Standing Shoulder To Shoulder

Standing Shoulder To Shoulder
By Scott Wilson
Word Count: 340

“Everybody sees things differently,” I said to Charlie. “You and I were both there. Standing shoulder to shoulder and you saw the whole incident different from the way I did. Ain’t that interesting?”

“Sod you, you two faced git!” Charlie said from behind the Perspex screen in the prison visiting room. “If I had a wife, I would have had an alibi too, not that I needed one.”

“Too bad you don’t, hey Charlie ol’ boy. So you going to tell me where Jimmy the Fingers stashed those diamonds? I’ve looked everywhere possible in that alleyway and I can’t find nothing’.”

Charlie paused and looked like he was going to get up and walk away again. It wouldn’t be the first time he’d done so when I visited him. Six months in jail, half his sentence and he still hadn’t forgiven me.

“Like you said, we was standing side by side when Jimmy came running into the alley. Not my fault you didn’t see where the bag of diamonds ended up. I still don’t know how you ended up implicating me in the robbery?”

“You know Jimmy; he can’t see anything without his glasses. He must have mistaken you for his apprentice when the coppers caught him. If you hadn’t still been in the alley looking for the stash, then you’d have been okay.”

“You could have got me off if you’d pipped up. But seeing as how you left me stranded, I think I might leave you high and dry to the whereabouts of the rocks.”

I wondered if he’d even seen Jimmy hide the bag either. I guess I’d find out in six months when he got out of the slammer. I still don’t know how he could have seen anything when we were next to each other and I didn’t. Doesn’t really matter I suppose, I’ll take him out when I know he’s retrieved the gems.

THE END