"Documenting crime scenes?"
"Not active investigations, but the aftermath. The residue of violence, the places where death happened. I could search for inspiration the same way we hunted on the road, but this timemore carefully. I could mix it with real life drawings, showing human emotion."
I'm listening now, really listening. Because that could work.
"You'd need a portfolio," I say. "High quality, professionally presented."
"I’m already ahead of you. I've been planning it." She gestures to the photographs around us. "Some of these could work, like the environmental shots and the roadkill studies. But I need more, like fresh work. Current scenes, especially in new locations."
"Which means hunting."
"Yeah."
"In San Diego."
"Yeah, we could also go to other parts of California."
The implications hit us both. We'd be returning to a darker place, to the pursuit, to the thing that makes us feel alive. But we'd be doing it here, in our new home, under our new identities.
Fuck, its risky. Dangerous, but necessary.
"We'd have to be careful," I say. "No witnesses or patterns or anything that connects back to us."
"Of course."
"And the work would have to be legitimate, something that could actually sell."
"It will be. I know what I'm doing."
I pull her against me, my hand sliding up to cup the back of her neck. "This is what you want?”
"It's what I need, whatweneed. A way to be exactly who we are while staying invisible."
"And if it doesn't work?"
"Then we run, like we always planned. But I think it will work. This may be the solution we have been looking for."
I kiss her, tasting the certainty, passion and absolute conviction. She's right, this could work. This could be the answer to the void that's been eating at both of us since we arrived.
"Okay," I say against her mouth. "We do it. But we do it my way. Carefully, with no unnecessary risks."
"Agreed."
"And if I say we pull back, we pull back. No arguments."
"Okay."
I tighten my grip on her neck, just enough to make her gasp. "Be exactly who you are, but under the radar. A legitimate career."
"All above board."
"Show me what you're planning."
She pulls away and goes to grab a notebook on the counter. Inside are sketches, notes, a timeline mapped out in her precise handwriting.
Portfolio: 25-30 pieces
Crime scene photography (after clearance)
