Deception

Friday. 2pm. Museum of Natural History. $25,000 in cash. William reads the ransom letter again as he stands on the corner of 77^th street and Columbus ave. His hands are sweaty as he shuffles from one foot to the other, readjusting his grip on his suitcase that holds the ransom money. He stares up at the museum unsure if he is making the right decision. Laela, his girlfriend has been missing for 3 days. He thinks back to just earlier this week when they were laid up in bed before the early morning alarms went off. He remembers her laying on his chest, his face buried in her brown hair. They had their morning coffee together before she left for work, she always left earlier than William because her commute was longer. He remembers her sweet smile before she walked out the door that morning and did not return. It wasn’t until after 7pm that Tuesday night that he had become worried. After calling and texting for nearly two hours he decided he was going to go to her job before calling family and friends. When he opened their apartment door, he found a letter warning him not to contact the authorities or anyone else for that matter. From that night on he received more mysterious letters instructing him of how much cash was wanted in exchange for Laela. The final letter on Friday morning confirming the location and time was the last letter he received. As for the suspected? William guessed it was Laela’s ex-boyfriend, Christian. Laela had received some text messages from him a few months ago that had become a nuisance. A few weeks ago, the text messages become more bothersome and aggressive, but Laela had not wanted to report it. He had thought they were safe from further harassment and annoyance when the text messages had stopped last week. At least Laela hadn’t mentioned any more messages since they had both been distracted. His grandfather had died and him and Laela took it pretty rough. With Laela missing now William was distraught, hasn’t shown up to work, or slept in days. His coworkers and boss reached out to him multiple times a day, at first they were concerned, even offered to let him work from home, but William hasn’t answered them so eventually their kindness will wear off.  

Taking a deep breath William firmly squeezes the handle of the suitcase before walking across the street towards the museum entrance. After paying for his admission he realized that he had no idea where to wait as the note had not mentioned a location within the museum.

“Shit” he says under his breath. Looking back at the entrance, before stepping off to the side and pulling out his phone.

The phone lit and simply showed the time 1:55pm, no new messages. He didn’t know what he expected since all the messages he received were physical letters to the apartment. His shoulders dropped as he let himself fall back against the wall, slipping his phone back into his pocket he begun scanning the other museum goers. Couples walked by with hands interlocked, kids ran forward towards the exhibit as parents trailed behind. He looked around for suspicious characters or for anyone that was examining him, but nothing out of the ordinary caught his attention. His mind wandered to Christian’s appearance, tall, lanky, with dirty blond hair. He had met Christian once before when Laela was still in a relationship with him. He seemed like a friendly guy at the time, he had shaken William’s hand at a mutual friend’s party. Christian had struck up a conversation with him about the NY Rangers since William was wearing a t-shirt representing the NY team. They talked for a bit before moving into the collective group conversation for the night. This party is also where he met Laela for the first time. Laela gushed about the art gallery she had just began working at and that’s what drew William to her so much. When Laela talked about what she was most passionate about her whole face lit up and could really draw in a crowd. The group had listened intently about the artwork that was displayed and the art she indulged in. Later that night Laela showed William her art pieces on her phone. Although William was attracted to her, he did not press into asking too much about her life, not wanting to create friction. After that party ended William brushed the night off not expecting to ever see her again. 6 months later there was another gathering and Laela showed up alone, William found out later that night that she was no longer with Christian and they connected more and exchanged numbers. They went out on a few dates together and a year later were living together. Laela advanced more into her art career, and even had her own art exhibited at the same gallery she worked at. William worked a 9-5 office job in the city and at café on the weekends for some extra cash. They had been saving up to move out of the city, somewhere more affordable. The money that William carried was all they had, and he was hoping to use of this money to buy a ring for Laela. Now it was being used just to secure her safety.  

As William was lost in thought he was brought back to reality by a loud laughter. He popped his head up as two kids chasing each other passed. Museum curators stood near the entrance pleasantly greeting guests, there were two security guards on the opposite side of the hallway where William stood. He kept making eye contact with them and started to feel anxious so he decided he would walk through the museum while waiting for a cue. Pulling out his phone again it was now 2:10pm.

“Where the hell is this guy?” William thought.

William contemplated calling the police at this point when he overheard two children begging their parents.

“Mom! Can we please go the ocean life exhibit” one girl whined.

“No let’s go to the hall of North American forest!” a boy recoiled while holding the museum map in his hands.  

“We have plenty of time to do both, calm down both of you.” Said a seemingly disinterested businesswoman who didn’t even look up from her phone as she responded to the children.

William looking ahead could see the start of the ocean life exhibit as there was a giant blue whale model ahead. He started making his way over until he was standing right in front of the model. It seemed like a popular spot for taking pictures as many people gathered in front of it making ridiculous gestures while people giggled and took pictures on their phones. William stared at the big blue whale and began to think of his grandfather. William was named after his grandfather, but everyone called him big Bill. Big Bill had served in the navy for about 15 years and was a big animal lover, especially marine animals. He loved to take William fishing, whale watching, and to museums like this when he was younger. When big Bill passed, he had left his favorite pocket watch to William. William has carried the watch with him since he received it, but often forgot to actually use it to check the time. He reached into his pocket and pulled it out, the chain dangling against his forearm. The watch was gold with the crest of the United States navy on it, William felt comforted by it, but knew he needed to focus on the task at hand. Turning away from the exhibit, William stopped dead in his tracks as Laela was standing against the wall not too far away. She wore black jeans, a white t-shirt, and a black zip up that hung off her shoulders a bit. She was scanning the room when her eyes met Williams, fear immediately spread across her face. William quickly began taking big steps towards her, but Laela made a gesture lifting her hand up signaling him to stop. William stiffened and stopped right in the walkway, people stopped waiting for him to move, and then eventually walked around him. Laela looked around a bit before looking back at William and guiding him with her eyes towards the gift shop. William followed her lead and began walking there. William’s thoughts were racing, where was Christian? Was he using Laela as bait? Was there someone else involved? Was she in danger? Laela was leaning against a pillar outside the gift shop which had significantly less foot traffic. William approached her nearly forgetting he was carrying a briefcase full of cash.

“Laela, are you alright?” fear escaped his lips as his voice shook.

“Are you okay? Are you hurt? Who is putting us up to this?” questions flew out of his mouth but Laela didn’t say a word.

After a few moments of silence William reached out and put his hand on Laela’s shoulder. Laela looked as if she was trying to compose herself.

“I’m so glad you’re here Will” Laela said with a smile.

“I have the money, this will be all over, what do we do next?” William said urgently, just wanting this to be over.

“What time is it?” Laela asked.

“Uhh” caught off guard William pulled out the pocket watch that he was just holding.

“2:37, the ransom letter said 2:00, but there was no other” before he could finish his sentence Laela snatched the watch out of his hand. Laela began to giggle and her eyes were lit up like a child and under the current circumstance William didn’t seem to understand her behavior.

“Do you know how much this is worth?” She squealed.

“Laela, this is hardly the time to fawn over a watch” as the words came off his lips William felt put off at the devilish smiled that spread across Laela’s face.  

“A watch like this would be worth double of what I asked you to bring me today” she said playfully as she dangled the watch in the air before swinging it up to catch it.

“What you asked me to bring?” William repeated slowly “No… Christian is behind this isn’t he? William urged, but felt a knot forming in his stomach when Laela’s smile didn’t go away.

“Please Christian? Smart enough to pull this? I don’t think so.” Laela said

“But all those text messages” William said, feeling anger swell up inside him.

“It’s amazing what you can do with technology these days isn’t it?” Laela said.

William was shocked, how could she have faked all the harassment they had been receiving for weeks? How could she do this after all they have been through and all they went through after his grandfather passed away? Then it clicked, everything stopped when big Bill died. After the reading of his grandfather’s will, William had received this pocket watch. Not being one for antiques he never bothered to have the watch appraised. Someone like Laela could easily find that information out with her connections at the art gallery. As William pieced together all this information Laela’s face became more dramatic. She was breathing heavily and here eyes welled up with tears before she let out a loud scream.

“Help!”

William was confused, what was she doing now?

“Security! Someone help me please!” as she backed away from William.

William looking around as security surrounded them. One security officer approached Laela as she collapsed on the floor in tears.

“He’s, he’s” she could barely make out the words.

“He’s been stalking me and harassing me for weeks. He asked me to meet him here with $25,000 dollars in cash.” Laela shouted out.

“What!” William yelled as security closed in on him and snatched the briefcase from his hands.

Laela pulled out her phone and showed it to the security guard who was now on the ground with her. The security that retrieved the briefcase opened it to find the cash in there and they all looked at William.

“Grab him and bring him into the office” said the head security guard as they retrieved William. Laela lay distraught on the floor but managed to flash an evil smile as security dragged William away.