Loveday Writing

‘That’s what’s wrong with this place!”**

Going Down

It was the perfect plan until I heard the thump.

The thump of the elevator suddenly stopping before it was supposed to.

“Damn it! Judy, the elevator’s stuck again, can you get maintenance to switch the fuse box on and off again? Please and thank you.”

It was just me and the middle-aged security guard in the outdated tiny elevator. I watched him as he spoke to Judy (whoever she is) in the emergency phone. As well as the building’s outdated structure and elevator, the guard’s lack of youth was another thing wrong with this place.

Which made it so easy for me to steal their most valuable asset – a diamond cluster necklace with a 407 carat, pear-cut, rare yellow diamond. I didn’t even have to ‘hold up’ the place, I just needed to beg for a job and flirt a little with the jewellery store manager.

All I have to do now is get out of here and hope that I’m not stuck with the guard long enough for him to catch on.

“I’m sorry about that Lucy, I’m sure they told you that this old elevator always stops and sticks, but you know what the boss is like, he doesn’t like to repair anything unless it’s truly dead.”

I don’t know how he knew my name as I didn’t know his, actually now that I think about it, I don’t think I’ve actually seen him before.

“How do you know my name?”

“The boss told me about you, how you were down on your luck and desperately begged for a job at his store.”

“Did he now?”

“Yep, he also told me how eager you are to close the store, make sure everything is secure.”

“He told you a lot about me by the sound of it.” He was starting to make me nervous. What else did he know?

“You seem a little nervous Lucy, everything okay?”

“Yes, I’m fine.”

“You don’t seem fine. Do you need to sit down?”

“No, I’m good.”

“Lucy, I think you should sit down.”

I didn’t want to, the necklace was in my pants pocket, but I complied to throw off any suspicion, but as I grabbed the handle on the side wall to help myself down, I felt the guard put a handcuff on me.

“Hey, what the…”

“Lucy Wagner, I’m Detective Schultz, you’re under arrest for robbery!”

The Detective pressed the emergency stop button again and the doors immediately opened to the manager, employees, and a bunch of cops greeting me. A bunch of liars and undercover cops, another thing wrong with this place.

**Reference: Marsden J 1998, Everything I Know About Writing, Pan Macmillan, Australia.