What Kind of Man || Jim Moriarty

Two

It was raining now, as if it wasn't already hard enough to get across the city on a weekday at 5pm. People were coming out of work and instead of walking their normal route they were cramming onto the narrow cart alongside Lucy who was aiming to get to her meeting with Samuel on time. But he owned a shop on the east side of the river, near Tower Bridge, and once again it seemed like running was going to be her best bet.

Samuel...she didn't really know how to describe him apart from the obvious things. For example he was in his 40's, he had dark hair which was well into turning grey but only just starting to thin. He always dressed smart casual in a blazer and jeans and he was good looking, to most. Lucy could respect his looks but that was all. Behind the looks though she could sense a darkness, and that wasn't just because he accepted the goods he knew were stolen and offered to sell them on for her. He had "contacts". When he'd first told her this upon accepting a ruby bracelet, she hadn't really understood and she didn't really want to understand. But she could give a good guess at what he meant. He was one of those criminal types making a living off the illegal. Lucy decided to ignore that, knowing she did something almost like it herself but she wasn't on that level yet. She only stole, she didn't dabble in anything freaky.

She muttered under her breath at the ignorance of some people as she pushed towards the doors of the Tube as the train neared her station. What she would give to own a car. What added to the frustration was that she knew how to drive too, but those lessons and exams when she was 17 seemed like a waste now. The doors slid open in front of her and she jumped out, ahead of the people still fighting for freedom behind her.

And then she ran again. Up the stairs, along the street, make a left, straight down, make another left and then a right and...there. It was like a choreographed dance, the way she weaved quickly through the traffic and deeper into the dingier parts of London. Samuel's shop was hidden from most eyes, that was why she'd first decided to go in honestly. She walked to a part of London she knew wouldn't be too risky to deal something like this, offered it to Samuel who was a stranger at the time and....that was it. What was done was done.

The bell rang above the shop door when she pushed it open slowly and stepped into the darkness covering the shop. There were windows which should had added light but they were dirty and covered with a thin metal grate for protection. Samuel may have liked to look smart but God he could put more work into keeping up the appearance of his business.

"You're late!" The voice came from the room hidden behind the counter, but it was familiar, and Lucy let out a loud sigh as she approached the glass cash desk filled with all kinds of trinkets. "I said 5:30 not...5:43." As he stepped around the doorway she spotted the smirk she was expecting him to have and continued to hold his hard stare until he smiled. "What was it this time? The Tube? Work?"

"Both." Came her plain response. "You wouldn't be sarcastic if you had to do my job."

"Honey, try coming into my world for one day and you'd be running back to your mop in minutes."  She had first met him almost a year ago, but he hadn't been that open and cocky then. He was a much more quiet, cards against his chest kind of guy. But then, the more Lucy visited the more he became the only social contact in her life. In her phone was his name and her parents. That was it.

"Same goes for you." She chuckled lightly but darkly as he walked forward to meet her on the other side of the glass. He wasn't a friend, he wasn't an...anything. A contact maybe? He was just a man.

"Anyway, what have you got for me?" Samuel made a gesture with his hand towards her bag and she wasted no time in dropping it down from her shoulder, on to the counter. Rummaging through it, she soon pulled out a small plastic bag and passed it over to him.