Molly spread the hand-drawn map across the sticky diner table, knocking over the ketchup bottle for the third time that morning. Bill caught it without looking up from his phone. "Put that away and focus," Molly said. "We've got six hours until the party starts." "I'm focused. I'm looking up the floor plan of Chuck E. Cheese." "It's not at Chuck E. Cheese. It's at a house. A suburban house. With a bouncy castle in the backyard. I told you this." Bill set his phone down. "A bouncy castle changes things." "It changes nothing." "It changes the exit strategy, Molly. What if we need to go over the back fence? You try running across an inflatable surface carrying forty pounds of wrapped gifts. You can't do it. Your ankles go sideways. I've seen it happen." "When have you ever seen that happen?" "My nephew's birthday. 2019. A man tried to carry a cooler across the bounce house and he went down like a tranquilized horse. Blew out both knees." Molly rubbed her temples. "We're not going anywhere near the bouncy castle. The presents will be on a table in the living room. We go in through the garage, grab the gifts, load the van, and leave. Simple." "What about the kids?" "What about them?" "They're witnesses, Molly." "They're six. Who's going to believe them? Little Jayden tells his mom he saw two people in black carrying armfuls of presents out the side door, and she's going to say he watched too much Paw Patrol." Bill leaned back and crossed his arms. "I don't feel great about this one." "You didn't feel great about the bar mitzvah job either and we cleared nine hundred dollars in gift cards." "The bar mitzvah kid was thirteen. He had perspective. These are six-year-olds, Molly. They still believe in magic." "Good. Then they'll think a wizard took their presents. Look, do you want to pay rent this month or do you want to have a moral crisis in a Denny's?" "This is an IHOP." "That makes it worse. Listen to me. The birthday boy's father is Gerald Finch." Bill's expression shifted. "Finch? The guy who fired you from the accounting firm?" "The very same. The guy who said I had, and I quote, a suspicious nature unsuitable for professional environments." "I mean, he wasn't wrong." "He was absolutely wrong. I am delightful in professional environments. I just also happen to steal things. Those are two separate qualities." Bill stared at the map for a long moment. He traced the route from the garage to the living room with his finger. "How many presents are we talking?" "His wife posted the guest list on Facebook. Twenty-two kids confirmed. Upper-middle-class neighborhood. We're looking at a conservative haul of two thousand dollars in toys alone." "And the bouncy castle?" "Forget the bouncy castle." "I want to go on it after." Molly folded the map. "Fine. But we're wearing the masks the whole time."