“I dinnae figure ye for a Hallmark kind of lass, but ye surprise me every day.Let’s get a shift on.”
When we arrive, we park next to each other, and I can feel his questions through the windows when I don a long, blonde wig and a big pair of sunglasses.
He doesn’t ask any of them though when I step out except, “Want me to come in?”
“No.This one’s mine.”
His eyes search my face, finding something that makes him nod slowly.“Aye.Fair enough.But if you’re not back in five, there willnae be a mall for anyone anymore.A tragic loss for the great city of Wichita.”
I smile.“Indeed.But I’ll be back in less than five.”
I’m not too worried anyway since we parked close to the entrance, and the place is bustling for mid-afternoon.Red Hands surely won’t make a move in a place so crowded…yet on the other hand, he broke into my car in broad daylight.
As soon as I step through the mall doors and spot a security guard—a burly female who looks like she chews glass for fun—I breathe a fraction easier.
The Hallmark store sits between a Cinnabon and a shoe shop, its windows full of pastel crosses and inspirational word art, likeLIVE LAUGH LOVEin cursive above a stock photo sunset.I want to put my fist through it.
I walk in with the envelope held casually at my side and confidence in every step.I’m just another customer, a customer with murder on her mind and an envelope full of damaging evidence.
Two employees cluster near the register—college-aged girls, probably part-time.Evelyn Harrow is currently on her lunch break.
I walk to the counter and set the envelope down.
The girls look up.
“Can I help you?”one asks.
“Just dropping something off for Mrs.Harrow.”My smile feels like a blade hidden in silk.“She’s expecting it.”
The lie slides out smooth and easy.
The girl takes the envelope.“Okay, I’ll make sure she gets it.”
I turn and walk out.
When I make it back to James’s van, he raises an eyebrow.“Done?”
I slip off my wig and sunglasses.“Done.”
James tails me to work, and in the rearview mirror, I watch the mall shrink and imagine Evelyn finding that envelope when she gets back from her lunch break.Her trembling hands as she opens it.Her possible denial—this can’t be real; there must be some mistake.Then the slow, cold realization settling into her bones like frost.The way her world will crack and splinter.
It feels better than I expected.
It feels like control.
***
AftermyshiftatGas N’ Go, the private investigator Eddie hired follows me home.Eddie and James made up a whole schedule about who does what to protect me and when.It warms my chest.It makes me want to invite my monsters in even more.
When I step inside, my house hums, a low vibration in the walls, like the building itself is exhaling.
The air is still cool, but not hostile.More like…anticipatory.
Upstairs, I jump into the shower, and when I step out, condensation clouds the mirror.Finger-traced through the moisture, there’s a single word:
LIAR
I stare at it, at the accusation dripping slowly down the mirror’s surface.
