by Anna Wild
“Tim, what the fuck!” Jon cried, reentering his living room.
“Alright, Kirkland,” Tim grumbled, as he grabbed him by the throat. “I suggest you start talking, before I really lose my patience. What was her name?”
“I don’t…” Darryl gasped. “I don’t know!”
“Wrong answer!” His powerful voice rumbled like thunder, before he landed a second, tremendous punch to Kirkland’s jaw. Tim hit him so hard that his head snapped to the side. “Try again!” He yelled, tightening his grip on his throat.
“Dude, you’re killing him!” Jon interjected, running towards them.
“Ok…” A low gasp left Darryl’s lips, as a drop of blood rolled down his cheek. Tim loosened his grip, feeling his blood boil in his veins and pound in his temples.
“I met her in an underground parking lot in Manhattan.” Darryl confessed. “It was dark. She was about my height; she had brown hair, I think. I swear; I don’t know her name. She paid me $50,000 to take him out.”
Tim was shocked to his very core. The woman that Kirkland had just described sounded a lot like Josephine. Tim let go of Darryl. Dropping his face into his hands, Tim found himself unable to believe what he had just heard. He couldn’t even find the strength to move. Jon grabbed Tim by the wrist and tried to drag him away from the unfortunate, battered man. Only then did Tim get up on his knees.
“Tim, what is it, man?” Jon said, gasping for breath.
“Nothing,” the thief muttered, grabbing fistfuls of his hair. “I just figured something out. I have to go.”
He spun around and stormed out of his friend’s apartment, trying hard to come to grips with the possibility that Josephine could be the one who had Jitter killed. Still, he couldn’t seem to shake the feeling that some points were very wrong with Kirkland’s story. How did Josephine suddenly come up with $50,000? That is a lot of money for an underpaid biologist like her. At the same time, he realized that he had not checked whether what she had said to him about her deceased fiancé was true or not.
Damn it, Tim! She fed you some story about him being gay and you bought it? Why? What the hell is wrong with you? I wanted to believe it. She seemed honest; she even cried when she talked about him. Wait a minute. She said something about the things she’s done, back in that bar. What did she mean by that? I’m going crazy here! I need to see you, Joey. And you’d better have some good explanation about all this…
Chapter Twenty
Luckily for Tim, traffic was light; he arrived at his sister’s apartment building in just a few minutes. He was so impatient to see Josephine that he didn’t even wait for the elevator. Regardless of what she had to say to him though, jumping to conclusions would definitely harm his relationship with her. He had worked really hard to convince her to date him and they were great together. Should he accuse her of anything, there was a good chance that he might lose her forever. Tim had to be subtle; otherwise, he and Josephine could well have a huge fight, one that they could never recover from.
In the hope that his new girlfriend was still up, he unlocked his sister’s front door. He found Josephine looking out the window of the living room, watching the rain, with her arms crossed over her chest. Tim sucked in a deep breath, understanding that he was about to have one of the most difficult conversations of his life.
“Heyyy!” She sang, turning around to face him.
“Hi…” He croaked, sauntering towards her. “Where’s Caitlin?”
“She went to bed an hour ago.” Josephine replied in her usual sweet and feminine voice, as she gave him a short kiss on the lips. “How did it go?”
“I met Jon; I also met the guy who took out Jitter. He said his client was a woman. The woman he described sounded a lot like …” Tim faltered. “A lot like you.”
“What?” All of a sudden, her voice became very high-pitched. “No, Tim! I had nothing to do with it!”
“I have a few questions.” He spoke, his voice commanding. “Do you mind?”
“What, you don’t believe me?” She answered his question with a question, her voice filled with surprise, as she opened her eyes wide.
“Joey, please.” Tim said in his low and deep voice. “Humor me, will you?”
“Please, wait here.” She requested. “I need to go get my laptop.”
“Ok.” He sighed. The few seconds that it took for her to return felt like an eternity. Tim kept racking his brain about the things he had been meaning to ask her, curious as to what she wanted to show him on her laptop. She sat on the couch and turned it on, just before a crack of thunder tore through the night.
“Come sit next to me,” Josephine said, looking up at him. He obliged, feeling his curiosity growing by the second. “I really don’t know why anyone would say that nonsense about me.”
“They didn’t,” Tim said slowly. “The guy just described a brunette, about 5’7”. He didn’t see her face. He said he met her in Manhattan.”
“My last visit to New York was back in 2013.” She stated, typing something on her laptop. “How much do you know about computers?”
“Just the basics,” Tim stated.
“I take it you’ve heard of encrypted files, then.” Josephine concluded.
“Yeah,” he mumbled. “You need passwords for those.”
“Exactly,” She pointed out in an emphatic tone. “What you may not know is that there are files with dozens of encryption layers. Paul had a PhD in Computer Science. It would take a genius to hack into his computer. Anyway, he kept his private moments in password-protected files. If he hadn’t given me the password, I wouldn’t have been able to open them. Here, take a look.”
Josephine pressed the “Enter” button one last time, upon finishing her sentence. A directory containing a few dozens of pictures of Paul and his lover appeared on the screen. In most of them, they were hugging or even kissing. There was also a video in the bottom left corner, titled “To my Josephine”.
“Play that video, will you?” He requested.
“I’m warning you.” She heaved a long, deep sigh. “I get emotional, every time I watch that.”
“What am I here for?” Tim whispered, circling his arm around her neck. The inner part of a hand popped up on the screen. Apparently, someone was adjusting the camera angle. Not long afterwards, Paul’s face entered the frame, from left to right, before he took a seat in a brown, leather armchair. If anything, he looked relaxed, as he smiled to the camera across from him.
“Hello, my dear Josephine.” He started, his calm voice bringing tears to her eyes. “It’s very early in the morning. You’re still asleep; I didn’t want to wake you. Our engagement party exhausted you; our last guests left just a few minutes ago.
As always, I’m going to be honest with you. You deserve it. I’d like to thank you for what you did for me. Agreeing to this charade was very noble of you. I don’t know what I would do without you. I didn’t mean to put anyone through this, but I had to do something about those rumors. You know how harsh people can be. If they ever find out the truth about me, I will be utterly humiliated and my work would be discredited. Not everybody can be as open-minded as you, I’m afraid.
Now, I’d like to give you my opinion on something that has been bothering me for a long time. We’ve already discussed it a few times; I know your views on the matter and frankly? You couldn’t be more wrong.
You are an incredible scientist, my dear Josephine. You’re the brightest student I’ve ever had. But, you’re human. And humans have needs. You shouldn’t be working so hard. You need to get out of the lab from time to time. Meet people. You know how much I love my job, but I cannot even imagine my life without my Jason.
I need to go now. I can hardly keep my eyes open. Please, follow my advice. You will see that having a social life can be very rewarding…”
“Poor Paul…” Josephine whispered, as two tears streamed down her cheeks. Tim pulled her closer for a side hug, caressing her shoulder. Riddled with guilt, he tried to comfort her
, as she put her head on his shoulder.
“I feel like a total jerk.” Tim confessed in a voice now a soft, breathless whisper. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s ok.” She assured him, wiping the tears off her face. “You had to know. I still can’t think of anyone who would want him dead.”
“Me neither.” Tim said, reaching out to grab her laptop. He picked it up and eased it down on the table in front of them.
“Can I ask you a favor?” Josephine whispered, as he leaned his back against the couch.
“Sure.”
“Hold me.” She added, sliding her hand up his stomach. “I feel so safe in your arms.”
“Come here.” He muttered, squeezing her shoulder. She swung her right leg over him, sitting on his lap and snuggling close, as he fastened his arms around her waist. Tim closed his eyes, savoring the sensation of her warm body in his embrace. Neither of them spoke. He smiled to himself, feeling her breath on his neck, enjoying the closeness. Only seconds into their romantic moment, he could hear her breath. A sense of protectiveness of her overflowed from his heart and burst through his ribcage. The sensations sent him into uncharted realms of bliss; Tim was falling in love with a real woman, someone worth fighting for.
I’m sorry I ever doubted you, baby. But where I come from, people are not as honest as you. I’m just glad I kept my cool. God, Joey… You took this so well. Thank you. Thank you so much. You’re true, darling. You’re the best thing that’s ever come into my crazy life…
Chapter Twenty-One
The next morning, Tim woke up feeling on top the world. Josephine’s innocence had given him a reason to smile and, more importantly, they had not argued at all. On the contrary, the new couple was happy.
They spent the day walking around in Manhattan, having so much fun that he completely forgot about everything else. He no longer worried about discovering the person behind Jitter’s murder and the burglary that he was about to commit. But Jon’s phone call in the early afternoon acted like a call to reality. He wanted to see him; due to his outburst the night before, they had not finished discussing their plan to break into Chester Bradford’s house. According to him, they still had a lot of details to go over.
Midnight found Tim in the same apartment building in Queens, but, this time, his friend’s door was open. He was standing a few feet behind the door frame. As soon as their gazes met, he put his hands together.
“Bra-vo,” he gave four sarcastic slaps. “Let’s have a round of applause for Mr. Shaw, ladies and gentlemen. He almost beat to death a tiny little man last night.”
“Good to see you too, Jonny.” Tim said with a faint smile, stepping into his friend’s apartment. “And I didn’t beat him to death. I just punched him a couple of times.”
“Dude, have you seen the size of your hands?” Jon inquired, his voice dripping with sarcasm as his friend closed the door behind him. “They’re as big as tennis rackets!”
“I had to know about his client.” Tim declared. “Can we stop talking about that? I thought we had a job to do.”
“Yeah, follow me.” Jon urged, turning his body to the left. “By the way, I have some pictures from inside the house.”
“How did you do that?” Tim got curious.
“I was there a couple of weeks ago.” Jon said, sauntering towards his kitchen. “I posed as a cable repairman. That’s how I learned that he’d be away until Wednesday. He told me.”
“Damn…” Tim whispered, standing over the kitchen table, looking down at the blueprint of the expensive mansion. “How many rooms does that house have?”
“First of all, it’s on Actors Colony Road. It’s got fourteen rooms.” Jon said with a mischievous smile on his face. “Let’s hope you don’t have to visit them all.”
“Why do you say that?” Tim asked, turning to him.
“You don’t have enough time.” Jon’s smile was wiped off his face. “First of all, we’re doing this tomorrow night. I’ll come pick you up at midnight. There’s a power gate outside; you’ll have to climb and jump over it. The house is rigged with sensors. I can deactivate them, but there’s a backup system. It takes a while for it to kick in, though. You have two minutes to get in, blow the safe and get your ass out of there. This is the main entrance.” He went on, pointing at the lower right corner of the blueprint. “It’s too exposed; we can’t use that. What we need…” He paused and then pointed at the upper right corner “... Is the back door. It’s more than thirty yards away from the road and it’s dark. It’s ideal.”
“What about the neighbors?” Tim had one more question.
“The closest house is fifty yards away. The bedroom balcony overlooks Bradford’s rear garden. You’ll have to be careful. I doubt the neighbors will be out on the balcony in the middle of February, though.”
“Alright,” Tim said with a sigh. “How do I get in?”
“The back door is made of glass.” Jon informed. “You’ve used laser glass cutters before, right?”
“Yeah,” Tim nodded. “So then what?”
“The safe is in his bedroom, right above his bed.” Jon attempted a steady tone. “That’s what worries me.”
“Why?”
“Rich people are weird, big Tim.” A long sigh escaped him, as he scratched his chin with his index finger. “Who knows; maybe he keeps documents there and keeps the money somewhere else.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, man.” Tim grumbled. “What about security outside?”
“There’s just one van patrolling the area. Rich folks don’t pay much for security these days.” Jon remarked. “We’ll wait for it to leave the neighborhood; then, we’re going to make our move.”
“Ok, last question.” Tim raised his tone, slightly. “How fast can cops get there?”
“The police station’s on the other side of town.” Jon’s smile reappeared. “It’s going to take them at least ten minutes to drive there. We’ll be long gone by then.”
“Good job.” Tim gave a satisfied nod.
“I’m a pro, dude.” Jon laughed. “I just can’t be in two places at the same time.”
“We’re really going to have to haul ass, if we want to avoid getting caught.” Tim said with a hint of skepticism in his voice. “How are we getting there?”
“I like your Impala.” Jon winked at him. “But my Chevy is just as quick. It’s got an 8-litre V10.”
“Sounds like a plan.” Tim concluded.
“It’s a great plan.” Jon corrected him. “See? It didn’t take that long. You could have stayed here last night, instead of storming out like that. You wouldn’t have to drive here all the way from Manhattan again.”
“Trust me.” Tim said with a sigh. “I couldn’t.”
“Well, one thing’s for certain.” Jon used a raised index finger. “You scared the shit out of Kirkland. He was shaking after you left.”
“Who would want to take out a sixty-year old professor, Jonny?” Tim spoke with actual frustration in his voice. “Who would pay someone fifty grand to kill him?”
“Fifty?” Jon’s gruff voice turned into a high-pitched shriek . “Kirkland got paid two hundred thousand to take out an Arab oil tycoon last year. Look, I don’t know who paid him to kill that professor, but whoever it was, she wasn’t rich.”
“I’m done speculating, but thanks for the tip, man.” Tim gave him an appraising look, high-fiving him.
“No problem.” Jon winked at him once more. “I’ll see you tomorrow night.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Tim barely slept that night. He even repelled Josephine’s advances and did not share his concerns with her. His conversation with Jon replayed numerous times in his mind. He was stressed about the burglary, but, unfortunately for him, he also had other things to worry about. Should he succeed, the loot from Bradford’s house would most likely be enough for him to buy her the necessary equipment, but, even so, he still had no idea about the person who had hired Kirkland. The only female scientist on her staff, Dr. Silv
er, was blonde and stood at an impressive 5’11”. As time went by, Tim believed less and less that Laura was responsible; she simply did not fit the profile. In his overwhelming confusion, it occurred to him that he still had not met her father. Burt Maddox was the only man who had a motive and a possible confrontation could provide him some answers. Nevertheless, he would not attempt such a thing, less than 24 hours before the burglary. He had to focus on the job; meeting with Maddox could only distract him.
As promised, Jon picked him up at midnight. Tim had had to cope with an emotional Josephine; she could not hide her concern and kept hugging him, long before Jon even arrived. He tried to convince her that everything would go well, but he failed quite miserably. His girlfriend was way too upset to believe him.
Ninety minutes later, Jon turned his massive Chevrolet pickup truck right, entering a grove, more than fifty yards away from the entrance of Actors Colony Road. As soon as it was brought to halt, he turned off the lights and lay back in his seat. Much to his surprise, Tim pulled a black uniform out of his backpack and started taking his clothes off.
“Dude, a uniform?” He wondered, turning his head to the right to face him. “Really?”
“The rain just stopped.” Tim muttered, removing his shoes. “It’s going to be muddy as hell out there. I’ll to have to crawl through a hole and run on the mud. I’ve brought an extra pair of shoes, too. I’ll get rid of everything as soon as we’re done. Imagine being pulled over by the cops. What’s a pair of muddy jeans going to look like?”
“Smart thinking,” Jon remarked. “What are you going to do with the money?”
“I haven’t thought about it yet.” Tim replied, putting his black, ski mask on. “What about you?”