Page 53 of The Fallen Man

“Accurate,” said Jackson.

“Well, sorry, but not all of us get to go to prison and talk to a therapist,” said Aiden.

“Hey, you could have. You just needed to rob the right liquor store,” said Jackson.

“I thought it was industrial espionage in an eighteen-story building,” said Evan. “Maybe I read the wrong file.”

“Aiden isn’t qualified for that. He would have had to start with liquor stores,” said Jackson.

“No way,” said Aiden. “If I was going to rob anything, it would have been a jewelry store.”

“Not as fun as it looks in the heist movies, and they don’t usually have as many loose gems around as you would think,” said Jackson.

“I would rob an armored truck,” said Dominique. “It looks tricky, but I think I could do it.”

“I would not rob anything,” said Evan.

“No?” asked Dominique. “How very unsporting of you.”

“If you rob things, you get sent to bad prison. If you steal millions of dollars from stupid investors, you get sent to white-collar prison. And I’m sure you get a better quality of prison therapist.”

“He’s actually right,” said Jackson.

“I know,” said Dominique, “but I’m weighing the benefits of a better prison therapist against the fun of successfully robbing an armored truck.”

“Well, you wouldn’t be successful, would you?” objected Aiden. “Otherwise, you wouldn’t end up in prison.”

Jackson couldn’t stop the laughter that rocked his chest from escaping. His cousins were the best.

“This is why your therapist thinks we’re peculiar, isn’t it?” asked Aiden, shaking his head at Jackson.

“No, actually, but it doesn’t help any,” said Evan, standing up. “All right, I’m off to work because they expect me to show up eventually. Call me if you need something.”

“Thanks, Evan,” Jackson called after him. “I’ll send you my suspect list by tomorrow!”

Evan waved in reply and headed for the front door.

Caitlin

VAR Events

Caitlin got to work and tied on her apron.

“Your hair looks great,” said Jessica, checking the pockets of her apron for pens.

“It’s sex hair,” said Caitlin.

“No!” Jessica dropped all her pens.

“Yes,” said Caitlin.

Jessica scrambled to pick up the pens and stood up, holding them like pointy bouquets in each hand. “That hot guy at the bar?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh my God. How was it?”

“Mind-blowing. Seriously, the best sex of my life.”