Page 76 of Happily Never After

“What do you think? Purple or red?” Mindy stuck her head into the gap between the front seats and swapped between two wigs.

“Red,” Luke and Claire said together. Mindy slapped the purple one on Claire’s head.

“Is this really necessary?”

“What, you don’t think ESA has cameras monitoring their abandoned frat houses just in case? Wigs are mandatory. For you too.” She tossed a short, black bob at Luke.

He grumbled and put it on. They made quite the trio.

It wasn’t Claire’s finest plan. There was no time to make a binder or dig for blueprints. They had barely found time to get the lay of the land via Google Maps. But, using a complex system of garters and headbands, she had managed to affix four different Tasers to her body.

“I wish we were there with you.” Nicole’s voice said. She, Kyle, and Sawyer were crammed into the same frame on Mindy’s phone.

“For the record, I do not support this,” Sawyer said. Kyle nodded and crossed his arms.

Claire tugged the wig down over her gargantuan bun. “This is the least dangerous thing we’ve done all day. ESA’s gone. The worst thing we might come up against is a group of wily cockroaches.”

“I thought we decided the frat brothers had left the building?” Mindy asked.

“Ha!” Claire and Mindy high-fived. Luke didn’t seem to appreciate the joke.

Mindy popped an earbud in. The audio from her phone cut out. “Ready?”

“Let’s get the bastards.” Claire flung her car door open and stepped out into the night.

The streetlights buzzed overhead. Music bumped from a different frat house down the block. A group of three girls in crop tops opened the door and stepped inside, but otherwise everything was silent.

Claire glanced over her shoulder and scanned the dark street. There was no sensation of being watched, but that didn’t mean anything. ESA had been ready to take her today, even with Mindy in tow. It was impossible to say if they had been followed. Was there a creep in a car watching them right now? She suppressed a shudder and turned back to the task at hand.

Claire and Mindy had both traded in their heels for sneakers. Luke looked over his shoulder every few seconds, short black bob lining the edge of his chiseled jaw. Was her manic pixie dream boyfriend expecting ESA to reach out and grab Claire at any second? They hadn’t talked much about what had happened, but it was clear that it was weighing on him. During their brief stop at home, Luke had applied WD-40 to the garage door and sanded down a chair leg.

They approached the building. It seemed to yawn at them, windows an abyss. Claire’s stomach clenched. Measured breaths whooshed through her nostrils. She pulled out her phone and checked the live camera at the doggy daycare. Rosie chomped on a bone while Winston was curled up beside her. They, at least, were fine.

As she went to exit the app, she paused. Doggy daycare. It was a relatively new concept. There weren’t any in the greater West Haven area. Would Sam and Gloria be interested in the idea? It would require a different license, but it could add a permanent revenue stream. She quickly typed the idea into a note and pocketed her phone. If ESA wasn’t brought down, nothing and no one in her life was safe. If they burned down the shelter, she would never forgive herself.

She rolled her shoulders back and set her eyes on the house. When they had infiltrated the ESA frat at Venor, they had utilized the university’s underground tunnel system. Unfortunately, due to California’s penchant for shaking the crap out of its residents, there were no tunnels under this frat house. They were going to have to resort to good old-fashioned breaking and entering.

Grass crunched underfoot as they stepped off the sidewalk and skirted around the edge of the house. They followed a six-foot privacy fence to the backyard and flanked the backdoor. A small yard with a scorched fire pit sat before them. The concretepath dead-ended at a shed. A beer pong table that looked virtually untouched was askew next to it.

“Let me get the kit.” She rummaged in her purse and handed a small lock picking set to Luke.

“Here goes nothing.” Luke, a lifelong student, had spent a long weekend the previous summer learning how to pick locks. He snapped a pair of gloves on and crammed a tension wrench and rake into the keyhole.

Claire stepped around him and pressed herself against the window. Moonlight streaked across a suspiciously clean kitchen. No sign of life inside.

Mindy stepped into the shadows and pointed the phone up at the rafters of the house.

“Any cameras?” Claire hissed.

Mindy listened intently for a moment, then shook her head. “Sawyer says he doesn’t see anything obvious.”

“Tell him to keep looking. I don’t trust them.” She shuffled to the edge of the building and peeked around the corner. A car drove by but didn’t slow down.

“Got it.” There was a click, and the door swung open.

Claire stepped back to the door and took Luke by both arms. “You are a sexy genius.” She kissed him, then dragged him inside. Mindy followed.

The door closed behind them with an unnervingthunk. The inside of the house was dark and completely silent. For a frat house, it was almost suspiciously nice. Hardwood floors stretched back to a cushy-looking living room with leather sofas. The kitchen they stood in was full of gleaming stainless steel appliances. Maybe the university had hired a cleaning crew after ESA had disbanded. There was no way a bunch of twenty-year-old dudes lived like this. Where were the cartoon penises and dented walls? There wasn’t even a single broken bifold door or overflowing trash can.

---