Run: 2026-09-02-01M1H58MGPACQ4CFPVNEGSYPVQ

Molly spread the blueprint across the card table, weighting the corners with beer coasters. Bill leaned over it, squinting. "Walk me through it again," he said. "The target is a birthday party." "A children's birthday party," Molly corrected. "Little Timmy Wexler turns seven on Saturday. That kid's got presents stacked to the ceiling. New gaming console, a drone, at least two mountain bikes. His parents went overboard this year." "And we're going to steal from a seven-year-old." "We're going to liberate merchandise from an unattended dwelling during a public distraction. It's textbook." Bill rubbed his face with both hands. "Where do the kids go during a party at their own house?" "The backyard. There's a bouncy castle, a pony, a magician. The whole show runs from two to five. Back door's unlocked, presents are in the living room, in we go, out we go." "Uh-huh. And who's watching the house while everyone's out back?" Molly paused. "Nobody. That's the whole point." "Nobody except the grandmother." "There's no grandmother on the invitation." "Molly. Every kid's party has a grandmother. She sits in the kitchen. She watches her purse and the presents like a hawk. Grandmothers are the unpaid security guards of the suburban world." Molly pulled out a chair and sat down hard. "Okay. So we add a distraction for the grandmother." "Like what?" "Doorbell. Tupperware saleswoman." "She'll know the party's out back. She'll smell the pony." "A lost puppy, then. Grandmothers cannot resist a lost puppy." Bill counted on his fingers. "So we need a puppy, a bouncy castle alibi, and two trained thieves to rob a house full of stuffed animals and a cake shaped like a dinosaur." "When you say it like that, you make it sound ridiculous." "It is ridiculous. You know what happens when we're caught? We do hard time in a place where every other inmate robbed a bank. What do we say? I got pinched boosting a chew toy from a kid in a party hat?" Molly drummed her fingers on the table. "You're scared of a grandmother." "I respect grandmothers. There's a difference." "Fine. What's your plan, genius?" Bill leaned back, laced his fingers behind his head. "We attend the party." "Attend it." "As guests. We show up with a gift, we eat some cake, we do the hokey pokey, and when the presents get opened, we're right there. Front row. We simply volunteer to help carry everything inside." "That's insane." "That's brilliant. Nobody suspects the couple who did the hokey pokey." "Bill, we're forty-something strangers with no children. Who shows up childless to a kid's party?" "We say we're from the entertainment agency. We're the balloon guy's assistants." Molly stared at him for a long moment. Then she pulled the blueprint back, folded it, and tossed it in the trash. "God help me," she said, "I'll get the balloons." Bill grinned. "And I'll practice my hokey pokey." "That's what you put your left foot in for," Molly said, heading for the door. "That's what it's all about."