Run: 2026-06-01-01KT1GV9WR7Q756F2YMBZ5TMBB

Molly spread the blueprint across the table, smoothing out the corners with the reverence of a surgeon. "Okay, Bill. The Henderson party. Saturday, two o'clock. Twenty kids, fifteen presents, one bouncy castle." "A bouncy castle?" Bill leaned in. "Why do I need to know about the bouncy castle?" "Because the bouncy castle is our way in." Bill stared at her. "You want me to bounce my way into a children's party." "No, you idiot. The bouncy castle creates a blind spot. The parents can't see behind it. That's where the present table is." "And how do you know all this?" "I cased the joint. I was there yesterday for the Patterson kid's party. Same backyard, same setup." "You went to a child's birthday party? Alone? A grown woman with no child?" Molly waved him off. "I said I was Aunt Linda. Nobody questions Aunt Linda. Everyone has an Aunt Linda." "That's actually disturbingly clever." "Now, here's the plan. You distract the parents." "How?" "You're the clown." Bill recoiled like she'd slapped him. "Absolutely not." "Bill—" "I have a phobia, Molly. You know this. I told you this in confidence." "You're afraid of clowns and you want to be a thief who steals from children. Do you hear yourself?" "It's different when I'm the clown! Then there are *two* of us!" Molly pinched the bridge of her nose. "Fine. You do the magic show instead. I'll be the clown." "You can't do magic." "It's children, Bill. I'll pull a quarter out of a kid's ear and they'll lose their minds." "And what'll I be doing?" "Loading the presents into the van while everyone's watching me ruin childhoods one card trick at a time." Bill scratched his chin. "The van. About the van. It says 'Happy Smiles Party Rentals' on the side." "Yeah. So we blend in." "It also says, in smaller letters underneath, 'Bill's Bail Bonds.'" Molly froze. "What?" "I bought it used. They only painted over half." "Bill." "I thought nobody reads the small print!" "At a children's party? Where suspicious parents have nothing to do but read small print on suspicious vans? *Bill.*" "We'll park it backward!" Molly took a deep, steadying breath. "Okay. New plan. We park backward. I do the clown. You do the magic. We grab the presents during the piñata." "Why the piñata?" "Because for ninety glorious seconds, twenty children will be swinging a bat with their eyes closed while sugar-crazed and screaming. Total chaos. Nobody watches the present table during a piñata." Bill nodded slowly. "That's beautiful, actually." "I know." "One question." "What?" "What do we do with fifteen children's presents? We can't fence a Barbie Dreamhouse, Molly." She paused. Looked at the blueprint. Looked at Bill. "...I hadn't thought that far ahead." "So we're stealing presents we can't sell, from children, while dressed as our two worst fears, in a van that advertises my failed bail bonds business." Molly rolled up the blueprint. "When you say it out loud, it loses something."