replied.

  “If you need to,” she had said again. Then she had kissed him and headed down the steps. Now she had walked out of sight on her way to the bus stop. He briefly wondered what he was going to do with himself today, but he didn’t wonder long. He was hungry. He knew he would be heading back to that church again. But this time, not to see the nun or the priest. This time, he needed something more to eat. He wondered if there was some way he could bring some food back for his mother. She was the one he worried about the most. He could get something to eat, but what would she do?

  Several blocks further down the street, he could no longer see his mother walking toward the bus stop. He also couldn’t see the man who had been watching for her. A man who had seen her coming from two blocks away as he snapped picture after picture of her. By the time she stopped with the others to wait for the bus, the man was getting back into his car.

  --- §§§§§§§§§§ ---

  “Got ‘em, boss,” Josh said as he turned the camera over to Michael. Michael downloaded the pictures into his computer so he could study them better. This time, there were several very good shots of her face. This time, as different as she looked, Michael had no doubt at all. He was looking at Francesca Bianchi.

  “Is it her?” Josh asked.

  He nodded. “Believe it or not, I think it may be.”

  “You want us to pick her up when she comes home?”

  Michael considered that. “Yes…and no.”

  “What are you thinking?”

  “I’m thinking we need to find that track star we talked to yesterday.”

  Josh smiled. “I’m interested. She was pretty!”

  “Yeah, she was. Let’s see how interested she is in staying that way.”

  --- §§§§§§§§§§ ---

  When someone knocked on the door, Raven answered it. She wasn’t prepared to open the door though and see a gun pointed at her face.

  “Guess who,” Michael said as he walked inside.

  “What the…” Frank started to say, then stopped as the second man pointed a gun at his head. “What do you want?” Frank asked.

  Michael took a moment to look at the cast covering his entire knee. “Not getting out much lately, are you,” he said.

  “What do you want?” Frank asked again.

  Michael turned to Raven instead. “I need to find your friend Legs again.”

  “Why?” Raven asked, more alarmed than she had been.

  “More questions,” Michael told her.

  “Please,” Raven said. “Leave Legs alone. She’s a good kid.”

  “She’s a thief!” Michael countered. “She steals purses. Many of them from old women.”

  “She’s still a good kid!” Raven argued.

  Michael grunted a laugh. “A matter of opinion then.”

  “What do you want with her?”

  “Like I said, more questions. I have a picture of someone. I need to see if she knows where she lives.”

  “Let me see it,” Raven suggested. “Maybe I can tell you instead.”

  Michael was a bit surprised. “Sure,” he replied. He pulled out his cellphone and found the best picture he had of the woman he hoped was Francesca. He showed it to Raven.

  “Oh, hey! I know her,” Raven said.

  “You know her?”

  “I don’t know her name. Like everyone else in town, she keeps pretty much to herself. Her, maybe more than most. She’s got a kid too, which is kind of weird since he’s the only kid around who isn’t a Scorpion.”

  “He’s not?” Frank asked. “How’d that happen?”

  “I don’t know,” Raven told him. “You hardly ever see him, and even when he is around, you just don’t bother looking at him. We missed him I guess.”

  “Look into it,” Frank told her.”

  “Don’t bother,” Michael said. “If his mother is who I think she is, then they won’t be around anymore. If she isn’t, then you can have at them. I don’t care. Now do you know where she lives?”

  “Yeah. No problem with that,” Raven replied. “She lives in the building right next door to where we usually hang out.”

  “Right next to the building I found you in before?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Do you know which apartment?”

  Raven shook her head. “I’ve never bothered to go in there.”

  Michael nodded. “We’ll find it. Thanks.” He headed for the door.

  “Are you going to mess with Legs?”

  Michael turned back to her. “Not unless your information is no good.”

  “It’s good.”

  “Then tell your friend to join a track team somewhere. You were right, she can run.”

  “She loves running.”

  Michael nodded, then led the way out.

  Ten minutes later, they entered the building where supposedly Francesca Bianchi now lived. They had to knock on three doors before they found someone home. A mother with three young kids. Michael showed her the picture and easily found out that the woman he was looking for lived on the third floor in the front right apartment. He pulled a hundred-dollar bill from his wallet and gave it to the woman for her kids.

  “You know she’s at work,” Josh told him as they climbed the stairs.

  “But her son isn’t.”

  When they got to the apartment, they knocked several times, but there was no answer. “Open it,” Michael told his friend. “Without breaking it!” He watched as Josh pulled out a set of lockpicks. In moments the cheap lock gave way. The two of them walked all through the cheap, dingy apartment. Nobody was there. Michael looked around, then shook his head. “This is all wrong.”

  “So it’s not her?”

  “I think it is, but…after seeing this, I have more doubts than ever.”

  “What do you want to do?”

  “Go home and make a phone call.”

  --- §§§§§§§§§§ ---

  Brian carried the bag of food in his hands up to the apartment. Both the nun and the priest had no problem with him taking some home with him. He knew his mother would be grateful. The apartment was sweltering in the afternoon heat. He put the bag of food into the refrigerator so it wouldn’t spoil. Since it was too hot to stay in the apartment, he went back out onto the street. There was a small park a dozen blocks up with a few straggly trees that offered a little shade. He decided to head there until his mother got home. From his spot under the trees, he watched as other kids braved the heat to play basketball. He didn’t play basketball. He didn’t play any sports. He never had. Don’t talk to anyone. Don’t stand out. Be invisible. You can’t be invisible if you play sports. But over the years, he had learned that being invisible could get you information that nobody else knew about.

  When he judged from the sun that the time was right, he headed back towards home. He got a block away when he stopped. There was a big black car sitting out on the street by his apartment. He had no doubt that it was more people who had come to look through the Scorpion’s building. He kept walking, then stopped again, noticing now that the car wasn’t parked in front of the Scorpion’s door, it was parked in front of his. Who were they? What did they want? Who in his building had done something that anyone owning a car like that would be interested in them?

  He started to cross the street, intending on going back up to his hot apartment, when he stopped again. Something told him to wait. If he waited, maybe he could see who it was better than if he was up in his apartment. He crossed the street, then stood at the side of the building where he could just peer around the corner to watch what happened. Nothing seemed to be happening though. The car just sat there with some guy in a nice suit leaning up against it. Who was he? As he studied the man further, he realized that he recognized him. He was one of the men who had shot the Scorpions a few nights ago. Realizing
that, he stayed back and watched more intently.

  It was a while before he saw his mother walking up the street towards him, but he had realized it too late. He wanted to run to her and let her know about the strange man, but he couldn’t get to her without attracting attention. All he could do was to stay where he was and watch.

  Chapter 9

  Francesca walked wearily up the street. She was hungry. She couldn’t wait for payday. She knew Brian couldn’t wait either. Hopefully though, Brian had gone to that soup kitchen so he could get something to eat. She had gotten lucky today when the hotel kitchen had let her have some lunch.

  She noticed the big black car from a block away. Her fear went up, but she never stopped walking. As she crossed the street, she noticed that the car wasn’t parked in front of the Scorpion’s building, it was parked in front of hers. It wasn’t just fear that she felt anymore as she got a better look at the man leaning against the car, it was despair.

  As she continued toward the car, she saw the man stand up. She vaguely recognized him, let alone the type of man he was. Hired muscle. She expected him to open the car door and make her get in, but he didn’t. Instead, he held out his hand toward her building, gesturing for her to go inside. She stopped in front of him, looking at him, but she didn’t say a word. Worried more than ever about Brian, she entered the building and climbed the steps up to her apartment, with the man following behind. When she reached her door, he moved past her and turned the knob, opening the door for her. She walked in, noticing that he stayed outside on the landing.

  As she entered, she couldn’t miss the man sitting in one of her living room chairs. “Gerald,” she said.

  “Hello Sis. It’s good to see you again. I almost wouldn’t have recognized you.”

  “How far the mighty have fallen?”

  “Something like that?” he replied.

  “How did you find me?”

  Gerald nodded at the corner of the room. She turned her head and saw another man there. “Michael Scuderi,” she said as she nodded her head. “How’s your father?”