Nottingham

Arthur was stopped by the bright lights and reflective vests of a construction crew. He thought it was odd that they’d be working, as he didn’t notice anything wrong earlier in the day, but nevertheless, he turned down a road he’d never travelled before to find an alternate route to the park. The park was nothing special, but it was relatively secluded and vacant. The occasional teenager would ride through on a bike, and the police would often stop for small talk, but on a Tuesday evening, everyone had more important things to do. Everyone else but me, apparently, he thought, as he turned down another unfamiliar alley.

He stopped in his tracks realizing that he had no idea where he was, or how to get to the park from here. He started to turn around, but he didn’t know how to get back. So caught up in his own self-pity, he had just kept jogging, without paying attention to the turns he was making. “Of course, of course I’m lost.” Sitting down with his back against a brick wall, he felt nothing but fear. How was he going to find a job? How would he pay rent? How can he get a job if he gets evicted? He sat for what felt like hours, until a door beside him swung open with a bellow.

“Hey, what’re you doing man?”

Startled, Arthur jumped to his feet and spoke shakily.

“Oh I- sorry, I got lost—”

“Well you better get lost again, before I call the police. We’ve got kids in here!”

Arthur ran in the opposite direction as the silhouetted man stared after him. Frustrated, angry, and lost, he kept running, his emotions boiling up into a raging sadness. Tears fell, which angered him more, all his hopelessness and vulnerability on display for the world- or rather, a dark alley- to see. He ran until he saw lights at the end of the road, an intersection opening back up into the city. Just before he could gather his thoughts enough to decide which way to turn, he tripped on something invisible, crashing into the ground.

Ready to go back and take his rage out on yet another obstacle, Arthur pushed himself up to take a closer look. His anger turned into curiosity and confusion at the sight of an unmarked, large, black briefcase. He looked around, hoping to find its owner, but he wasn’t even near apartments anymore. He readied himself to open the case, but hesitated. He thought, maybe I’ll just take it to the police. I don’t need anything else to deal with. Now armed with a deceptively heavy briefcase, he turned towards the intersection and suddenly knew exactly where he was- the side of the park he’d never travelled to. He made his way to one of the many abandoned benches, thankful to finally be able to sit down while he recovered from his fall.

Despite his desire to get rid of the case and go home, curiosity swept over him as a gentle breeze wafted through the clear sky. He cautiously unclasped the buckles on either side of the handle, his anticipation matched by his anxiety at what could be inside. Lifting the lid slowly, with a glance around to ensure he was alone, the briefcase presented him with nothing but a small black journal. Confused, but more curious than ever, he pulled out the notebook, expecting to find someone’s inner thoughts, or doodles, or at least addresses. However, turning the pages in search of… something, he was met only with a list of names. A long list, written neatly in half the pages of the book. Just before tossing the book back into the briefcase, he noticed a string of numbers following these names. Prices, some as low as $500, some soaring into the millions. There seemed to be no pattern, no organization, and no indication as to what these numbers and names meant.

Did this belong to a banker? Are these people’s account balances? His thoughts running wildly through his head, he placed the book back into the case, when he noticed a latch. Small and flat, it was at the edge of the case. There’s another layer! He nearly yelled aloud, excited. Releasing the latch, he pulled the false bottom out of the case, but nothing could prepare him for what was hidden inside.

Money. Stacks upon stacks of neatly organized $20 bills. He counted as quickly as he could, adding up each stack while his grin grew wider and wider.

“$20,000,” he spoke with a gasp, before jerking his head up to make sure no one was around to hear. “Twenty-thousand…”

A sense of responsibility washed over him and he stuffed the bills back into the briefcase, locked the false bottom back in place, and latched it shut. There was no way he was going to be caught with this much money at night. Now that he knew where he was, he hurriedly jolted towards his house, anxious to take another good look at his new fortune.

Ten hours passed before he opened the mysterious briefcase again. He forced himself to sleep to make sure this wasn’t all a dream, but when he woke up, the case was still there, fueling his excitement. He decided he wouldn’t turn in the money, but he knew he could get in a lot of trouble if these were fake or marked bills. As far as he could tell, they looked real, but he needed a test. Certain no one would arrest him for using a fake $2o bill, he walked towards the bakery in town, eager to put the money to the test. Even though he was friends with the cashier, Anna, it was policy to check every single bill larger than $20. In case it didn’t pass, he had also stuffed a few $1 bills in his pocket.

“Hey Arthur!” Anna greeted him with a smile as he nervously made his way into the store.

“Hey,” he responded, but feeling his voice shake, he decided not to start a conversation, to avoid any suspicion. As he pointed towards a muffin, he cautiously pulled one of the $20 bills out and placed it on the counter. He avoided eye contact and just stared at the bill, unsure of what might come next. Anna pulled out her marker to test the bill and Arthur nearly took it back, sure at this point that it would be a fake. Before he knew it, though, Anna placed the bill in the drawer and handed Arthur his bag. “Have a great day!”

It worked! Arthur couldn’t contain himself anymore. His eyes beaming, he waved excitedly to his friend and left the shop, visions of everything he could do with $20,000 flashing through his mind as he ran home.

But there was still a mystery to solve. Who were the people in the book? What did the money mean? He sat down at his computer and began typing. “James Douglass… Heather Smith… Jack Nicholson…” He spoke the names aloud but they meant nothing to him. Even a quick google search revealed little more than links to Facebook profiles. He followed them, but without any indication as to which of the 5 “John Davis” profiles he should be looking at, he focused his attention instead to the money. There was almost nothing consistent about the amounts except that they were all even, and a majority of them were larger than $10,000. In fact, the $20,000 in the briefcase was nothing compared to three-quarters of this list. But, nearly two hundred names in, he found exactly one name with $20,000 scribbled beside it. Evan Jones.

His curiosity peaked. He used to work with an Evan Jones. They weren’t necessarily “friends,” but they got along well enough. All he really knew about him was that he loved video games and would spend hours talking about ideas of his own. But why was his name on this list? Why was he assigned $20,000? Taking a quick look through his facebook profile revealed very little useful information. He frequently posted about looking for side-hustles, hoping to raise extra cash to develop a game he was working on. Is $20,000 even enough to develop a game? Arthur thought, before he had an idea- what if these were people who needed money for something? Maybe they took out loans, or won some giveaway?

Expecting to find his own name somewhere in the list, Arthur fumbled through the pages, reading and re-reading each name, but to no avail. If anyone needed money right now, it was him, so why wasn’t his name included? What was so special about Evan, and all the other people on this list?

For the next day, Arthur scoured every facebook profile, every website, and every mention of all the names in the black notebook. He was able to determine that a lot of the people seemed to need money for something. Savannah (the only public profile he could find) wanted to start a florist shop. Erik was in debt keeping his restaurant afloat. All three of the Johns were trying to start a business. It looked to Arthur like these people might have taken out a business or personal loan, but after calling Evan, he wasn’t so sure. Evan talked about developing his game as if it was a pipe dream, not something he was taking a loan for. He also didn’t make enough money to repay a $20,000 loan. Arthur stopped short of mentioning the cash he had found, but as far as he could tell, if this money really was intended for Evan, he didn’t know about it.

To take his mind off his new endeavor, Arthur decided to try to find the location he found the briefcase at. It took some time, and some backtracking, but he was sure he had found the very same spot. Looking around, he saw nothing out of the ordinary. The walls were simply the backsides of shops, not somewhere someone would bring stacks of cash. He wandered around the alley, peering up and down connecting roads, and had almost resigned to head back home before he heard a voice.

“Did you do it?”

Arthur turned to face the suited man behind him. His face was incredibly average, his suit well fitted but not at all flashy. “Uh...pardon me?” he responded.

“Did you make the deposit? We haven’t heard back from you so I came out to make sure everything was okay.” The man didn’t seem to suspect anything. He spoke as if he knew Arthur, but that wasn’t possible.

“You mean the money?”

“The money? What else would I be talking about, diamonds?” The man almost chuckled, as if he thought Arthur was joking with him.

“Yeah- yeah of course, the money. Sorry I- where am I right now? I can’t seem to find my way around here.” Arthur hoped the mysterious man might give some insight into the purpose behind the money.

“Oh I know, I nearly got lost myself making it out here. Look, just head straight up this road, take a right at the gas station, and it’s the first building on the left a little ways down. You can’t miss the sign, it’s so bright.” This time he did chuckle. Excited and a little nervous, Arthur thanked the man, but before they parted ways, he left Arthur with one more useful piece of advice.

“Oh, and remember to bring your briefcase with you. We’ve had a few turn up missing lately. I think Jean has a VIP contract for you and needs you there by 6 tonight. She likes the blue ties.”