I used the back of my fist to tap a classic one-two-three-four on the solid oak door. There was a three-second wait before the blinds flicked open, then closed. There was a forty-second wait before that solid oak door drifted open.

“No.”

“It’s through the door otherwise, Spotty.”

“In. Now.”

I glanced down the hallway, ensuring for the Nth time that not a soul was around to overhear that. Then I quit leaning on the wall of the office I was here to step into.

Once I shut the door behind me, we were free to talk with all the soundproofing that Red Straight municipal tax dollars could buy. The walls in here had to be solid enough that an attorney couldn’t sue the damn things, after all.

“So,” she sighed. “You’re back.”

“Time served, and all,” I grinned.

“What do you want?”

“What do I ever want, Liv?”

“Officer Jackson, if you’re going to call me anything in this building.”

“Because that’s what everybody calls you, right?” I arched a brow conspiratorially.

“Benefits of seniority,” she said.

“So are you in?”

“Fuck no.”

“That’s rather enthusiastic, considering you’ve not heard the details yet.”

“We’re not in fun-and-games territory, here, Luke. Okay, you? You’re a known quantity, now.”

“Well, certainly not to you, right? Blind Justice, and all. What’s that like, anyway?”

“Weird. Very weird. But only during the, er. Agreed-upon time frame.”

“Ah,” I clicked my tongue. “So this magic wand doesn’t make the twenty bucks I owed you disappear, huh? That’s a shame.”

“I’m thinking plus interest, at this rate.”

“Like I can afford that with your damn bail rates out here.”

“It’s your own fault you didn’t get that back.”

“It’s extortion, is what it is, Officer Jackson. Shadow puppets, that’s all. Can’t entertain myself while I’m in a six-by-six box of cement? Fucking flight risk. As if.”

Olivia shook her head.

“Anyway, as far as this desk worker is concerned, your pal Lucas just got back from a ski resort in the bloody Alps, right? That’s what Anecdote gave me. Whole department’s got the same info. If anything, cutting ties with me is more suspicious than catching up, don’t you think?”

“…Fine. Alright, fine. But, speaking as Officer Jackson to my pal Lucas, word on the street says Spot and Boggart are done. Capiche?”

“Well, good old Mister Spot might want to hear what Boggart just got offered before making that call, wouldn’t you say?”

“Luke, you fucking buffer wheel, do- can you think for a second?” If she wasn’t whispering, that hiss would be a shout that gave the soundproofing a run for its money.

“Even if I do, you’re gonna tell me what I’m supposed to have come up with anyway, so.” I shrugged. “Shoot.”

“You. Got. Caught.”

“Once. One time.”

“You got caught, Luke. And there will never, ever, come a time at which you didn’t get caught. One is one time too many.”

“And did I give them anything? Huh?”

Liv blinked.

“I got caught, sure. Once. And guess what, Spot? I didn’t let slip a letter of your involvement. You know what I call that? Proof that you can trust me, right?”

She scoffed. “The least you could do was not rat on me, yeah. Congratu fucking lations, you passed the bar of common courtesy. But you got caught. You were under scrutiny, and I don’t want to be anywhere near scrutiny. We’re done.”

I nodded. “No scrutiny. I get it, yeah. I get it.”

“Good.”

“Uh. You think I’m going to be caught again, then?” I asked.

“Who knows? Eight months? How would you keep yourself from getting rusty in all that time? How would you keep up with the news of what powers are capable of these days? Hell, what ordinary security is capable of these days? You know they’ve got Ring doorbells on half the city at this point?”

“Say I’ve lost my touch, sure. Maybe. I’ll blunder right on into a Ring doorbell and it’s off to booking again. Just wondering, though. Um. What happens if I’ve lost my common courtesy after being cooped up in a cell for so long, Liv?”

She put a hand up to her face. Not quite covering her mouth, really. More like pinching it, between her thumb and the side of her hand. That look was about two steps down from her throwing something at me.

“You wouldn’t,” she grunted, hardly parting lips to get the sound out.

“I know. Maybe you know, too. All I’m saying, Spotty, is that loyalty goes both ways, doesn’t it? So if you’d ever even humor the possibility that someone was open to some sort of plea deal, you’d want a pretty close eye on that person, wouldn’t you?”

“Fuck you.”

“Thought so.” I winked.

“What do you have?”

“I will get back to you as soon as I know, Liv.”

“You don’t know?“

“I got five hundred dollars just to write the meeting in my day planner, okay? This isn’t some knick-knack we’re looking at. They want it bad, and that’s all I needed to know to check whether I still had all my… previous options open.”

“You are a sack of nutrient-rich, FDA-approved horse shit that I will use to feed five acres if this goes anything short of exactly how we want it to, Luke.”

“Love you too.”

“Fuck you and the horse you rode in in.”

“Continuity,” I noted. “Nice one.”

Liv rolled her eyes.

“Six,” I said.

“Six grand?”

“Six figures, hey? That worth the trouble?”

“Oof.” She cleared her throat. “Really? From fucking who?”

“The Pope for all I care, don’t you think? At minimum, that split fifty-fifty leaves us both with a take of fifty thousand dollars.”

“Gross.”

“It sure is,” I grinned.

“Dipshit. Fifty thousand gross. Even I can’t make that seem reasonable. Whoever this goes through is going to have their rate, you know.”

“Gross, net, whatever. Look, it’s a conservative estimate either way. This is the job, and I want to hear that you’re on board. That’s all.”

She took a deep breath, staring at the monitor on her desk.

“One job.”

You always say that, I thought with a chuckle.

“I’ll be in touch.”

“That twenty plus interest, Luke?”

“Drop in the bucket, Liv. Consider it a finder’s fee.”

“Asshat. You owe me twenty plus interest, and I’m accepting it in the form of a burner. You really are rusty, aren’t you?”

“You want me to buy it? You sure?“

She sighed. “Call me tonight. You can reimburse me.”

“Atta girl.”

“Not according to the case file.”

I let out another faint laugh as I turned to face the door.

“Any parting comments, officer?”

“One,” she said, begrudgingly. “You get one point for convincing me.”

“Seems I’m up four.”

“You’re up one, Luke. Fresh start.”

“On what grounds?”

“On jail grounds, hello?”

“What, guilty of one crime, guilty of all, then?”

“You’ve got one point.”

“That means you have zero,” I pointed out.

“Glad we understand each other.”

I opened the door, rolling my eyes. “It’s one-one, then. Point for the horse thing.”

“Bye, Luke.”

“Seeya.”

I nodded to the receptionist as I strolled out of the police department, now as free a man as I’d felt this year.

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