Washington.”
“So it’s a DC commuter community. You said a house, right?” Chase nodded. “Yeah, I’m sure I can find you a furnished home. Professionals are always renting out their places when they’re sent on long-term assignments. How big?”
“I don’t think it needs to be too big,” said Chase. “We just need enough room for Grant and me. Oh, and Paul Farraday.”
Lisa cocked an eyebrow. “That drunk is in on this job, too?”
“Yeah,” Grant confirmed.
“What’s his take?”
“Less than yours.” Grant winced at the knowledge that a third of the loot was gone before he’d even seen or touched it. “But he brought us the job. See, his cousin got fired from the church for being gay, and this is the cousin’s way of getting revenge.”
Lisa asked, “And how much is this cousin getting?”
“Also less than you.”
“Okay, then.” Lisa stood, announcing the end of the meeting. “I’ll advance you twenty thousand dollars and arrange for a furnished house for a month in Nash Bog. I can probably have my end of the bargain wrapped up by late tomorrow afternoon. And when the job is over…”
“You get one-third,” said Grant. “Not bad for a few hours’ work.”
“Right.” She smiled. “And Lambert?”
“Huh?”
“Let’s both hope Farraday’s cousin is right, and the safe isn’t full of old newspapers.”
“I hear you.”
“Because if it is…”
“I hear you.”
“…you’re going to be pulling a lot of heists over the next few years to pay me back.”
“I hear you.”
“Every penny,” added Mary Beth. She was Lisa’s punctuation mark.
$ $ $
As soon as the door closed behind the departing Grant and Chase, Mary Beth turned to Lisa and said, “I cannot believe you’re lending those losers twenty thousand dollars.”
Lisa latched the door and threw the deadbolt, hoping Grant and Chase were still close enough to hear the finality. Then she walked the few steps back to the living room and said, “For one-third of the haul. I think it was a good deal.”
“Don’t tell me you bought that bullshit. Seven million dollars in a safe? No way.”
“No, that I don’t believe.” Lisa sat, finally reclaiming her favorite chair. “Maybe they believe that; I don’t. But even Grant Lambert can pull off a job bringing in more than twenty-k, and the first thing he’ll have to do is pay me back. Then, for every dollar they steal over twenty, I get another thirty-three cents.”
Mary Beth slumped back into the couch, a frown on her face. “Thirty-three cents have never sounded so pathetic.”
Lisa offered her a smile that danced on the border between patronizing and indulgent. “Maybe we’ll be really lucky and Lambert and Chase will steal twenty thousand and three dollars! Then you can have an entire dollar all to yourself!”
A throw pillow glanced off the side of Lisa’s head.
$ $ $
A half hour later, Lisa poured a glass of wine and retired to the second bedroom, which she’d converted to a home office. It was a great tax write-off that made the apartment even more affordable, and better yet, was the only room Mary Beth mostly ignored.
She logged onto her computer and typed Nash Bog VA into a search engine, intending to get a quick overview of the Nash Bog housing market. But the second search result stopped her cold.
“The Virginia Cathedral of Love?!”
From the living room, Mary Beth called back, “Did you say something?”
Maybe her voice had been a little too loud, but still, this was something Mary Beth should know. “Come here.”
Mary Beth, now wrapped in a pink robe and matching—also very expensive—slippers, shuffled into the room and looked over her partner’s shoulder. Lisa clicked on a link and the screen filled with the image of a large building, sunlight illuminating huge stained-glass windows. Above it, a cross towered in a cloudless blue sky.
“What’s that?” asked Mary Beth. “Lambert’s
“So it’s a DC commuter community. You said a house, right?” Chase nodded. “Yeah, I’m sure I can find you a furnished home. Professionals are always renting out their places when they’re sent on long-term assignments. How big?”
“I don’t think it needs to be too big,” said Chase. “We just need enough room for Grant and me. Oh, and Paul Farraday.”
Lisa cocked an eyebrow. “That drunk is in on this job, too?”
“Yeah,” Grant confirmed.
“What’s his take?”
“Less than yours.” Grant winced at the knowledge that a third of the loot was gone before he’d even seen or touched it. “But he brought us the job. See, his cousin got fired from the church for being gay, and this is the cousin’s way of getting revenge.”
Lisa asked, “And how much is this cousin getting?”
“Also less than you.”
“Okay, then.” Lisa stood, announcing the end of the meeting. “I’ll advance you twenty thousand dollars and arrange for a furnished house for a month in Nash Bog. I can probably have my end of the bargain wrapped up by late tomorrow afternoon. And when the job is over…”
“You get one-third,” said Grant. “Not bad for a few hours’ work.”
“Right.” She smiled. “And Lambert?”
“Huh?”
“Let’s both hope Farraday’s cousin is right, and the safe isn’t full of old newspapers.”
“I hear you.”
“Because if it is…”
“I hear you.”
“…you’re going to be pulling a lot of heists over the next few years to pay me back.”
“I hear you.”
“Every penny,” added Mary Beth. She was Lisa’s punctuation mark.
$ $ $
As soon as the door closed behind the departing Grant and Chase, Mary Beth turned to Lisa and said, “I cannot believe you’re lending those losers twenty thousand dollars.”
Lisa latched the door and threw the deadbolt, hoping Grant and Chase were still close enough to hear the finality. Then she walked the few steps back to the living room and said, “For one-third of the haul. I think it was a good deal.”
“Don’t tell me you bought that bullshit. Seven million dollars in a safe? No way.”
“No, that I don’t believe.” Lisa sat, finally reclaiming her favorite chair. “Maybe they believe that; I don’t. But even Grant Lambert can pull off a job bringing in more than twenty-k, and the first thing he’ll have to do is pay me back. Then, for every dollar they steal over twenty, I get another thirty-three cents.”
Mary Beth slumped back into the couch, a frown on her face. “Thirty-three cents have never sounded so pathetic.”
Lisa offered her a smile that danced on the border between patronizing and indulgent. “Maybe we’ll be really lucky and Lambert and Chase will steal twenty thousand and three dollars! Then you can have an entire dollar all to yourself!”
A throw pillow glanced off the side of Lisa’s head.
$ $ $
A half hour later, Lisa poured a glass of wine and retired to the second bedroom, which she’d converted to a home office. It was a great tax write-off that made the apartment even more affordable, and better yet, was the only room Mary Beth mostly ignored.
She logged onto her computer and typed Nash Bog VA into a search engine, intending to get a quick overview of the Nash Bog housing market. But the second search result stopped her cold.
“The Virginia Cathedral of Love?!”
From the living room, Mary Beth called back, “Did you say something?”
Maybe her voice had been a little too loud, but still, this was something Mary Beth should know. “Come here.”
Mary Beth, now wrapped in a pink robe and matching—also very expensive—slippers, shuffled into the room and looked over her partner’s shoulder. Lisa clicked on a link and the screen filled with the image of a large building, sunlight illuminating huge stained-glass windows. Above it, a cross towered in a cloudless blue sky.
“What’s that?” asked Mary Beth. “Lambert’s
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