The Perfect Hiding Place

Today I buried it. It, I hope, will never be found. I buried it deep in a cave that even I found difficult to find. I carefully disguised the burial site. I think everything looks undisturbed. If word of this gets out, I will be ruined! 

I return to my truck in the parking lot and look around. There is no one around. I do see some people at the far end of the lot just getting out of their car and they are preparing for a hike somewhere. I watch them load up their gear and start off in the opposite direction that I came from. I heave a sigh of relief and start my truck and drive off. 

I remember how it all started. It was just a few short days ago...last Monday afternoon to be exact. Jesse came into my office with a crazy idea. He said we could kill two birds with one stone. All he needed me to do was make a copy of a file, and all our problems would be over. What he didn’t tell me was what was in that file. Stupid me, I agreed without knowing what I would be getting myself into. I took the file location from him and tapped the address into my computer. Once the file was located, I typed in ‘copy’ and copied the file to my computer and then emailed it to Jesse.

Jesse never said how all my problems would be resolved. He never said how my wife would stop nagging me about being behind on the rent and all our other bills. She kept harping about how my income was more than sufficient to pay them all and why we were constantly short of funds. I was too terrified to tell her about the gambling and the loan shark who was after me. Jesse knew because he was there when they tried to collect and heard what they said and what I said. I didn’t see him standing in the shadows that time. Ever since then Jesse was constantly coming up with ideas to get rid of them. He even suggested I murder the loan shark! I absolutely refused that idea! It seemed to be a temporary solution, one that could land me in jail...or worse!

So, for the life of me, I cannot understand why I capitulated last Monday afternoon. 

Everything seemed fine at first. Tuesday passed uneventfully, but by Wednesday afternoon my curiosity was getting to me. I had to know what was in that file! I retrieved the copy that was on my computer and opened it. It seemed to be a ledger. It was labeled with the name of the loan shark. That should have been the clue to get me to delete this file, but I ignored that little small voice urging me to delete it. I looked further into the records in that file. Eventually I found records for Jesse and a few of my coworkers. Each of them owed significant sums of money to none other than my boss! I simply had to talk with Jesse. I had to know what he was planning to do with this file! I tried to look nonchalant as I walked over to Jesse’s office. He wasn’t there. I started asking around. No one had seen him since Monday when he left the office.

I knew where he lived so I made some lame excuse to my supervisor and left the office. By the time I got to Jesse’s apartment, I was convinced that he had gotten us into some dire circumstances. I knocked on the door and it slowly swung open. The apartment looked like someone had let a hurricane loose inside it. That was just the way Jesse lived...in constant disarray. I cautiously entered and called out for Jesse. No answer. I called a second time, and again, no answer. I looked around at the untidy life of Jesse and wondered just how anyone could live like this. As I turned to leave, Jesse’s neighbor poked her head out of her apartment door. 

“Have you seen Jesse lately?” I asked her.

“He left in a big hurry Monday night” she said and ducked inside her apartment and firmly closed her door. I even heard her turn the lock on it. Her actions made me conclude that she really didn’t want to get involved.

I returned to Jesse’s apartment determined to find where he’d gone. I started poking around looking for clues. I was so intent that I didn’t hear the door open. I was startled when I heard her speak. “Find what you’re looking for?”

I nearly jumped out of my skin! “No” I stammered as I turned around and came face to face with the barrel of a gun in the hand of a striking redheaded woman.

“I’m detective Hart” she identified herself. “Who are you?”

“I’m John Kali” I said.

“Mr. Kali, what are you doing here?” Detective Hart demanded.

I tried to explain to her how I knew Jesse and what I thought he’d gotten us into without much success. She never even said how she knew to examine Jesse’s apartment. She insisted I accompany her to police headquarters for more questioning. I went because it was easier than not going and being arrested for unlawful entry into Jesse’s apartment. It didn’t matter to the detective that Jesse left the door open and was missing. 

It wasn’t until I returned to work on Thursday morning that I found out that Jesse was dead. His body was found in the river and they assumed it was a suicide. I suspected it was something related to that file he had me copy. No one knew I made a second copy of the file and then scrubbed the file from my computer. It would take someone with fantastic hacker skills to dig it out, if they could find it in the first place. Now I had to get rid of the actual copy I’d made. I spent all day Friday and part of Saturday searching for the perfect place to hide that file. My wife was sure I was up to no good. I couldn’t tell her about the file or its contents. As much as she nagged me, I couldn’t put her in danger, so I lied to her. I told her it had to do with Jesse’s funeral and that he wanted it held out in the woods. She hated anything to do with nature so I knew she would want to stay home. It took some searching, but I eventually found the perfect hiding place. There was a hidden cave that I found in Jesse’s records. That would be the perfect place to hide the files. If anyone ever found them, they would lead back to Jesse. I made sure to remove all traces of me: fingerprints, DNA, everything. I handled the files with surgical gloves and wore a full hazmat suit when I cleaned the files in that cave and buried them in the dirt. I then packed up the hazmat suit and hiked back to my truck.

The rest, they say, is history.