Run: 2026-02-18-01KHQ91D69X67CVP3FH6BXX98A

The van smelled like cheese crackers and regret. Molly spread the hand-drawn map across the dashboard while Bill ate the last of his sandwich and got mustard on the gearshift again. "Okay, so the party starts at two," Molly said, tapping the map with her pen. "We go in through the back gate at three, grab the presents, and we're out before the cake cutting." "Why before the cake cutting?" Bill asked. "Because if there's cake, you'll eat it. You ate the cake at the Henderson job." "That was a retirement party and they had fondant roses, Molly. Fondant roses." "Focus. The presents are going to be stacked near the bouncy castle according to my source." "Your source is a seven year old." "My source is highly motivated and got twelve dollars for the intel." Bill crumpled his sandwich wrapper and stuffed it under the seat where he kept his collection of crumpled sandwich wrappers. "How many kids are we talking about?" "Fourteen, maybe fifteen." "And how old?" "Six and under." "Good," Bill said, nodding seriously. "Six and under can't give a reliable description to police. Their sense of stranger danger is high but their attention spans are low." "That is either very smart or very terrible." "With me it's usually both." Molly folded the map and tucked it into her vest pocket, the one next to the pocket where she kept her lock picks and a single wrapped butterscotch candy for emergencies. "The birthday girl is turning five. Her name is Sophie. The theme is unicorns." "So there's going to be purple everywhere." "So much purple. We wear the purple." Bill looked at her. "We wear the purple." "We blend in. I got us both purple shirts." "Molly, I am a forty-three year old man with a neck tattoo that says 'BILL' in gothic font." "Which is why you also wear this." She pulled a purple paper party hat from the back seat and handed it to him with tremendous dignity. Bill held it at arm's length like it had personally insulted him. "Absolutely not." "Absolutely yes. You look like a dad. Dads wear hats at kids' parties. It's science." "I look like a dad who has made catastrophically poor life choices." "Bill. You are currently planning to rob a child's birthday party." He put the hat on. "Fair point." Molly checked her watch and looked toward the house at the end of the cul-de-sac, already loud with the sound of small people having large amounts of fun. A banner over the front door read HAPPY BIRTHDAY SOPHIE in glittery letters. "You feel good about this?" Bill asked. "I feel genuinely terrible about this," Molly said cheerfully, opening the van door. "Let's go." Bill adjusted his party hat in the side mirror and followed her out into the afternoon sunshine, already hearing the bouncy castle. He was definitely going to eat the cake.