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Short stories, poems, news, reviews and views all about mystery, crime and detective fiction.
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URBAN CRIMINALS
A mystery vignette in 4 scenes. copyright 2001 by Robert J. Schneider
(scene 1)
"I knew there wouldn't be any spaces."
"Just wanted to check near the building before begining an odyssey."
"Now you'll have to turn right on West Street then come back on Gansevoort."
He followed his wife's instructions but there was not a parking space to be found. "Maybe borrowing your sister's car wasn't such a good idea. Parking in Manhattan is impossible. We'll have to take the subway back to the apartment once we finally find a space."
"Nonsense," his wife answered. "Patty, Rolf and the kids will be in Florida for two weeks. The car would just be sitting in long term parking at the airport; besides, we need it for the weekend trips I've planned."
His wife's bargain to drive her sister's brood to the airport in exchange for unlimited use of their car while they were away on vacation seemed like a great deal until they hit the construction detours and traffic delays after leaving LaGuardia. A wrong turn while searching for a highly recomended restauarant in Brooklyn had not improved the situation. It was near midnight when they finally arrived in their parking space deprived West Village neighborhood.
"Over there, just beyond that white car. Oh no, a fire hydrant. I knew it was too good to be true. Drive over to Horatio Street again. Maybe a spot opened up."
He replied, "No spaces will open up till morning when everyone switches to the other side of the street."
Parking in general and the alternate side of the street parking regulations in particular were the biggest drawbacks to owning a car in Manhattan. Two, or in some neighborhoods, three times a week car owners were forced to move their vehicles to the opposite side of the street to allow the cleaners to do their job. No matter that the street might not be dirty or that the sweeping truck might not reach your block by quitting time. What once seemed a logical way to keep the streets clean had degenerated into a tawdry municipal revenue raising scheme. The city collected obscene amounts of fines from the unfortunate car owners who forgot or were unable to move their vehicle at the appropriate times.
"Try Fourteenth Street. There are always spaces there."
She was right. After squeezing between two beat up delivery vans he said, "It's not the best spot but..."
"It will have to do. It's almost midnight and we're both exausted. We'll worry about the car tomorrow."
Nightfall had not yet brought relief from the days heat and humidity. They seemed to be the only people out walking the streets. It was a moonless night which made even their own familiar block seem somewhat forbidding. Instinctively they speeded up their pace and drew closer to each other.
"What was that?"
"It sounded like glass breaking," he answered.
"Look," she whispered, "Over there, crossing the street."
About one hundred feet ahead a dark figure darted across the street, turned the corner then vanished into the night. For several seconds after they lost sight of the stranger, husband and wife stood motionless beside a parked car.
(scene 2)
"That was certainly suspicious'" he said. "Do you think he had anything to do with the broken glass?"
"It wouldn't surprise me. Come on, let's go. I just want to climb into bed."
As they neared the doorway to their apartment building she tugged on his arm, pointed to the shattered small rear vent window of a parked car and said, "There's the broken glass."
"That's odd," he said. If you're a thief looking to steal a radio, or the car for that matter, why try to break in through the smallest window?"
"It was simple vandalism. Some kids today just want to inflict damage for no reason."
They shook their heads and continued on into their building. The lobby was deserted at this late hour. They entered the elevator, pressed the button for the fourth floor and waited. She pressed the close door button. The door closed and then immediately opened.
"I thought they were going to fix that?"
He responded by pulling the door shut. It remained shut but the elevator did not move.
"Great, now we're stuck."
Both fiddled unsuccessfully with the buttons. Without warning the door opened revealing a woman dressed in a dark warm-up suit.
"Hello Daria. I don't think you've ever met my husband." He shook hands with a tall, attractive dark haired woman who semed to be in her mid thirties. "Daria is a school teacher."
What subject?" he saked.
"Seventh and eighth grade history at IS 38."
"School must start in a couple of weeks."
"Actually three and a half weeks; the Monday after Labor Day."
His wife asked, "Daria, when did you take up jogging?"
"Just recently. Trying to get in shape for my trip. I'm joining a group of teachers leaving tomorrow for a vacation in Switzerland."
"That sounds wonderful."
"How long will you be gone?" he asked.
"Three weeks. I try to go to Europe every summer but on my salary I can only afford alternate years."
His wife asked' "Do you want us to take in your mail?"
"No thanks. I already notified the post office to hold it."
The elevator door suddenly closed and they began to slowly rise. At the third floor the elevator stopped and Daria quickly exited, possibly fearing the door might malfunction again.
"Enjoy your trip," his wife called to the departing teacher.
As they steepped off the elevator on the next floor he said, "This is a safe neighborhood but I don't think I'd feel safe jogging this late at night."
"I think she's foolish. Daria could run any time of day. She doesn't work during the summer."
"Maybe the heat and humidity of the day..."
She cut him off. "Nonsense. And what do you mean safe neighborhood.
You saw what happened ten minutes ago. Suppose Daria ran past that car while that thug was breaking into it?"
He had no answer to that so he shook his head and started to unlock the door to their apartment.
The next morning, Thursday, she rose early and was preparing breakfast when her husband entered the kitchen.
"Why are you up so early?"
"I have to take the dog to the vet," she answered. "He needs a bordatella shot before we drop him off at the kennel tomorrow."
"I thought we were taking him with us."
"Absoulutely not. Remember what happened when we took him to New Hope."
He recalled a pleasant time in Pennsylvania although the return trip was adventurous. "He's not going to like it. He was home alone most of yesterday and the only thing he hates more than being alone is staying at the kennel."
"The two inns I'm considering in the Berkshires don't allow pets." She punctuated her statement with the stare all married men knew and feared.
"What time is his appointment?"
"Eight-thirty."
"After breakfast we'll take him for a nice long walk then I'll catch the downtown subway at the station across the street from the vet's office."
"Sounds good to me."
Twenty minutes later the terrier sensed that something was up: To be walked by both owners this early in the day was unusual. Husband, wife and dog stepped onto the sidewalk and turned east on Horatio Street.
He squinted his eyes and pointed down the block. "Isn't that your friend Daria?"
"Yes. She's standing next to that car we saw last night. The one with the broken window."
(scene 3)
Daria spotted her neighbors and waved them to approach. "It's terrible," the teacher complained when they reached her car. "Someone broke my window last night. I'll have to take it to the auto glass shop."
His wife asked, "Won't that upset your vacation plans?"
"No. My flight doesn't leave until seven tonight."
"Will your insurance cover it?" he asked.
"Oh yes. I always maintain my glass coverage. This is the third time it's happened."
"That's right," his wife said. "I remember the last time. It was about two years ago. You had mentioned that you wanted to attend the next big quilt show I was scheduled to judge. When I told you about the Somers show you offered to drive me up to Putnam County. During the ride you complained that the replacement window wasn't tinted like the other windows. In fact, it was the same little rear window."
Daria said, "You have a good memory. Can I drop you off somewhere?"
"No," she replied. "The dog needs the exercise and so do we."
Daria turned to unlock the driver's side door. Husband, wife and dog started walking up the street. He stopped and called back to the teacher.
"Do you want us to pick up the car after the window is replaced?"
"No thanks. The repair shop will just have to hold it until I return from vacation."
They waved goodby to Daria and continued walking toward Hudson Street. She thought it would be prudent to check on her sister's car so they turned north at the corner. On Fourteenth Street he hesitated in front of a parking garage, left his puzzled wife's side, exchanged a few words with the attendant in the booth and returned.
"What was that all about?" she asked.
"Did you know that it costs over three hundred dollars for a monthly parking space and only slightly less for three weeks?"
"So what. We're not going to park Patty and Rolf's car in one of these garages. It would defeat the whole purpose of borrowing it. If we wanted to spend that kind of money we would simply rent a car for our weekend trips."
He asked, "Do you have any quarters?"
"Quarters. What for?"
"I have to make a phone call."
"You're kidding?"
"No. I want to check on something."
"You won't get any quarters until you tell me what on earth you possibly want to check on at this moment."
"I want to find out why Daria broke her car window."
"What are you talking about?"
"When we came home last night and met Daria in the elevator she had just come from breaking the rear vent window of her own car. Daria was the vandal."
"Are you mad? Why would she damage her own car?"
"Give me some quarters and I'll tell you."
She stared at her husband in disbelief, then without saying a word she pulled a handful of change from her purse and gave the coins to her husband.
He said, "Thanks. You continue on to your sister's car. I'll catch up in a few minutes."
She turned away, snapped the dog's leash and led the terrier briskly to the next corner. While waiting for the light to change she looked back toward her husband and saw him hang up the pay phone. As soon as the light flashed "walk" she quickly crossed and did not stop until halfway down the next block when her husband grabbed her shoulder.
"Didn't you hear me calling?" he said while trying to catch his breath.
"We are late enough as it is. I don't want to be lectured by that teen-age receptionist."
"I know why Daria broke the window."
"Oh, and why was that, dear?"
(scene 4)
"Parking."
"What?"
"She didn't want to pay for parking."
"Either start talking sense or leave."
"Just listen. Daria is a school teacher, doesn't make a lot of money, has to save up for vacations. She must have thought up this little scheme to save cash."
"How does breaking her own car window save her money?"
"She saves money by avoiding the cost of parking in a garage here in Manhattan or at the airport while she's in Europe."
"But the cost of repairing the window must be at least a hundred dollars."
"That's true but the garage fee to park for three weeks is almost three hundred dollars. I just spoke with someone who works at the long term parking lot in Kennedy Airport. They charge about ten dollars a day. That would be over two hundred dollars for three weeks."
"So, Daria saves about a hundred dollars. Is it really worth it?"
"She probably saves the entire amount. Daria mentioned that she carries full glass coverage. so for about one hundred dollars a year her insurance covers all her glass breakage. She's paying the premiums anyway. Why not take advantage every other year?"
"Doesn't the glass repair shop or the insurance company catch on?"
"Windows are always getting broken in the city and she most likely goes to a different repair shop each time."
"You might be right," she said. "I suppose she breaks the smallest window because it's the least expensive to replace."
"Right. Even though she's defrauding her insurance company it's for a relatively small amount of money."
"I'm surprised the repair shop allows her to leave the car for so long without charging some kind of storage fee."
"Maybe she deliberately chooses shops beforehand that don't charge extra for keeping a car after it's been repaired."
"All right, you've convinced me that one of our neighbors commits insurance fraud on a regular basis. What do we do about it?"
"I don't know," he replied.
At this point they had walked within sight of the borrowed car.
"What's that?"
"Your sister's car. What did you expect?"
"Look at the windshield. I hope that's not a parking ticket."
He walked up to the car and pulled the piece of paper from under the wiper blade. He read aloud:
"Alternate side of the street violation. Fifty dollar fine."
"That's just great. I didn't see any signs last night."
Instead of answering he began walking down the block. He stopped in front of a signpost which was partially obscured by a funeral parlor's canopy and shouted back to her, "No Parking Monday and Thursday 7AM to 7PM."
"When he returned to his fuming wife she said, "We'll have to more careful about parking. Another ticket would wipe out any savings of the borrowed car compared to weekend rentals."
"We could save some money by taking the dog with us instead of boarding him."
She gave him "the look" then was silent for some time.
Finally he asked, "What are you thinking about?"
She smiled and said, "I'm calling Patty tonight."
"At her hotel in Orlando? Why?"
"To find out if she has full glass coverage."
end