The Unmarked Box

 

On a shelf in the back of a little Post Office sorting room in Didsbury sits a red and white Parcel Force bag waiting to be unpacked. Inside the bag is a variety of packages. Tucked into a corner of the bag is a little box; an ordinary box, measuring only 8cm by 7.5cm and 5cm deep. It has no unusual markings, no makers label and is made from recycled cardboard. It once housed paper clips, the ones covered in multi-coloured plastic. But they had been tipped into a little blue ashtray so that this box could rise above its station and become more than just an ordinary box.  

Soon, but perhaps not soon enough, the above mentioned box will be found by a CIB officer investigating the murder of a young journalist. Once found it will be marked by the officer in a chain of evidence log. The little box will then gain the status of Exhibit C for case number M/F000925439. A neatly printed evidence label with the box's new identity will be attached to its side and it will no longer be an unmarked box.

All this because nestled in a little fold of bubble wrap inside this box a memory stick sleeps peacefully in the dark confines of the little ex paper clip box.

Just two days ago the memory stick was plugged in to a shiny laptop. The laptop fed it some very kill worthy information. Even though its little red light flashed like the warning signal for landing aircraft on an overcrowded runway as it swallowed up the bytes of knowledge, the memory stick is not overly concerned about the contents of this information but the owner of the laptop - now he, he's very excited by what the little memory stick has tucked away in its memory banks. This man has dreams of journalism awards in tasteful frames some day hanging from the walls of his imaginary New York apartment. In his current daydream he also sees himself working with top news photographers, covering the kinds of stories that make a man a legend in his time.

The registered owner of the computer is Marc Goodwill and rather foolishly the password for all his confidential files is the name of his favourite Luc Besson film. Marc likes digging away at a story even when his sources tell him it’s not such a good idea to let his shovel sink so deep into the loam.

Marc listens but he sometimes refuses to hear.

Even when Marc’s sources disappear and turn up in body bags the size of A5 envelopes he still fails to understand the crucial message.

So when Marc Goodwill’s decomposing body is finally found in a seedy hotel better known for its vertical tango activities, there are those who will say Marc Goodwill had it coming.