Run: 2026-04-24-01KQ0G7FWB8ZDBH2X98AAR874M

Molly spread the blueprint across the kitchen table, anchoring the corners with half-empty beer cans. Bill leaned over it, squinting like a man reading a ransom note written in crayon. Which, technically, he was. "You got this from where, again?" "Timmy's older brother. Cost me forty bucks and a vape pen." "Molly. Molly, sweetheart. This is a drawing of a house. With a dragon in the backyard." "The dragon's artistic license. Focus on the party zone." Bill jabbed a finger at a lopsided rectangle. "And this? What's this blob?" "Bouncy castle." "And this blob?" "Also bouncy castle. There's two. Timmy's dad is going through a divorce and overcompensating." "Beautiful. A man after my own heart." Bill straightened up, cracking his back. "Okay, walk me through it." "Party starts at two. Presents get stacked on the dining room table by two-fifteen. Cake at three. Piñata at three-thirty. That's our window." "Why the piñata?" "Bill, think. Twenty kids, blindfolded, swinging a bat in a confined space. Every adult in that house is going to be watching that piñata like it owes them money. Nobody's looking at the presents." "Huh." Bill scratched his chin. "That's actually smart." "I have my moments." "What about the clown?" "What clown?" "There's always a clown, Molly. Birthday party, kid turning seven, you better believe there's a clown. Clowns are wild cards. Unpredictable. I knew a guy got bit by one in Reno." "There's no clown. I checked the Evite." "You saw the Evite?" "Timmy's brother forwarded it. I'm RSVP'd as Aunt Deborah." Bill stared at her. "You are something else." "I'm a professional." She tapped the blueprint. "You come in through the side gate dressed as the magician. I'm already inside being Aunt Deborah. When the piñata drops, you distract with a card trick, I load the presents into the minivan." "Why do I have to be the magician?" "Because you look like a guy who owns a cape." "That's fair." "Also, you actually do own a cape." "Separate issue." Bill pulled a notepad from his pocket. "Escape route?" "Down Maple, left on Sycamore, ditch the van behind the Home Depot, switch to the Civic. We're home eating the spoils by five." "The spoils being..." "Bill. It's a seven-year-old's birthday. We're looking at Legos, maybe a Nintendo Switch, gift cards, possibly cash in birthday envelopes from the grandparents. One kid at my nephew's party got a savings bond." "A savings bond." Bill's eyes went misty. "God bless boomer grandparents." "So we're in?" He rolled up the blueprint and tucked it under his arm, stepping back with the grave dignity of a man about to commit a federal crime against a minor. "Molly, I haven't robbed a child since the Santa job of '09. I'm a little rusty." "You'll be fine." "Should I bring the cape?" "Bill. Always bring the cape."