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Calm down. Okay. It would be okay.

If all went well, by the time Jane arrived, she’d be out and back in her car. It would all be over and all would be fine and she could show Jane what she’d found. If she found anything.

She was going in.

She was.

Maybe.

*

“I already said, I’ll tell you when we get there.” Kev was being horrible. Bossy. Kept refusing to tell her what he was going to do. Kellianne, relegated to the backseat of the Afterwards van a-gain, yanked her seat belt over the front of her puffer jacket. Hate this. But know-it-all Kev ordered her to stay home, and she had to prove he wasn’t the boss of her. So here she was.

Only fifteen minutes to Margolin Street, usually. When the weather wasn’t this crappy. Hmm. Maybe she should snake a couple more items. Since the TV said their cop guy was, like, out of commission, who knew when her next opportunity would be?

She braced herself against the headrest as Kev ignored a stop sign and barely missed a guy in a Jeep. The radio was blaring. The boys whispered as they smoked a blunt in the front seat, but she wasn’t about to ask for a hit. Not while she needed her brain to figure this out. She hadn’t put two and two together before, but now she could do the math. The cop plus the shooting equaled shit for Kellianne. Would her supply and demand dry up?

So, okay. She’d held off on the valuable stuff before, but this time she wouldn’t hesitate. Who cared about a dead person?

She smiled, thinking of something funny. She was always cleaning up after dead people, right? Now she would just clean up.

They were passing downtown, the familiar jaggedy skyline almost blotted out by the snow. The row of weather lights on the top of the Hancock Building flashed blue, which meant snow. Duh. The van turned toward Margolin Street.

What were Kev and Keefer gonna do? Probably make sure all their equipment was out of there. She knew they’d left disinfectant and alcohol and cleaning supplies. While they did whatever, she’d find what she was looking for, and get out. They never made her a part of anything, and this time she was happy about that. Morons. When it was over, she’d be another step closer to getting out for good.

Life was short.

*

Was that Jane? Already? A block away, headlights flashed in Ella’s rearview mirror. She’d never asked her what kind of car Jane drove, so silly of her. Already three had whooshed by, and each time Ella almost jumped out of her skin. If Jane arrived too soon, she’d never make it inside and out in time.

But she wasn’t quite ready.

“It’s okay,” she reassured herself out loud. “This is a public street. You’re allowed here.”

She turned off the engine, just in case. Stayed in the dark.

The headlights came closer. Closer. They lit up her car interior with their cold blue beams. She flopped onto the passenger seat, staying out of view. It’s weirder if someone sees you lying on the seat. Sit up!

When she did, she saw the car-a van, really, a grayish van, drive slowly past Lillian’s house.

Relief. See? It’s not even-

But the van backed up. Parked. Almost in front of Lillian’s. Was it Jane? Now everything was ruined, because if Jane didn’t want her to go in, well, how would she convince her she had to? She was doing her job, she really was. If Jane didn’t like it she could just leave.

It wasn’t Jane.

The doors of the van had opened, and two men got out, smoking, wearing baseball caps. Then another door slid open and another person got out. Ella squinted through the murky night. A woman? A woman.

Ella sat back, flipped down her sun visor to block their view of her, just in case. Lillian’s porch light had clicked on. Ella narrowed her eyes, used a finger to make a slice of clear on the foggy side window to watch.

This was confusing. If people knew Lillian was dead, maybe they were trying to break into her house? But not in the middle of the-well, it was eight o’clock. What kind of stupid burglar, three burglars, would walk right up a front path?

She watched, transfixed, as they approached the house. Should she call the police? Holy God. Then how would she explain why she was there? Maybe not say who she was? Well, that might work. She reached for her cell phone. Then stopped.

They might have a perfect right to be there. Then where would she be? It would be so embarrassing. But not if her call were anonymous. She put her hand on the phone again. Took it off. Why could she never decide what to do?

Now they were-

She risked buzzing down her window, a tiny bit. They were across the street, couldn’t possibly see her. Plus, they were busy at the door. Now, with the porch light on, she could see there was crime tape.

They were-How could they do that?

*

“Just cut through it. Don’t you have your knife?” Kev sucked down the last of the joint, tossed the roach aside, and waved to Keefer.

Keefer pulled out his Swiss Army, flipped it open, and poked the point into where the space should be between the door and the jamb thing. The blade snagged on the triple thickness of the sealing tape and almost flipped closed on his gloved finger.

“Gimme that, you moron.” Kev shouldered in front of him, picked at one edge of the tape with the knifepoint. He found a loose strip and gave it a yank. It ripped down in one motion, pulling the other layers with it. “Wah-LA. As they say in France.”

In a few seconds, Kev had crunched up the yellow tape and tossed the sticky ball behind a snow-blanketed shrub. “So much for that,” he said.

“But Kev, now the police are gonna-” Kellianne didn’t get this. Not at all. “Wouldn’t it be better to have it look like no one’d been here? I mean, leave it on?”

“Won’t matter, Miss Princess,” Kev said. “Now if you’ll do me the supreme favor of shutting up, we’ll be in, be out, be gone. Our problems will be over.”

They were morons. But who cared about their plans? She had her own.

Kev unlocked the door, and Kellianne was the last one in. The foyer light was still on, the rest of the house in gloomy darkness. It still smelled like their cleaning stuff, no question, and she didn’t know what Kev planned to do about that. She clicked the door closed, then called after her dumb brothers heading toward the kitchen.

“I have to use the bathroom,” she said.

“Knock yourself out,” Kev called over his shoulder. “But don’t take too long.”

What was so funny about that? Kellianne heard their laughter as she made her way to her treasure.

*

Oh, she was so dumb. Of course. She should have thought of this. Ella watched the three police officers on the porch, since that’s who they must be, plainclothes officers, with that gray van their unmarked car. Because who else would take down the crime scene tape?

Ella nodded, agreeing with herself, and counting her blessings. This was a sign it would all work. The more she thought about it, the more wonderful it was. The police had taken down the tape, meaning the house wasn’t a sealed crime scene anymore. Meaning she could easily and legally go inside.

Ella smiled for the first time in a long while. She settled back into the driver’s seat, drawing her coat around her in the chill.

The police had closed the door behind them. They were probably checking that everything was okay, which it certainly was, then they would leave.

Then she was absolutely definitely going in.

She would only have to be out before Jane arrived. Things were going nicely. All would be fine.