THE CASH BOX Chapter 3

 

Chapter 3: The Cash Box

Karina stood outside the bank, her heart pounding in her chest. The morning sun was harsh, casting long shadows across the pavement. She clutched the safety deposit box key in her hand, her fingers trembling. The bank loomed before her, its glass doors reflecting the bustling street. She took a deep breath and pushed through the doors, the cool air inside a stark contrast to the heat outside.

The bank was quiet, the hum of distant conversations and the occasional beep of a machine the only sounds. Karina approached the counter, where a timid black man with glasses sat, his eyes darting nervously behind his thick frames. He looked up as she approached, his smile polite but uneasy.

“Can I help you?” he asked, his voice soft.

Karina nodded, her voice barely above a whisper. “I need to access my safety deposit box.”

The man nodded, his hands fumbling with a set of keys. “Of course. Right this way.”

He led her through a series of secure doors, each one requiring a key or a code. Karina’s nerves were on edge, her mind racing with possibilities. What could be in the box? Why had Henry left her the key? The questions swirled in her mind, each one more unsettling than the last.

Finally, they reached the vault. The man inserted his key into the lock and turned it, the sound echoing in the small space. He stepped aside, allowing Karina to insert her key. She did so with trembling hands, the lock clicking open. The man pulled out the box and handed it to her, his eyes avoiding hers.

“Take your time,” he said, his voice barely audible.

Karina nodded, her heart pounding as she carried the box to a small, private room. She set it down on the table and stared at it for a moment, her breath shallow. Finally, she lifted the lid.

Her eyes widened in shock. The box was filled with gold coins, their surfaces gleaming in the dim light. They were packed tightly in a bag, the weight of it surprising her as she lifted it out. She had expected to find the engagement ring Henry gave her and Henry’s Rolex, not this. Not gold.

Her mind raced. Where had this come from? Why had Henry hidden it here? The questions were overwhelming, but there was no time to dwell on them. She needed to get out of here.

Karina quickly closed the box and returned it to the man, who was waiting nervously outside the room. She thanked him and hurried out of the bank, the bag of gold clutched tightly in her arms.

As she stepped outside, she was unaware of the man watching her from a car parked across the street. He was a thug, his face scarred and twisted, his features oddly mismatched. His nose was crooked, his lips thin and cruel, and his eyes were small and dark, like a predator’s. He watched her intently, his expression blank.

Karina hurried down the street, her heart racing. Her knees trembled as she fell into the seat next to Dee. Her friend’s eyes widened as she saw the bag of gold clutched tightly in her arms, her mouth dropping open.

“What the hell is that?” she exclaimed, her voice high-pitched with excitement.

Karina set the bag down on her lap, her hands trembling. “It’s gold. It was in the safety deposit box.”

Dee’s eyes lit up, her excitement palpable. “Gold? Like, actual gold? Holy shit, Karina, do you know how much this could be worth?”

Karina shook her head, her mind still reeling. “I don’t know. But it’s a lot. It’s heavy.”

Dee raced back to her apartment, almost skipping red lights and crashing into Karina’s car in the small parking lot. In her living room, Dee beamed, her mind racing with possibilities. “We could do so much with this. We could travel, buy a house, start a business… the possibilities are endless!”

Karina frowned, her voice uncertain. “I don’t know, Dee. This doesn’t feel right. It’s not ours. It’s Henry’s. Or maybe it’s Lorenzo’s. I don’t know.”

Dee waved her hand dismissively. “Henry’s dead, Karina. And Lorenzo’s a criminal. He doesn’t deserve this. We do.”

Karina shook her head, her mind racing. “I don’t know. I just… I need to think about this.”

Dee grabbed her phone, her fingers flying across the screen. “Let’s find out how much it’s worth. Then we can decide what to do.”

Karina nodded, her curiosity getting the better of her. “Okay. But how?”

Dee grinned, holding up her phone. “We’ll use ChatGPT. It knows everything.”

“Okay,” Dee said, her voice high-pitched with excitement. “This thing knows everything. It’s like Google, but sassier.”

Karina blinked. “ChatGPT? Are you sure that’s reliable?”

Dee waved her off. “Reliable? Karina, this thing can tell you how to make a soufflé, calculate your carbon footprint, and diagnose a rash. It’s basically a genius. Now, help me figure out how to weigh this gold.”

Dee furiously typed as she read out loud: “Hello, ChatGPT…” Karina stared at her curiously. Dee stared back for a second and continued. “Please detail me how gold’s worth is calculated.” Karina’s heart pounded as paragraph after paragraph detailed the instructions on Dee’s phone. Her friends eyes rapidly darted down the lines until her eyes widened happily. “We have to weigh it!” 

Karina frowned. “Weigh it? With what?”

Dee jumped up, nearly knocking her chair over. “My bathroom scale! Duh. It’s digital and everything. It’ll be perfect.”

Karina hesitated. “A bathroom scale? For gold? Dee, that’s not exactly… scientific.”

Dee was already halfway down the hall, her voice echoing back. “Science is just guessing with extra steps, Karina! Trust me!”

Dee returned, dragging the scale behind her. She plopped it on the table with a triumphant grin. “Behold! The most advanced gold-weighing technology known to man.”

Karina raised an eyebrow. “It’s a scale you bought at Target for $19.99.”

Dee gasped, clutching her chest dramatically. “Excuse you, it was on sale for $14.99. And it has a *memory function*. That’s basically NASA-level tech.”

Karina couldn’t help but laugh. “Alright, alright. Let’s just do this before I change my mind and call the police.”

Dee’s eyes widened. “Do not say the word ‘police’ right now. We’re in this. Deep. Like, Ocean’s Eleven  deep. Now, help me pour these coins onto the scale.”

Karina hesitated, then carefully opened the bag and poured coins onto the scale. The digital numbers flickered, then settled.

“Okay,” Dee said, squinting at the screen. “That’s… freaking heavy. 66 and a half pounds. Wait, no. We need to convert to kilograms? What even is a kilogram?”

Karina groaned. “Dee, we need to know the weight in grams. Gold is measured in grams.”

Dee blinked. “Since when?”

“Let’s just ask the chatbot.”

She typed furiously into her phone. “Hey, ChatGPT. How do we convert 66.5 pounds to kilograms?”

The chatbot responded instantly: “66.5 pounds equals 30.164 kilograms.”

Dee gasped. “Wow. Groundbreaking. Okay, so 30.164  kilograms is… how many grams?”

Karina nodded slowly. “I don’t,know. But we need to weigh all of it. There’s more in the bag.”

Dee grinned. “Alright, Goldilocks. Pour the rest on.”

Karina carefully poured the remaining coins onto the scale. The numbers jumped, then settled at 

Dee’s eyes widened. “73.04 pounds? That’s… let me see here….33.129 kilograms. Right?”

Karina nodded. “Yeah. I think that’s what it says.”

Dee typed into the chatbot again. “Hey, ChatGPT. How much is 33.129 kilograms of gold worth?”

The chatbot responded: “The value of gold fluctuates daily. As of today, gold is valued at approximately $93,204 kilogram.”

Dee’s jaw dropped. “Per kilogram? Karina, do the math!”

Karina’s eyes widened. “Ask the Chat GPT!”

Dee typed it in. “$3,087,755.32”

The room fell silent. Both girls stared at the number on the screen, their mouths hanging open.

Dee broke the silence first. “Three million dollars. Three. Million. Dollars. Karina, we’re rich. Like, rich rich. Like, get the fuck outta the city and quit working rich.” 

Karina shook her head, her voice barely a whisper. “This can’t be real. This has to be a mistake.”

Dee grabbed her shoulders, shaking her slightly. “It’s not a mistake! It’s math! Math doesn’t lie!”

Karina stared at the bag of gold, her mind racing. “What are we supposed to do with this? We can’t just… keep it.”

Dee gasped, clutching her chest again. “Can’t keep it? Karina, this is life-changing money. We could do anything. We could start a business. We could travel the world. We could buy a yacht and name it R.I.P. Henry.”

Karina groaned. “Dee, this isn’t funny. This is… this is insane. This is probably illegal.”

Dee waved her hand dismissively. “Illegal, my ass. Henry left it for you. That makes it yours. Finders keepers.”

Karina frowned. “What if it’s not mine? What if it’s a gangster’s? What if he comes looking for it?”

Dee’s grin faltered for a moment, but she quickly recovered. “Then we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. But for now, we have three million dollars in gold sitting on my kitchen table. Let’s not overthink this.”

Karina sighed, running a hand through her hair. “I don’t know, Dee. This feels wrong. I need to figure out where this came from. I need answers.”

Dee’s hands went for Karina’s collar. “Listen to me.”

Karina frowned, her voice uncertain. “I don’t know. Maybe I should find out more. I have the key to Henry’s construction site. Maybe there are answers there.”

Dee’s eyes narrowed, her expression suspicious. “You’re not thinking of giving this back, are you?”

Karina shook her head. “I don’t know. But I need to find out more. I can’t just keep this without knowing where it came from.”

Dee sighed, her excitement fading. 

Karina nodded, her mind made up. She carefully poured the coins back into the bag, threw it over her shoulder almost making her fall over and headed for the door. She needed answers. And she was going to find them. Turning to her friend, her fixed gaze broke into a frown. “Just wait for me here.”

As the door slammed shut, Dee collapsed on her couch, hands covering her face.

Within the hour, Karina was standing outside Henry’s construction site, the key clutched tightly in her hand. The site was quiet, the machines silent, the workers gone for the day. She took a deep breath and inserted the key into the lock, the gate creaking open.

She stepped inside, her eyes scanning the area. The site was a maze of half-finished buildings and piles of materials. She needed to find Henry’s office. She needed to find answers.

As she walked through the site, her mind raced. What had Henry been involved in? Why had he hidden the gold? And what was she going to do with it?

The questions swirled in her mind, each one more unsettling than the last. But she knew one thing for sure: she couldn’t keep the gold. Not without knowing where it came from. Not without knowing the truth.

Karina’s heart pounded as she reached Henry’s office. She inserted the key into the lock and pushed the door open, her eyes scanning the room. It was cluttered, papers and blueprints scattered across the desk. She stepped inside, her mind racing.

She needed to find answers. The mystery was ever-evolving.

AtilA