Tricking the Devil: Chapter Three: A Day in the Life
Elizabeth Swann was really tired.
Tried of having to put up with old age business tycoon creeps at her work, always slapping her ass and ordering her around as if she was at their beck and call and then leaving cheap tips of thirty pence or less.
That had been her work day more or less and she was wondering if it was worth it.
Walking up the many stairs to her apartment she put her hand in her hoody pocket happy to feel the compact black scanner which held the information to multiple credit accounts that would yield to vast amounts of money for her spending pleasure.
It's worth it to a degree. She thought as continued her ascent to her home.
She made it to her door and pulled the keys from her backpack and opened the door with the precision of a zombie. She shut the door behind her and locked it.
Dropping her bag and leaning against the door frame, she let out a sigh of contentment, she was glad to be home. Elizabeth pushed off the door frame and went into the kitchen and retrieved her self a snack of chips and soda and went to her computer room. She sat down and got to work only snacking every few minutes.
The first thing Elizabeth did after she got her self situated in her work area was connect the small scanner to her computer, and downloaded all the information she had collected.
All the cards information had come from rich business men who were either screwing on their wives with expensive call girls or had been annoying Elizabeth with their ass slaps and remarks, so stealing from then was in her opinion not wrong just business.
After downloading the information she sent everything to a machine located only six feet away from her. The machine read the data then encoded it on a plastic strip which Elizabeth would then apply to the back of a plastic credit card. No one could tell the difference.
The machines and equipment she used to do this were top of the line and untraceable. Most of the time you would have sent the information scanner to a card maker but Elizabeth felt safer making her own cards as it cut down on the people who knew what she did and thus her chances of getting caught.
After six hours and two small bags of chips later Elizabeth had made a total of six cards each ready for spending. She sighed wearily as she stood up from her seat, she stretched out her back and then she turned off all her equipment, scooped up the cards, placed them in her pocket and threw out all her trash.
Looking over to her living room clock was near one o'clock in the morning and Elizabeth was thanking the fates she did not have work the next day as going back there she knew she just might have snapped at the next man who would have talked to her. Going to her bathroom she lit a few candles and set the water to a steaming temperature and got into the shower letting the water wash away all her stress.
This is the life Elizabeth thought as she rinsed out the rose scented shampoo from her long tawny tresses.
After she had finished her shower she dressed in blue flannel pants and a black wife beater shirt. She then went into her fully modern kitchen and made herself some hot tea and then returned to her room to relax in her comfy bed. Elizabeth sighed in relaxation as she sank into the fluffy mattress and soft sheets.
She did not even take a sip of her tea before she fell in a contented sleep.
It was around twelve in the afternoon when she woke up and Elizabeth cursed out loud that she had even been woken up by her phone ringing. Picking up the cordless silver phone she answers groggily and not so kindly to the caller.
"Yes." Elizabeth sat up ever so slightly as Will answered. His voice sounded oddly urgent.
"Elizabeth. I need your help." Elizabeth sat completely up now and swung her feet over the side of the bed, the slight chill of the apartment not even registering.
"Will what is it?" Normally Elizabeth would have lied to Will in order not to have to talk to him, when ever he did call on her day off it was to spend the day with her in hopes of getting her to stop her 'less then legal' activities, marry him and settle down.
"Elizabeth something happened I was robbed and the police don't have any leads. They say since I gave him the money they can't help me." Will said all this very fast and Elizabeth was having slight trouble keeping up after being rudely awakened.
"Okay…let me see you gave him the money so now it is not robbery right?" Elizabeth asked getting up from her bed and heading to the kitchen. Coffee was a must.
"Yes, he said he worked for…well he did not say but he did say he needed my help in an investigation…" Elizabeth cut will off.
"So you just gave some guy your money who you never met before?" Elizabeth accused stoically, the coffee machine was taking far too long and the drip, drip, and drip was very annoying.
Will hesitated before trying to come up with an excuse, "Elizabeth it was not my fault…"
"Will I know it was not your fault," Elizabeth poured her self a cup of the half brewed coffee and took a small sip of the bitter liquid. "So lets move on and what is it you want from me?" She spoke in a patronizing tone Will did not seem to notice.
"I was wondering if you could help me." Will's voice was barely audible that Elizabeth had to strain to hear it.
"Why? Is it because I have underground connections?" Elizabeth joked but apparently Will had been thinking along those lines, but chose wisely not to voice them.
"You are the only one that I love and I can go to."
Elizabeth stayed silent. She could tell from the hopeful tone in Will's voice he was waiting for her to say the dreaded three words back to him.
In truth Elizabeth loved Will very dearly but, not in the way he wanted and Elizabeth Swann could never be content being a house wife. Trying to explain that to Will only brought on pain and the fear of Will turning her over to the police.
Will always made things more complicated.
"Will I'll help you as best I can and let you know if I find anything on…what's his name?" Elizabeth asked hoping she could lead Will to a new subject for discussion.
"He said his name was Roux but the police had no record of him I met him outside the bank on Elms street." Will explained as she took down the name on a note pad she kept on the kitchen counter.
Elizabeth took all the information Will had and took a drink of her coffee she knew it was going to be a long day.
"Okay I'll get back to you later." Elizabeth tried to hang up the phone but Will called her back. "Yes Will?" Elizabeth questioned wearily but she already knew what was coming.
"Have you though about what I asked before?" Will's voice was nervous as if he was expecting the answer to be yes and could hardly contain his joy.
Yes and all the other times. Elizabeth thought sardonically.
"Later Will…I've got…I just need more time. Please." The please was said with more pleading to let her go then to let her have time to think.
"All right I'll talk to you later." Will's farewell sounded forced and Elizabeth knew she was running out of time.
Letting a frustrated sigh out, she downed the last of her coffee and refilled her cup, she had a busy day.
Elizabeth sat in front of her computer making her very expensive modem work over time. She had been working since she had hung up with Will and so far nothing had been found on Agent Roux, at least as far as Interpol files were concerned.
Looking back on the notepad Elizabeth could not help but let out a snort of frustration, "Not much to go on is it?" She asked the empty space around her.
It was while looking over the bank's security feed Elizabeth spotted a solution to her problem. The banks had no outside cameras except the ATM one. However, the row of lamppost outside the banks had camera installed to catch cruisers and speeders. This solution though would take some more time as she now had to hack her way through city servers instead.
Two hours later she had found the right footage of Will and 'Roux' outside the bank. She enhanced the footage as best she could of the man talking to Will, removing as much blur and static as she could. When she was finished she printed out the picture.
The photo was still slightly blurry, but she could still make out the details of the face, even if it was a profile shot. He was good looking and no doubt put his looks to his advantage. Stuffing the picture into her bag, she put on her coat, a pair of sunglasses and tucked her hair under a messenger cap she went off to start a search for 'Roux' and to do a little shopping.
First thing Elizabeth did was from each card was withdrew money from various ATMs far from her home and did shopping at her favorite stores. She then returned home and dropped off all her purchases before leaving once again to find Will's robber.
She went to the bank on Elms street and before going inside to question the employees she made sure no stray hair crept out from under her hat, being recognized at any bank was asking for the cops to find you and Elizabeth prided herself on being able to keep a very low profile.
She went inside. She asked the two tellers working if they had ever seen the man showing his picture. The only reply she received was giggling over how cute the man was. They had never seen him but wish they would.
A lot of help that was. Elizabeth thought staring at the picture.
She did have to admit Roux was cute. But he still stole from Will.
So deep was Elizabeth's musing over what 'Roux' had done and how she technically did the same from others that she failed to avoid bumping into another woman.
"Sorry I did not see you." Elizabeth said helping the woman pick up her dropped bag. The woman wore a deep red dress, her nails; lips, eye shadow, all matched each other to a rose red. Her long red curls were pined against the nape of her neck with a few ringlets framing her face. In her hand she was holding Elizabeth's photo.
The words that came from the woman's mouth caught Elizabeth by surprise. "That Basterd!"
"Excuse me?" Elizabeth inquired and took the photo back from the woman who now wore an expression of anger.
"He leave you right after too?" The woman questioned. Before Elizabeth could answer she continued to speak. "Jack Sparrow is such a bleeding jerk."
"Yes." A sudden thought accrued to Elizabeth and she inwardly grinned. "I'm two months pregnant with his child and I can't find him any where." Elizabeth placed her head down, one hand settling on her well toned abs and sobbed silently. The woman placed a comforting hand on Elizabeth's shoulder.
"No worries and tears for that jerk and lucky for you I happen to know where he lives." With that the woman pulled out a paper and pin from her purse and wrote down the address. Elizabeth wiped at the non-existent tears while the woman was busy.
The woman handed her the address with a smile. "You make him pay." With that the woman moved around Elizabeth and began to walk away. Elizabeth called after her.
"Wait, what's your name?"
"Scarlet." She replied and continued on to wherever she had been going.
Now with the address in hand Elizabeth headed home, she could find Jack Sparrow the next day.