“Oh, that’s so sweet of you, Larry,” Skye said, her voice warm, almost charming. “But I got this, thank you.”
“We can still keep each other company, yes?”
“Uh, sure,” Skye said, though she seemed to slow down her steps.
Lucia leaned forward, her brows furrowed. “That’s bad,” she said, already dialing Skye’s number.
Skye’s phone rang. “Oh, Larry. Go ahead. I gotta take this.” She held up her arm with her watch. “Or I’m in the doghouse with my girlfriend.”
“Oh, your… Sure, all right. Nice to meet you.” He seemed to hurry off.
Commotion followed, static, before Skye answered the phone. “Hi, sweetheart. Took you a while.”
“Yes, yes,” Lucia said. “You’re welcome.”
“I love you, too! See you tonight.” Skye hung up.
“Let’s hope that was the crisis of the day.”
Jules groaned. “Why would you say that?”
“What?”
“You probably just jinxed us.”
“Don’t tell me you’re superstitious?” Lucia asked with a soft laugh.
“No, but I don’t tempt fate to fuck with me either.”
“Please. It’ll be fine.”
Jules glared at her. “You just didn’t, did you? What’swrongwith you? Maybe Skye was right, and you should stick to your forgeries.”
“Hey! There’s no need to be rude!”
Jules closed her eyes. “I’m sorry. I’ve been…stressed recently.” Her gaze drifted back to the screen. “But please don’t say that again until we’re all back home.”
“All right.”
“She’s at the closet.”
Skye swiped her badge. A red light.
“Shit,” Jules mumbled. “Do it again,” she told Skye, who did, and after a second that stretched like chewing gum, the lightturned green. Skye snuck into the closet, flipping on the light and scanning her surroundings.
“I’m gonna hide it back there, leaning against the wall behind all these cleaning supplies. It’s a bunch of the same stuff, so even if they take some from the front, they likely won’t pay close attention to the back.”
“Tell her to put some stuff in front of it to hide it a bit more,” Lucia said, and Jules relayed the instructions.
“Duh,” Skye said, then stilled.
“What is it?”
“Voices,” Skye mumbled.
“Are they coming in?”
“How should I know?” Skye whisper-shouted.
