Safe

The dark silhouette of a woman stood in the doorway, gestured for me to come forward, and whispered my daughter’s name. ‘Stacey.’

I wrapped my arms around my coat, and edged into the darkness. Secrecy was my only option. Stacey. Where was she? Safe, I didn’t think so.

She hid in the shadows and I couldn’t see what she look like. How did I know it was a woman? There was something about the perfume, it reminded me of an aunt I visited as a child.

‘Is she safe?’ I asked.

‘For now, and that will continue to happen. As long as you do what we say. Any deviances to the route and she will suffer the consequences.’

Her voice, so low, yet I was hung on her every word. I had worked in the bank for twenty years, built up a trust. Now they wanted me to betray those who held me in high esteem. But none of that mattered.

‘We want you to open the safe in your manager’s office. Inside are some papers. You are to take them out and leave these in their place. You tell anyone and she is dead,’ she said, passing over a folder.

I couldn’t look inside, my only thought was keeping Stacey alive.

I walked away from the alley, and walked towards the bank. I knew my manager would be at home. It wasn’t much they asked of me. I wasn’t stealing money, just evidence.