Help Wanted

This has truly been a shit day. I loosened my tie and decided to head to the park. I’ve been looking for work ever since the Red Lobster I worked at had to close because of Covid. I’m glad that they took precautions and all but I have been struggling with trying to make sure the bills were paid ever since.

After that disastrous interview at the bank, I knew that I was done for the day. I swiped a newspaper from the table where I had waited for my interview. I know two dollars isn’t a lot, but I’m on day four of another ramen week, I'll take whatever help I could get.

I found a shaded park bench near a statue of some woman and sat down. I’m more than a little pissed off that the interview went so poorly. I had taken the time and effort to show up early and ready to go, only to be told to wait for two hours for the interviewer, and then to make matters worse when they finally took me back for the interview they didn’t even glance at my resume before dismissing me as underqualified. It was advertised as an entry-level position!

After a moment of frustration, I pulled the paper apart and began to look for places I haven’t applied. My luck was bound to change at some point.

“Wonderful weather this morning, isn’t it?”

My head popped up from browsing the Help Wanted ads to see a man sitting next to me on the bench. I studied him quickly to see if he was on the phone but I could tell he wasn’t. I suppose he was talking to me.

“Yes, but I always carry an umbrella.” As a longtime Marvel fan, I pulled the quote from my memory quickly. I chuckled to myself wondering how often anyone got to organically quote a movie like that. The man appeared uncomfortable for a moment before placing his briefcase on the bench between us.

“Everything is here as you requested. Half now, and half upon completion.” Without another word, he took off quickly and disappeared.

What the hell just happened? I gingerly turned the briefcase around towards me and opened the clasp. This briefcase is full of money! I close it quickly and look around but the man is nowhere in sight and nobody else appears to be watching me.

What do I do? I can feel a cold sweat start on my forehead. This briefcase is not meant for me, which means that the person this briefcase is meant for will likely be looking for it soon. I should leave before I get any more caught up in this. Looking sideways at the briefcase next to me I realize that I can't just leave it here full of money.

I try to close my newspaper nonchalantly but it isn’t folding the way it’s supposed to. In my efforts to be discreet I seem to be gaining attention from people noticing my frustrations. I take a breath to steady my nerves, and slowly fold up the paper. I chance another look, I don’t think anyone’s looking at me. I pick up the briefcase and quickly make my way out of the park.

Once I get back to my apartment I quickly secure the locks and carry the briefcase to my bed. Opening it back up again, I see the money is still there. It wasn’t a hallucination!

I cautiously lift a stack of ten-dollar bills, they’re non-sequential, there are 100 bills in this one stack alone. I quickly do the math and realize that I have $20,000 in front of me. I’ve never had that much money in my life, and now it’s just sitting here in front of me. What do I do?

I should probably call the police. This isn’t my money, that guy just left his briefcase with me, probably thinking I was someone else. Of course, he thought I was someone else, why would anyone hand me a briefcase full of cash?

The devil on my shoulder quickly reminded me, the guy mentioned that this was the first half, and there would be a second half when the job was done. I don’t know what the job is but technically if I did the job, the money would be mine. Fair and square.

Then again, I didn’t know what the job is, or how to claim the second half of the cash. It was very likely that this “job” wasn’t legal. Who gives someone $20,000 in cash to clean their gutters, or wash their car? No, this money should go to the police.

I reached for my phone and clicked the screen on to call, but stopped. I couldn’t just give the money to the police. I’m about to be evicted and haven’t had real food to eat in weeks. The benefit to cost ratio was leaning in favor of keeping the money.

I needed to hide the money until I could decide what to do with it. Carefully I removed each stack of bills and underneath them, I found a small black notebook with the words New York engraved on the side with an envelope sticking out behind the cover.

Forgetting the money for just a moment I picked up the mysterious notebook and opened it up. The envelope fell out into my lap. Laying the book down on the bed next to me, I picked up the envelope. The envelope itself was made of heavy-weight paper, I turned it around to see it was secured with a cursive ‘R’ marked in a wax seal.

Feeling more than a little eerie, I stuck my fingers between the flap and ripped the seal open. The only thing inside the envelope was a Polaroid photo of an older woman with short brown hair. I didn’t recognize her. Flipping the photo around, the only thing written on the back of it was an address in Manhattan.

What the hell does all of this mean? I studied the photo. She looked like one of the deacon’s wives at my church. What did she do to somebody that they were willing to give someone twenty thousand dollars? And what is it that they were willing to pay so much money for?

I put the photo back in the envelope and put it down on top of the money. This whole situation is unreal. There was only one thing that I could think of that someone would be willing to pay that much money for, and murder for hire is more than a little out of my comfort zone.

I picked up the notebook and thumbed through it. There were little dated entries here and there, with nothing more than a time or place. Whoever had been writing in here had been following this person for weeks. This stalker book coupled with the money had me certain that I should call the police, this woman should be warned.

As I put the notebook down my eyes caught sight of something written on the inside page of the cover. I could suddenly hear the blood pounding in my ears. The thing that had caught my eye was an “In Case of Loss” notice with a name written on the line. The name written on the page was my own.