Page 46 of F*ck Steal Kill

What a kick to the gut that had been.

“You’re not a crappy maid,” Lacey huffed, pulling the sheets taught. “He’s just mad he’s not getting the Holland cream too.”

“Shut the fuck up.” I laughed, throwing a pillow at her head. She stuck out her tongue, picking it up to fluff and placing it against the headboard.

“Oh shit,” Joy said, making us both turn to her.

“What?”

“Phantasm sent over more info on the kiddie circle. The guy’s in town, and he’s planning to meet up tonight with a broker.”

“What the fuck?” We couldn’t let this guy get his hands on a child. My heart raced as I tried to find a solution.

“He told us to stay hidden, and yet he keeps sending us shit,” Lacey cursed, her go-to default to accuse everyone when she was scared.

“Yeah, well, it’s not like we can take a sick day or vacation from unaliving bad guys. They sure as hell don’t.”

I paced back and forth. There wasn’t enough time to make a good plan. This would need us all and the potential to be messy if things went haywire. I didn’t think I’d be able to get away with a staged suicide for these guys. Because there was no way I was letting a buyer and a pedophile live to touch another child.

They’d both need to die.

“I need to cancel my date. This is our first priority, and we need all hands on deck,” I said, a plan forming. “When’s the meeting?” I asked, glancing at Joy.

“It’s at 4 pm. He’s probably grabbing a kid from school and selling them quickly to reduce the trail. You might be able to still make your date…” she trailed off, her unspoken words hanging in the air.

If we’re not caught.

If we don’t die.

If we’re cleaned up in time.

Nodding, I pushed that aside for now. I could deal with them later once we saved a child.

“Do you have the location for the meetup?”

“Yes. What are you thinking?” Joy asked.

“See if we can contact the buyer and urge them to meet earlier. If we can head off the meeting and separate them, we’ll have a better chance of success.”

Joy nodded, already messaging Phantasm as she left the room. Lacey looked at the clipboard, checking how many rooms we had left.

“If we hurry, we can finish the last two and get Kerry to cover us until our shift ends.”

“Yes. Message her. I’ll start on the next one while you two do that.”

While I cleaned, I prepared myself for the job, thinking through all the variables and the overall success rate of each tactic. My statistical brain came alive as it searched for patterns and solutions, finding the best cost-benefit analysis. I doubted any of my teachers ever thought I’d use math for murdering.

By the time we’d finished with our floor, I knew what we had to do. “Everything taken care of?” I asked, coming out of my mental fog.

“Kerry’s on board. We owe her a case of ciders,” Lacey said, hiding our cart in the back so it wasn’t noticeable.

“The buyer can only meet thirty minutes sooner, so we have a small window before the second mark shows. We’ll have to be quick,” Joy added, checking over her shoulder as we peered around the corner.

Familiar voices headed our way, and I pushed us into a closet, keeping it cracked. I didn’t need them to catch me leaving work when I was supposed to be here until five.

And this was why relationships were difficult when you murdered people on the regular. I didn’t need a boyfriend checking up on me.

“I don’t know what your problem is with her, but you need to let it go. Max and I like her, and we’re not going to quit seeing her just because you can’t accept your own feelings.”

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