Lester

Lester knew the tavern. Not as a place to hang out, to plan, to make partners in crime, for he had always worked alone. But you can’t do what he did, without hearing of the skinned boar. And because of that, he got slower with every step he took. There was no way Jonathan wouldn’t enrage every single person in that tavern the second he opened his mouth. But Lester knew that there was no way to stop him from going in. And wasn’t even the smallest part of the enormous wealth and luxury he had seen this morning worth a beating? He could take it. He had taken it numerous times. For a warm, soft bed, a cooked meal. Maybe. But when they arrived, and his hand was sitting on the handle of the tavern's door, he stopped to turn around anyway. He needed to at least try.

»I have heard of this place«, Lester said before pausing to think about how he could explain some of the real troubles in the world to a sheltered rich guy like him. »It doesn’t pull the greatest people in.«

»Wouldn’t be much use to us if it did, would it?«

Lester nodded. »Sure, sure. All I’m trying to say is.« He cleared his throat. »We have to be careful in our approach.«

»Oh. Of course. I read an enchanting book about the psychology of criminals. It's quite sad really. But also easily diffused. You have to show them a seemingly calm superiority with an underlying brutality. I’ve practiced that. We will be perfectly fine.«

Lester sighed deeply, cracked his knuckles and opened the slightly crooked door of the rare wooden house, with big, half round windows. He was met with a mix of disgusting, sweaty people and decently prepared food, accompanied by the screaming and laughing that constantly erupted somewhere in the cheaply decorated room.

While he was still taking the atmosphere in, Jonathan pointed toward a seemingly random table. »These gentlemen look like they could make someone disappear«, he said.

»Don’t they all?«

He shrugged. »Yeah. But we have to start somewhere.« And without waiting for him he walked toward them.

»Please excuse the interruption.«, Jonathan said. »We're looking to make someone disappear. You gentleman wouldn’t happen to know who could help us in that matter?«

Lester tried to blend into the background, while the three men, sitting on the table shoveling a brown soup into their sparsely teethed mouths, looked up for a moment before breaking into laughter.

»You guards get stupider by the day«, one of them said.

Jonathan held a finger to his mouth and shushed. »I would advise you to stop with the insults. I’m not a moron. There is no money in being a guard. Just point to a more helpful gentleman and I’ll toss you a little coin.«

The men looked him up and down, then one of them shrugged and pointed toward a group sitting a few tables over, doing and looking pretty much the same. Lester opened his fists and followed Jonathan who had started walking toward the next group, after tossing a small silver coin.

»Please excuse my interruption.« He began the conversation with Lester standing by his side this time. »I hear that you could be useful to me in letting someone disappear.«

The four men eyed him. Jonathan seemed more like a character from a story, then a real criminal. But maybe they had heard enough of them to believe the charade and maybe Jonathan wasn’t as useless as he had thought.

»Possibly.«, the biggest of the four, everyone else had looked at to speak, said. »Why don’t you tell us a little something about you and your little project, and then we'll see if we're going to do it.«

Jonathan shook his head. »All you need to know from me is the name of the person that needs to disappear and the sum of money that will fill your pockets after.« He smiled. »So why don’t you tell me why you are the right people to receive that money instead.«

»We don’t work with any…«

»What I’m looking for is a job well done, a guard hopeless and a man forever gone. It's quite simple really. Like that little girl, I’ve been hearing about recently. Not a single lead, not a single thing to hold onto for her poor parents.«

Lester saw the raised chests and restricted smiles on the men in front of him. They had come to the right place. This could work. Besides the easy shelter and easy food for him, this might actually help someone.

»We could do a job like that.« The same man spoke again. »Depending on the money of course.«

Jonathan shook his leg and let the coins jingle. »Money should not be the problem here.«

The smiles of the four men broke into devilish grins. »How nice of you to bring the money before the work.«

Lester looked at Jonathan, seeing his mask shatter. And before he could look back at the men, he felt the first fist in his face. It would be a beating after all. And just when he had let his guard down.

Shaking his head to clear his mind, he put his left foot back to get a stronger stance and raised his fists before him. He caught the next hit with his left arm. Trying to ignore the pain, he smashed someone’s cheek. But they were four. So, while he ducked under another attack, a third one hit him in the stomach, pressing the air out of his lungs. He bent over coughing, which opened him up for a final blow on the back, sending him down. All he could do while falling was to grab onto something that felt like cloth. He heard the ripping before he tasted the blood from biting his tongue, as he hit the ground hard. Six hands pulled him up and threw him into the street. After a moment of catching his breath, he opened his one functioning eye and saw Jonathan lying beside him. His clothes looked way more fitting for the scene now, but he came to his knees anyway. Coughing and snuffing he wiped the blood from his eyes.

»I’m sorry.«, he said groaning. »It seems like I made a big…« He gasped as pain washed over his face. »It seems like I made a big fucking mistake.«

Lester laughed weakly while coming to his knees as well. He opened his fist, still holding what he now recognized as a piece of some guys pants. His grin changed into a curious look, as he saw a piece of paper beneath the cloth. In scrawly writing it read: “Drop of at Northside Psychiatric Ward”.