Cleaning Up

There was plenty of time left before the agreed upon time, so Frank was in no rush to arrive at Vito's.

Before going there, he still needed to buy another gas can. There was a gas station nearby but he wasn't about to drag the thing the whole way there.

Vito's apartment was about 30 minutes away on foot anyway, he would need a ride over.

If Frank remembered right, that taxi driver, Anthony, was about 10 minutes away from here. It wasn't ideal but it was better than nothing.

The guy might have heard about a fire breaking out last night, it being so recent and all. It was a good time to suss him out, see if he was worth the trouble.

After walking for a while, Frank arrived at the same spot as yesterday. Unfortunately, it looked like Anthony was busy since he wasn't there.

There were 3 other taxis nearby, but Frank was in no rush, he wanted Anthony.

Instead of just waiting though, Frank walked over to one of them, pointed at Anthony's spot and asked, "Hey, know when one of these taxis left that spot?"

"Which one, Anthony's? Yeah he left a while ago, he should be back soon.

"Why you asking, he a friend of yours?" The guy was bored out of his mind, he told Frank without even thinking about it.

"Yeah, something like that. Thanks pal." Frank patted the top of his taxi twice and walked off.

Not long after, Anthony drove back and heard Frank calling out to him, "Anthony, still working?"

Anthony recognized the familiar voice and quickly thought back to the fire accident he had heard about during his chats with one of his passengers.

The fire broke out in the same street he dropped Frank off, but he didn't make the connection between the accident and Frank yet, so he said, "Yeah, still on the job."

Frank opened the door and sat down, "I told you I'd be taking you up on that offer didn't I?

"Drive, I'll give you directions."

Usually Anthony just drove to where he was told, but on occasion when a passenger didn't know the exact address he had to drive while listening to their directions.

He was used to it at this point, so he nodded and started the car up.

A short drive later, "Stop, we're here Anthony.

"You know if there's a gas station anywhere nearby?"

"Yeah there's one a street down." Anthony remembered that Frank wanted to know of a nearby gas station yesterday too, but he answered anyway.

"Okay, drive me there and back, I gotta make a quick stop there." Frank noticed a brief pause in Anthony's answer but he didn't think anything of it.

"You got it Frank."

Frank got out of the car after they arrived and walked into the gas station. With the money he had left over from yesterday, he would barely have enough money.

This was not counting the 10 bucks he just picked up from his dad, but if he was paying for taxis every day, that wouldn't last him the month anyway.

It looked like he needed to learn how to drive sooner rather than later.

Frank was a bit anxious about that, but he figured he'd start making money soon enough. At least before he ran out of what he had.

Frank bought a gas can, filled it up and got back in the taxi, "Now back the other way."

Something seemed different about Anthony, he probably filled in the blanks while he was gone.

"You got it. That's gonna be 1 dollar and 15 cents after we go back down the street."

Whether Anthony knew or not, the only change Frank noticed was a bit more respect. Or maybe it was fear, Frank couldn't tell the difference.

He took out a dollar and 50 cents from his jacket and said, "Here, keep the change.

"No need to wait for me this time. I'll see you around Anthony."

"Goodbye Frank." Anthony waved him off.

After stopping at the gas station, Anthony was sure it was Frank that was responsible for the fire.

But so what? He got tipped both times by the guy and it wasn't like he was a cop. Whether the kid was a good guy or not was none of his business.

He drove the guy from one place to another, what happened afterwards was none of his concern.

These were tough times for everyone and he wasn't about to start judging his passengers. Besides, there were quicker ways to off yourself than by ratting on someone.

Frank got out of the taxi and walked into the building. He covered the gas can with the inside of his jacket so he wouldn't seem too suspicious.

After walking up the flight of stairs, he knocked twice on Vito's door, "It's me, Frank."

Vito unlocked the door and motioned him in, "Come in Frank."

After closing the door behind him he said, "That fire on Winchester Avenue, what a tragedy ay?

I heard the guy living there couldn't make it out in time.

"The poor bastard must have left the oven on, they say by the time help came, the fire had grown so big it nearly spread to the houses nearby."

Frank heard that Vito didn't mind the attention it brought and was happy he read it right, "Yeah, It must be hard for his loved ones. What a way to go out huh?"

Vito patted him on the shoulder in response, "Well, life goes on. I see you brought the gasoline for the thing we talked about, you ready to go?"

Frank noticed that Vito seemed a lot more cryptic today than he was yesterday and on top of that, he looked like he was in a rush to get out of here.

"Yeah, I'm all set Vito."

They walked out of the apartment and took a walk to the garage Vito left yesterday's car in.

It was all silence all the way up until they got in the car and drove it out of the garage, "We're going to take it to a scrapyard and set it on fire before anyone notices.

"There's usually a couple of cars parked nearby, so while you're pouring the gasoline I'll steal one and when I call you over, you set the car on fire and we'll get out of there. Sound good?"

Frank didn't see a problem, "Sounds good to me Vito."

"Alright then. Afterwards, there's a job I need to scope out. I got some reliable news that it might be worth some money. You in?"

"I'm in Vito. I need the money anyway, I still haven't tossed out my gun because I can't afford another one."

Vito became serious, "Woah, hold your horses there Frank, we're just scoping the job out. If it looks good, we'll start making plans then.

"And throw the gun away after we're done. I'll loan you a gun until you have enough money to buy yourself a replacement.