A petty thief accidentally steals millions belonging to a mobster.
©2003 by Mae Ondracek
Brandy ambled down the sidewalk, whistling, “Ain’t She Sweet?” as she patted her trench coat pocket, pleased with herself for another job well done. It was a heavy wallet but ol’ baldy never suspected a thing when she had “accidentally” bumped into him, then cooing her apologies while straightening his jacket.
“I’m so sorry, sir. I shouldn’t of been staring in the store window. Hope I didn’t hurt you.”
He had straightened his shoulders, looked up at her and replied, “That’s all right, Miss. You didn’t hurt me.”
Brandy entered her apartment, took the wallet out of her pocket and threw it in a basket with ten others, thinking, ‘Someday I’ll have to send those back.’
She took off her coat and kicked off her shoes, walked into the bedroom and studied herself in the mirror. Her light brown hair hung in waves to just below her shoulders, framing her pretty face to draw attention to her facial features. Her large brown eyes seemed to dance with pleasure as she looked down at her dresser top. Rows and rows of lipstick, nail polish, perfume, and other things she didn’t need, but all had been pilfered. She was very pleased with herself because Larry said she had learned her trade quickly and was the best student he had ever taught.
Brandy crossed the room to her closet and opened the doors. Piled on a shelf were many blouses and sweaters she had walked off with after removing the price tags. Larry said a good pickpocket always carried a small pair of scissors for just such emergencies, as you never knew when something would strike your fancy and you’d want to take it.
The phone rang and Brandy quickly closed the closet doors and hurried out to the kitchen. She just knew it would be Larry, wanting to know how her day had gone. Picking up the receiver, she gave a long drawn out, “Hel—lo—oo Lar—ry.”
Larry laughed and asked, “Now how did you know it was me?”
Brandy leaned against the wall, saying, “Oh, come on Larry. You know you call every evening just to find out if I had any success. What’s up?”
“And did you?”
“Of course; a wallet from a short old bald guy whom I showered with apologies after bumping into him.”
“Good girl! Now I’d like you to try something else and if it works, you will be free of my checking up on you.”
“I can do anything you throw my way, Larry. What is it?”
“Take your briefcase, go to the train depot and see if you can successfully exchange it for someone else’s.”
Brandy drew in a breath and exclaimed, “Wow, Larry. That might be hard to do.”
“I know it will be, but I have great confidence in you. Call me when it is finished. Bye and good luck, Brandy.”
Brandy hung up the phone and slumped onto a chair, thinking how tricky this was going to be. Drumming her fingers on the table, Brandy planned her outing for the next afternoon.
After a fitful nights sleep, the morning seemed to drag, making Brandy nervous but, also excited. This would really test her switching techniques. Putting a sweater in her briefcase she checked her appearance in the hall mirror. ‘Great!’ she thought, ‘Now just put a smile on your face.’
Brandy entered the depot where she sat impatiently for two hours, not seeing anyone with the same type of case. As she stood to leave, a well-dressed man entered and strode up to the ticket window. He started to set his briefcase on the floor, stood up, set the case back down but didn’t acted like he didn’t want to let go. The ticket agent said something to him and he stood up, leaving the case on the floor.
Brandy thought, ‘That is interesting. Must be something important in there. This is my chance.’
Brandy slowly approached the man from the rear and when she was near enough, she faked a fall, sliding her briefcase besides his. He quickly turned around and grabbed a case without looking at it and said, “Here, Miss, let me help you up.”
“Thank you, sir,” Brandy smiled, picked up the man’s case and said, “Guess I better go home and clean up before going to work. Thanks again.”
Limping for effect, Brandy went outside and hailed a taxi. She had the driver drop her off at McGoo’s Diner and walked the two blocks to Larry’s apartment house. Larry answered her knock and was surprised when she shook her head ‘yes’ and slightly raised the briefcase. Brandy walked into the living room as Larry closed and locked the door and said, “I can’t believe you did it already. Are you sure that’s not your bag?”
Brandy said, “Well, open it and see.”
Larry tried the clasp but it was locked. He said, “Just a minute, I’ll get a knife.”
As Brandy explained how it happened, Larry worked on opening the lock. Finally they heard a ‘click’ and Larry said, “O.K. Brandy, you get the honor.”
Brandy drew in a deep breath and slowly lifted the lid. Two gasps of surprise were all that broke the silence. Brandy gulped and whispered, “Oh my God!”
Larry said, “I’ll be dammed!”
Brandy continued in a whisper, “Why do you think he was carrying all that money?”
Larry shook his head, saying, “I’ll bet he’s a bigger crook then we are.” Then he laughingly said, “I bet it’s a mob pay-off. I’ll take you back to your apartment in case he and his friends come nosing around.”
Brandy piled her hair on top of her head and pulled on one of Larry’s caps, then pulled on one of his coats. Larry picked up the briefcase, tossed his coat over his arm and the case and they headed down the back stairs. They walked two blocks, and then hailed a taxi. Twenty minutes later the cab driver stopped at Lucy’s Place. Brandy and Larry entered the restaurant and watched until the cab was out of sight, then they walked the two blocks to Brandy’s apartment. Larry asked Brandy to describe the man and begged her to stay inside. He would go home and call her if he noticed anything unusual. “And don’t answer the phone unless it’s our code ring. Understand?”
“Yes,” Brandy whispered.
For three days, Larry was in and out of McGoo’s Diner before two guys appeared. Larry studied the guy who approached the counter and asked the waiter about the pretty woman that came in on Tuesday with a briefcase. The waiter shook his head ‘no’ and the man Brandy had described, grabbed the waiter’s shirtfront and asked him once more. The waiter shook his head and said, “No sir. I sure would remember a pretty lady with a briefcase.”
Larry stood slowly and headed for the door as the waiter said, “But I do remember seeing her get out of a cab and walking away. Then that guy started coming in here several times a day. Maybe he knows her.”
Larry was quickly stopped and led outside. After a lot of gesturing and talking, Larry was ordered into a big black sedan. He shakily asked, “Where are you taking me? I haven’t done anything wrong.”
The man Brandy had described told him to be quiet unless he would tell them her address. Larry pursed his lips tightly together and sat back. The man said, “You might as well tell us where she lives because we have ways of finding her and then it will be bad for the both of you.”
Larry was surprised when the sedan stopped outside of Lucy’s Place and the man said, “Yes, we already know you two got out of a cab here, so you might as well come clean. We don’t like roughing people up when we can avoid it.”
Larry bit his lower lip while considering what to do. The guy sitting next to him, nudged him in the ribs and Larry quickly yelled, “O.K.! O.K.! She lives just down the street from here.”
Larry felt bad but what else could he do. They seemed to know everything anyway. The sedan stopped in front of Brandy’s apartment building and all three men walked up the stairs. Larry was ordered to knock and ask her to open the door. When Brandy opened the door, she let out a gasp as Larry raised his hands and shrugged his shoulders. The smaller of the two men removed his hat and Brandy gasped again.
The bald man said, “I see you remember me, Miss. What did you do with my wallet you lifted that day?”
All three men were in her apartment when the other man asked, “Where is my briefcase? Come on! Come on! We haven’t got all day.”
First Brandy pointed to the basket where the eleven wallets were and the bald man said, “I can’t believe this. You pick pockets and you never open the wallets? What gives?”
Brandy reached under the sofa and pulled out the briefcase. The man opened it and pulled out a stack of bills. Removing the rubber band, he fanned out the bills, showing them only the top two were $20.00’s and the rest were paper. “You see, we were told a pickpocket ring was going strong in town and we were ordered to stop it, fast.”
Brandy and Larry looked at each other and sighed with relief as Larry said, “I don’t know who you guys work for, but I’m a security agent with Barnif’s Security, Inc. We are in training and will be sent to New York to help apprehend some of the pickpockets there.”
The two men laughed as the tall one said, “We know. You all have done a great job. This is Mike Foster and I’m Jed Barnif. We own the agency you work for.”