The Revenge Scam

Early Morning at Saint-Lazare

Thump!

The sound of the suitcase closing echoed through his apartment. He tried to pick it up using his muscles which were barely showing through his shirt. Slinging his finger through the handle, he lifted it off the ground and got ready to go on his trip. He and the crazy lady were going to take a long train ride to Venice Italy, spend the night at a hotel, and continue on a different train to Rome. As much as Charles knew himself and that he would want to rest after the first train ride, he knew that he should do some detective work in Venice. For all he knew, there could be a huge lead there and it would also give him time away from her.

He grunted as he trudged down the steps with the suitcase weighing down on him. The sounds of the people outside, who had been there before, were nowhere to be found. This had to have been because of the ungodly hour that he had woken up at. He glanced at the old and rusty pocket watch from his pocket to which he assured was in great condition to those who asked. The croaking ticking sound coming from his hand stated that it was 4:30. He had refused to buy a new one because it still worked perfectly fine (except for the odd defects) and that it would be a complete waste of money.

By the time Charles got to the front door of his office, the gold and pink from the sunrise peeked above the horizon creating a beautiful array of colours to spread around Charles's face. New colours arose creating a kaleidoscope of beauty surrounding him and the rest of the street. The few people that were also up and about at this time had continued walking while Charles stood and stared at something that left him in awe.

Shaking his head of these thoughts, he plunged through to his office. Totally forgetting that Maria wouldn't be there at that time, he silently strode through, grabbed a few of his belongings that he needed, and walked out again locking the door behind him. He clutched the case file close to him and draped the extra things over his suitcase. He reached his hand over it and grabbed it again.

The walk to the train station was going to take around ten minutes but he knew he would have to wait there for a while for her to show up.

By the time he got there, the sun had risen almost all the way and he slouched on one of the driest, dew-ridden benches. He grabbed one of the newspapers that were nearby and flipped through it while he waited. The paper felt crisp in his hands except for where there were large amounts of ink which made the paper feel flimsier. As he moved onto the last page, he heard a lady's voice call out, "Sir it is not very respectable to sit on the bench like that!"

Oh, It's her again

He looked up from where he was reading and he fixed his posture. "I do not know what you are talking about." Putting the newspaper beside him, he stood up and shook the crazy lady's hand.

"A pleasure to meet you again" 'not,' he thought. "Indeed it is. Our last conversation was quite the experience." She said with a huff while sitting down. She looked around with a faraway look in her eyes. Charles noticed the empty seat beside her and carefully sat down beside her. She glanced at him and gradually turned her head only to see him staring at her.

"Do I have something on my face?" He quickly averted his gaze and cast it onto the floor. " You don't I was just," Admiring how pretty you look. Wait what? where did that thought come from?' "Nothing...I was just wondering how long it took you to get here?"

"You would think It would take longer but it wasn't that far from my estate. On the other hand, it looks like you have been here for quite a while."

"Yeah, I was just nervous about getting here late so I came early instead." 'Wait what?! I would never admit to being nervous to anyone! What is happening to me?"

"You don't seem like the guy to be nervous about anything," she said, giving him a sideways glance.

"Well, I'm full of surprises." By the time he had said that the train could be heard coming into the station. The wheels slowed down on the tracks and the horn sounded its coming. He stood up with great speed and headed away from the bench, desperately trying to get away from the conversation. He grabbed his suitcase with one hand and started to pick up hers with the other.

"Hey! I can do that myself!" She responded more than slightly annoyed.

"No...no you can't?" She disregarded and him and snatched her suitcase from his hand. Humphing in annoyance, she strutted up the steps of the train and set her suitcase down. Looking outside she noticed Charles struggled a bit to get it up the stairs.

"Need help with that?" She said, smirking.

"No," he grunted, "I got it." He sauntered up the rest of the steps and sighed as he sat down in one of the seats. He took out a notebook from his case and started to write in it with a pen. She tried to look over his shoulder to see what he was writing, but she couldn't quite reach.

"What are you writing there?" She asked curiously.

"Oh, nothing," he responded, "Sit back in your seat properly, miss you could get hurt."

"Very well, I shall sit "properly" Why would you care if I got hurt or not?"

'What am I supposed to tell her? I don't even know why I care!'

"You are the one paying me a great deal of money. I'd hate to see my money disappear so sit down." She shut up after that and he continued to write in the notepad.

With contentment at his new poem, he shut the notebook and took a nap. While he dozed off she sneaked his notebook from his seat and skimmed through the pages.  "Huh, he's not half bad." She stopped at the page that he had been working on and read it.

The sky filled with pink,

The colour which really makes you think

It fills your thoughts with streams

And breaks it at the seams

It goes from dark to light,

and fills the sky with strength and might

Its beauty tells no lies,

It is the colour of the sunrise