Run: 2026-09-23-01M37NW1K64XG1TSA4AWA6Z7T7

The van smelled of stale crisps and ambition. Molly spread the blueprint across the dashboard, though it was really a birthday invitation with a crayon map on the back, drawn by six-year-old Tobias himself. Bill squinted at it. He had been squinting at things for forty years, and it had never once helped. "Bouncy castle's the problem," he said. Molly nodded gravely. The bouncy castle sat directly between the garden gate and the gift table, a wobbling fortress of vinyl patrolled by a dozen sugar-crazed toddlers. Beyond it waited the treasure: a mountain of wrapped boxes, glittering bags, and one suspiciously large parcel shaped exactly like a remote-control helicopter. "We go in as clowns," Molly said. Bill looked down at his outfit. He was already wearing the red nose. He had, in fact, been wearing it since Tuesday, for reasons he declined to discuss. "I'll distract the parents with balloon animals," Molly said. "You grab everything." She could not make balloon animals. Bill would slip through the hedge with the sack. Nobody, crucially, had mentioned the magician. Nobody had mentioned that the magician was their old partner, Gary, currently pulling a rabbit, with a flourish, from little Tobias's party hat.