#estpol

She had an impeccable taste dressed in a heavy black overcoat with a matching floppy hat. The frilly hems of her red dress were visible from the bottom of the coat, cutting off just above the top of her brown ankle-heeled boots. He wasn’t planning on taking anyone home tonight. After losing an important business contract that was worth millions, the only thing he wanted to do was drown his frustrations with a few heavy drinks. But this woman, who called herself Fryderyka, charmed her way to his table and into his heart almost immediately. After spending nearly an hour and a half chatting up a storm, he made an offer to take her back to his apartment in the business district where all the wealthy politicians, lawyers, and investors called home. Her emerald green eyes lit up in excitement. It was one she couldn’t refuse.

Fryderyka was loud and giggly as the man flirted with her on their walk towards the elevator. She was attracted to his clean-cut look and strong masculine features. He had looked dashing in a simple black tuxedo while his short brown hair had been slicked back. One older woman sitting in the lobby with her Maltese dog, dressed in an expensive light blue floral dress and her grey hair done up in a bun, scoffed at the couple when their eyes crossed.

“Ignore her darling, she’s merely jealous.”

“Don’t worry, it doesn’t bother me at all. But who is she?”

“Just a neighbour. She was the wife of one of the top lawyers in the country.”

“Was?”

“Yes, he had an... unfortunate accident about a year ago. He had made a lot of enemies during his long career. The poor woman found him dead in their apartment. Understandably, she has never gotten over the loss. Even to this day, the mere sound of his name sends her into an emotional spiral.”

With what sounded like a nervous cough, he was quick to drop the subject. It was clear to Fryderyka that the topic was an uncomfortable one.

“But, uh, enough of that kind of talk. We have the whole night to look forward to.”

The doors to the elevator opened. He had selected the top button, the 23rd floor. During the entire ride up and the walk towards his apartment, he never let her go, lavishing her with gentle kisses on her cheek and neck. She adored all the attention but reminded him to take things slow.

“Save some for when we’re inside! Like you said, we have the whole night together, don’t we?”

He chuckled and gave her one last kiss on her cheek, “Of course, of course.”

The man unlocked the door and allowed her to enter first. When he took her heavy coat and hat to hang, she was taken aback by everything her eyes could see. It was an apartment fit for a king: the penthouse suite. All the furniture and light fixtures appeared custom-made. Expensive replicas of well-known artwork decorated the walls. The marble floors were so clean that one could eat off it. It was just like a scene from a Hollywood film. It was everything Fryderyka could dream of.

He took her by the hand and led her down three small steps into the hallway, “Please, make yourself at home.”

Fryderyka was led to the living room where she made herself comfortable on the left side of a beige floral sofa. A chandelier hung above them with the lights dimmed. Across from them was a makeshift bar that featured a wooden cabinet with top-of-the-line glassware and bottles of various kinds of liqueur. Her fascination caught his attention.

“Care for a drink?” he asked. He tried to leave so he could prepare the drinks however Fryderyka stopped him by tugging his hand.

“Please, let me do it. You’ve been so good to me all night. It’s the least I could do.”

He protested but when he realized she wouldn’t take no for an answer, he let her get her wish. She made her way towards the bar and poured both of them a glass of whisky. But inside her dress, she pulled out a tiny bottle and poured a clear liquid into the second glass. The bottle quickly disappeared back into her dress and returned to the sofa with a glass in each hand. He thanked her and the words "Na Zdrowie!" were yelled by both parties when the two glasses tinkered. She carefully watched him with piercing green eyes when he downed the drink. Meanwhile, she only took small sips of hers. He thought this was odd behaviour.

“Is something wrong?” he asked curiously. “You’ve hardly touched your drink.”

“Nothing at all. Just admiring the view from here.”

She gave him a flirtatious grin and placed the glass back on the table. In a move that surprised him, she took the lead and moved in to close the gap between them. With arms wrapped around his shoulders, she leaned for a sweet kiss on the cheek. Her lips then fell to his neck where she was overwhelmed by the smell of his cologne. Her left hand moved to his black bow tie and slowly began pulling it undone. It was quickly tossed to the floor, resulting in her hand being free to unbutton the first two buttons of his white-collared shirt for easier access to the lower part of his neck and collarbone.

He loved all of the attention and allowed himself to get lost in her touch. Little did he know, the clock was ticking for him. She was only trying to stall for time as the poison worked its magic.

His hands began to get a little gluttonous as they roamed down her back and towards her bottom. He gave it a light squeeze and a loud giggle slipped from her lips. With his shirt fully undone, Fryderyka was free to do as she pleased to his bare chest.

But as the passion was reaching its peak, the man had suddenly pushed her off. He painfully groaned as he shut his eyes and his hand covered his forehead.

“What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know. But this headache... it just happened all of a sudden—”

There we go...

“Maybe you just need some water. I’ll get you a glass.”

When Fryderyka made a dash to the kitchen, the man managed to pull himself up into a sitting position. However, his vision began to get blurry and his chest was growing tighter with each breath. He struggled to understand what was happening to him and his nerves forced his whole body to shake uncontrollably.

He tried to stand on his own two feet however his knees couldn’t handle the weight of his body. He came crashing down onto the coffee table when his knees buckled. The legs of the table snapped immediately on impact and his head slammed into the marble floors where broken glass had scattered everywhere. Fryderyka had spent the whole ordeal hovering over the sink, waiting for the poison to finish him off. When she deemed it safe to do so, she reemerged into the living room with a satisfied grin. Her heels clicked against the floor as she walked towards his body. A small pool of blood was forming around the man’s head as she took a moment to admire her handy work. To see such a wealthy man like himself reduced to nothing was such a powerful and delightful feeling.

“Sleep tight darling.”

Adjacent to the bar, a pair of doors opened and a man came out holding two suitcases. While not dressed nearly as luxurious as the other, he looked good with his dapper brown vest, matching pants and pageboy hat, rolled-up white sleeves, and black dress shoes. A small tied-up blue ribbon underneath the collar of his shirt completed the look. His short blond hair was a little messy underneath his hat and he donned a nice pair of glasses that was a perfect fit for his delicate face.

He looked so disappointed at the scene unfolding in the living room. An exhausted sigh fell from his lips.

“Feliks, was it necessary for you to kill the guy? The plan was for you to distract him long enough for me to rob his safes and leave. I didn’t sign up to be an accessory to murder.”

Feliks shrugged his shoulders, “Sorry Eduard but you know how things happen. We both got a little flirty and he offered a ride back to his place. How was I to say no?”

With a slow waltz towards Eduard, Feliks chose to tease him with a peck on the lips to get him frazzled. “Besides, you should be thanking me. I bought us more time, didn’t I?”

The kiss did exactly as intended as his face flushed to a bright red colour. Eduard huffed as he turned his focus towards the bar area, not willing to admit that Feliks was correct.

“You still didn’t have to poison him though. The agreement was to get him drunk enough that he would black out.”

Feliks rolled his eyes and was eager to change topics, “Looks like you got a good haul. What did you get?”

Relieved at the topic change, his cheeks were still somewhat flushed when he finally felt ready to face Feliks again.

“I was only able to crack the safe that was behind the painting above his desk. The suitcase on the left is full of money. I didn’t count but there must be thousands of dollars here. The right one is just jewels. We should be able to get a lot of cash for these once we put them on the black market.”

His face lit up at the sound of jewels, “Oooh! Let me see! Let me see!”

Feliks tried to grab the second suitcase however Eduard was quicker and pulled it further back. He used his other arm to elbow Feliks gently in the chest so he wouldn't get any closer.

“Not now! We need to get out of here before someone tries to come in. You should go and get changed. I left your bag of spare clothes in the bedroom.”

Feliks continued to tease him by letting out a fake gasp as if he were offended by the comment.

“What? You don’t think I look good?”

Eduard was clearly losing his patience and was struggling to keep his grip on the two suitcases due to their weight. He had no idea if this man had other family living here or a butler employed working the odd hours. It didn’t sit well with him that they had been here for so long, especially now there was a dead body involved in the mix. For a brief moment, he shut his eyes and bit his bottom lip to keep his anxieties contained. He just wanted to leave.

“Just do it. Please.”

Feliks crossed his arms and pouted. He admitted defeat.

“Fine. This dress was starting to annoy me anyway.”

He took no more than two minutes to change and came out with black dress pants and a buttoned-up white shirt. The sleeves were rolled up to his elbows and he sported a pair of black leather gloves. Bright red spenders were attached to his pants and his brown-heeled boots had been swapped out for black dress shoes. They looked just like Eduard’s, albeit somewhat smaller. With his bag draped over his shoulder, he put on a grey flat cap. His chin-length blond hair was a tad messy. Therefore he took a moment and used the fingers on his right hand to straighten things out.

“Better?”

“Better,” Eduard nodded, “Now let's get out of here. If we’re lucky, we just might make the midnight train heading towards Germany.”

The two men dashed for the door but Feliks was cautious not to leave behind the coat and hat he wore for his disguise, stuffing them in the bag with the rest of his clothing. Eduard exited first while Feliks followed afterwards, shutting the door behind him quietly. The men agreed that going forward, they were to speak only in whispers so the neighbours wouldn’t hear them.

“If anyone asks who we are, we’re just tourists on a business trip.”

On the way towards the elevator, the two men crossed paths with an older woman carrying her dog in her arms. Feliks immediately recognized her as the woman in the lobby from earlier in the evening. The two exchanged glances and when Feliks tipped his hat to her, the colour disappeared from her face. They looked so much like the woman her neighbour had locked arms with—only she no longer looked like a woman, but a man instead. With the other man looking like no one she had seen before, her intuition told her that something wasn't right. She ran as quickly as her weak legs could carry her towards the penthouse suite. She banged on the door and called out the man's name three times to no avail. Finally, she had caved and unwillingly opened the door. This scenario she found herself in was playing out exactly like how she discovered her deceased husband a year ago. Sure enough, as it slowly opened, the neighbour’s dead body was in plain view under the chandelier.

As the elevator doors closed on them, her screams filled the hallway. Earlier in the walk, Feliks had pulled a cigarette from his pocket along with a silver-coloured lighter. He took a long drag and all he could do was voice his words in a singsong.