The restaurant is dimly illuminated by candles on the tables and grim lamps on the walls. A table for two located in the back near the kitchen exit is occupied by a well-dressed couple. The man wears a pinstriped suit and a ridiculous fedora, paired with an elegant silk tie. He is joined with a woman in a form fitting black dress adorned with gold spikes and a scarf. A heavy gray suitcase that doesn't nearly match her outfit rests next to her high-heeled boots.
A young waitress approaches the couple. She flashes a berry colored smile and takes out her order pad, tapping it nervously. "Good evening, my name is Nessie. I will be your server. May I interest you in a cocktail?" she asks.
The man speaks up. "A glass of the wine special tonight for me. And the Chardonnay for my date." The server nods politely, jotting it down, and exits. Once the waitress is out of earshot, the man is the first to speak.
"You know, from a distance, it will look as if I am proposing to you, Miss Talon" he says slyly. He gives her a little smile, perhaps even hopeful, and pats a small rectangular box in his coat jacket.
Miss Talon throws her hair behind her shoulder. "Oh Byron, you know how I am." She gives him a wink and taps her red nails on the tablecloth. "Haven't we already discovered that our tastes are very...different?"
"Must it require such a heist as this just to bring us into the same room? It's been too long, Rosalie." Byron flashes a winning smile. "Maybe we could pretend I was proposing? For old times sake?"
Rosalie smiles tightly, barely amused. "When first I met you through this business, you were much more focused on the task," she chided.
Nessie and another waitress approach with their wine. Nessie steps forward to pour Rosalie's glass. After pouring a small amount, she pauses for her to taste.
Rosalie's dark lipstick stains the glass when she takes her first sip. Then, a gleeful smile forms when her eyes meet Nessie's. "Hm..an appealing aroma. Not too dry, and it has a fresh taste." She takes another, slower sip. "The body could be fuller.." She looks Nessie up and down. "but it is perfectly smooth." She sets the glass down while still keeping eye contact with the young waitress.
Nessie blushes, unsure if the woman is talking about the wine or her own body. "Is it..um..to your liking, Miss Talon?" When the woman nods, she fills the rest of the glass.
Suddenly, the other waitress loudly yelps. She had missed Byron's glass, and some had dripped onto the previously pristine table cloth. She apologizes profusely, quickly trying to blot the stain with her napkin. What a scene! After the rest of the wine was poured, she leaves, embarrassed.
Nessie straightens up, as she had dropped the napkin off of her arm in surprise. "I apologize for Jessica. May I take your order?"
After choosing their meal, they wait again for the waitresses to leave before beginning conversation. Byron says with a wink, "If you had your way, I know you wouldn't let someone that pretty get away with such a mistake without proper punishment."
Rosalie responds with an icy glare, though her lips hint at a smile. "I always get what I want. Now, the package?"
Byron sits back. "I must be sure, so I'm afraid you'll have to pay first, yes? I couldn't act out my proposal without making sure," he suggests. Another frustrating wink to Rosalie. She opens the lock and hands it to him.
He peeks inside, and then his flirting character becomes stony. "I never would have expected this. After all we have done together..." He shakes his head. "I expected much better from you, Miss Talon."
Rosalie is shocked, unconvinced. He hands her back the briefcase and of course, the cash is missing, replaced with newspaper. She can only shake her head. He closes the briefcase, stands abruptly, and leaves. Her mind is spinning. How could it have been stolen? She had checked before she left! What had happened? She examined the suitcase...though it bore resemblance to her case, it wasn't the case. Someone had switched it!
She gets the attention of a nearby waiter. He walks towards her with a water pitcher. "Could you please tell my waitress, Nessie, not to bring out Byron's order?"
He looks at her, puzzled. "I don't recall a waitress who works here named Nessie, and I have worked here for years..I can tell the kitchen, though..." Rosalie sits frozen, taking it all in. "Miss? Do you need something?"
Rosalie stands and leaves out the nearest exit, through the kitchen. The waitress! Sure enough, she sees Nessie leaving with the gray suitcase, her suitcase, walking briskly to a car in the far lot. Reeling in rage, Rosalie pulls her pistol out of her handbag. "Freeze," she yells to the girl. Nessie whirls around, and seeing Rosalie, she turns back around to walk even more quickly. There are no cars surrounding her own to provide cover. Then, she hears a gunshot and sees that the bullet had landed near her foot.
Rosalie advances quickly, taking long strides. "I SAID FREEZE!" Bewildered, Nessie stops and turns around, and only to feel the cold metal of the gun pressing into her stomach. Rosalie's other hand closes around the back of her neck and she seizes the case.
Rosalie grins wickedly. "Come with me," she commands. And she leads the helpless girl back to her own car, a two-door Cadillac.
Nessie had not anticipated the gun. "You can't kill me. You don't know the code. I changed it, and I'm the only one that can open it, or it will self-destruct and you will lose everything!" she bargains. She is desperate now.
"I'll find a way," Rosalie replies. She pushes the bewildered girl into the back seat of the car, sending her sprawling. Before Nessie could open the opposite door and crawl out, Rosalie jumps into the back seat. She grabs a few zipties from the middle car compartment. Her body presses firmly against Nessie's, preventing escape.
Nessie aims a few kicks at her, but she stops when she hears the gun's safety click off again. Paralyzed in apprehension, she feels the zip ties bind her hands behind her back, and her ankles together. Rosalie removes her scarf and covers Nessie's eyes and nose with it. The windows are too darkly tinted for the outside world to see in, so help is unlikely.
The car begins to move. Nessie smells the woman's perfume on the scarf, which is annoyingly enticing and not at all comforting. Rosalie drives in silence back to her house, which is far from the city and fairly isolated.
Once they reach the noisy highway, Nessie's hands quietly grope for the door, trying it. Locked. Rosalie laughs audibly, and then asks, "How old are you, dear? You're quite young for such a heist." Rosalie's mood has been elevated considerably, which concerns her even more. Nessie only sighs.
Rosalie smiles at her frustration. "I looked at your ID when I took your purse, which says you're 22. But I know it's a fake, though it's an excellent fake...So tell me the truth."
Silence.
"Not talkative? Well I'm going to get you to talk soon enough, one way or another." Her mood is so jovial that it doesn't sound like a threat, but a suggestion. As if she just told her they were going to Disneyland. Nessie becomes increasingly more uncomfortable during the silent drive as the zip ties dig into her wrists.
The car moves for quite a while, winding up a hill and finally coming to a smooth stop. Nessie feels a chill when the door opened, and she is dragged out of the car. The car door slams shut, and she is then roughly bent over the car hood and pinned by Miss Talon's hips pushing against her ass.
Rosalie revels in her victory. She could hack into the lock mechanism, but she has devised a way to open the case that will be much more fun..at least for her. She not only has the money-she also has a plaything.
Nessie does not want to be a plaything. She is furious. In retaliation, as her hands are still bound behind her back near Rosalie' crotch, she aggressively grabs at it. Miss Talon steps back in surprise, giving her a small victory! Nessie spins around to fight, but her hair is grabbed roughly. Then, her head is thrown into the side of the car. The world spins, and she crumples to the concrete. Rosalie gently picks up the dizzy girl and carries her into the house.
Though disoriented, Nessie is still conscious and tries to make a plan. How can she escape alive? If she lets the code slip, then she becomes expendable and could be killed. But if she proves to be useless, then she is also expendable if her captor breaks the code. Her head is still spinning when she feels rope being tied quickly around her wrists. The zip ties are cut, but her wrists are now tied to a couch with rope.
"You have something that I want," says Rosalie. Nessie refuses to give her the satisfaction of responding. Rosalie removes the scarf from over her eyes. To Nessie's dismay, her vision focuses on a triumphant woman standing over her holding a decorative, sharp looking dagger. She takes a deep breath.
Rosalie straddles the fearful girl while turning the knife so that light flashes off it. She ogles her little waitress outfit: a red bowtie, white button-down blouse, black pencil skirt, stockings, and unnecessarily high heels. Too bad this cute outfit was going to be cut to pieces. Rosalie places the knife just underneath the bowtie and cuts it, grazing the knife over her throat and applying force against her windpipe.
"Now, let's make this easy. Tell me the code for the case."
"The first digit is 1," Nessie gasps.
"I know when people lie, and you just lied."