4 You Look Like a Woman Who's Robbed a Shop

Ingrid tried to control the click of her shoes on the wood as she approached the door hidden away at the back of the shop.

She glanced back at Alph, then pulled at the handle.

Surprisingly, it opened.

Stepping in, she slowly took in the rows of jewels carefully arranged on wooden forms. The entire room sparkled. "Zephyr was right."

"Of course, Zephyr was right. Where's the man?"

The heavy wood of the door shut loudly behind her cutting off her response to Alph.

Ingrid whipped around.

Zu stood with his back to the door, his shirt soaked in sweat.

"What do you know about me, girl?" he asked, his eyes tiny darts.

Ingrid stepped back and pulled her pocket knife slowly from her pocket. "I know that if you don't move away from that door, I will cut through you."

His eyes fixed on the blade in her hand and his bravado started to falter.

"I know about the jewelry, Zu. I know about the fakes you've been selling the store's customers. And I know that you're going to let me walk out of this store with what I want, or else somebody is going to alert the rich about how a sniveling little man like you has been pulling one on them." She added steel to her voice. "How do you think they'll take it?"

"It's not for me," Zu said, shaking his head. "It's not my money."

"Then you won't mind me taking i—."

She slashed out as Zu's body landed hard on top of hers, pushing them both to the floor. She felt the dull thud of the wood meeting her skull, felt wetness soaking into her clothes. The door swung open and Alph barged in, gun cocked.

"Get him off me," she mumbled. Zu had gone limp.

"Shit. Did you kill him?" He tucked his gun into the waist of his trousers, then pulled the man like he weighed nothing and set him sitting upright by the wall. Zu let out a quiet groan and opened his eyes. Red gushed from his shoulder, coloring his white shirt.

"Dammit." Ingrid took the hand that Alph offered. "This was supposed to be no drama." She touched the back of her head delicately.

"Zephyr's not going to like this," he said.

As if she didn't know. As if she wasn't there in the meeting when Zephyr stressed that they needed this job clean. Since Zu had already sold the fakes, they could walk away with the real jewels, and no one would be the wiser. Zu couldn't report it because of his own complicity. It was a thief's dream come true. Or at least, was supposed to have been. Her blooming headache said differently.

"Just…tie him up. We don't have much time. Police might be here soon."

Ingrid went around the room and dropped a select number of the jewelry in her bag. All pieces Zephyr had confirmed were already sold. When she saw the necklace she had admired earlier, her hand stayed. She heard Zephyr's voice in her head.

"It has to be clean. Nothing more nothing less."

"That's how I fuck," Kafi had said with a grin and Marya had told him, "I don't think that comes off how you want it to."

Ingrid bit down on her lip. Just this once, she wanted to do something for herself. She slipped the necklace into the bag then zipped it shut.

The bag weighed enough that she had to clutch it with both hands.

"I'm leaving first," she told Alph backing out of the room. "How do I look?"

"Like you just robbed a store." He gestured at the blood staining her coat.

She shrugged off the coat and arranged it casually on her arm.

Outside, she hailed the nearest taxi.

"How did it go?" Zephyr asked as soon as she shut the door. Of course, Kafi was seated in front beside him.

"It was wonderful," she said. "You're paying dry cleaning for my coat."