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wished the boy was more delicate with his choice of words.
    “If you keep eating like this there will be no leftovers.” Dustin waited a moment. “Would you like a third?”
    Otter patted his stomach. “I’m good.”
    Bridget only nibbled at hers. It was, indeed, delicious. But she’d eaten too well at dinner, and her thoughts of the three thieves on the leather couch a dozen feet away upset her stomach. Rob, Marsh, and Lou, the leader. She sat the plate on the coffee table and eased out of the chair, her ribs protesting.
    “You’re feckin’ fools,” she said, walking toward them. All three had removed their masks. Marsh, the one Bridget had cold-cocked, was still woozy, staring forward with a vacant expression.
    Rob sat in the middle. Though he nodded in agreement, he looked puzzled. “So, how’d we screw up?”
    “We didn’t.” Lou was wedged against the arm of the couch. He glared at Bridget. “We didn’t screw up. We did just what the boss wanted. I don’t see how that makes us fools. Boss, Rob didn’t even complain when your kid beat the shit out of him. I’d say we passed your test with flying colors.”
    “Did what I wanted?” Bridget’s face reddened with ire. “You were supposed to find a way in—”
    “Which we did,” Rob offered. “I got through your system. I’m first-rate. It didn’t take a whole lot of—”
    “—not let the neighbors spot you.”
    “Did that, too,” Rob said. He straightened a little, and Bridget glared at the show of bravado.
    “And you were supposed to rob me.”
    “You stopped us there,” Rob admitted. “But, really, we didn’t want to rough you up too—”
    “Feckin’ fools,” Bridget shot back. “Test? You didn’t come close to passing the test. You ignored Dustin. You thought he fainted, and so you concentrated on me and my son. You didn’t see him crawl out of the room and summon help. He was effectively invisible to you. And so he was your downfall.”
    “Epic fail,” Otter announced.
    Rob shrank a little. “Yeah, well, there was that. Didn’t consider him a threat, boss. A man in some cook’s apron, in that outfit, he—”
    “Everyone’s a threat.”
    The lead thief spoke again. “Next time we’ll—”
    “I don’t know if there will be a next time, Lou.” Bridget continued the rant. Her words were fast, spittle shooting from her mouth as she stepped closer. “Worse, you brought a gun. Pissmires and spiders, you brought a gun. I told you no guns. No guns ever.”
    “It wasn’t loaded, boss,” Lou said. “Just used it as a prop, you know, a threat.”
    Bridget dropped her voice to a whisper. “Never bring a gun. It escalates everything. And if you get caught … and with the skills you exhibited at dinner you will get caught … the court will tack on years and years and years. A gun escalates everything.”
    “Sorry, boss,” Rob offered. “We just thought—”
    “No you didn’t. You didn’t think.” Bridget’s voice hissed like steam escaping from a kettle left too long on the stove. “You didn’t think. And you lacked style. You lacked common sense, and you insulted my son.”
    “Oh, the Timex,” Rob said. “Yeah, I should’ve just taken it. Bad form, huh, to tell someone they’re wearing crap. Shouldn’t have stepped on it, even if it was a piece of sh—”
    “Hey!” Otter stood up from his chair.
    Bridget waved him back down. “You treat your marks with a modicum of respect, understand? And don’t underestimate them. The people we target, the places … they have security as good as mine. Maybe better. In some cases definitely better. If you can’t defeat me, you can’t rob them. Do you want to get caught? Spend your life in prison?”
    Rob shook his head. Marsh was glassy-eyed, fading out again.
    “Get him to the emergency room,” Bridget directed. “Say he got in a bar fight.”
    Rob made a move to rise, but Bridget wasn’t quite done. “Boss, I—”
    “I thought you were better than