She slams the glasses against her eyes. “He’s not getting into his car!” she announces. “He’s walking somewhere.” She lowers the glasses and asks, “What should we do now?”
“Wait.”
“Wait? I thought we were keeping our eyes on him so we don’t get fooled and end up in a bad situation.” She sounds kind of excited about that.
“We want to keep some distance from him or he might notice us.”
“I need to start keeping notes. There’s a lot to learn in this hitman business.” She trades the binoculars for a phone and opens her notes app.
“Babe, you’re not going to be doing this again so there’s no need for notes.”
Her cute nose wrinkles. “Right. Of course not. Was it so bad? Doing that work?”
I like how she calls it work, like it was something normal. “Not really,” I admit. “There’s a lot of people that we don’t need walking around. Take your handyman. Your bed isn’t the first one he jacked off onto.”
“Ugh, don’t remind me.” She sticks her tongue out and gags lightly.
“I’m sorry you had to see that.” I tried to turn it off but she wouldn’t let me. She wanted to see what he was doing. At least the security footage was grainy and in black and white. His back was to us and all we saw were his hand motions, but it was obvious what was going on. Quinn was silent for a long time after the handyman left her apartment. I made her soup and warmed up some milk for her. Finally she asked me if I still had all my tools from my old job and how much it would cost to hire me.
Obviously I am doing this job for free. I would’ve done it without her request. What was unexpected was that she wanted to be involved. I don’t know if she wants to pull the trigger or just stomp on his nuts but I’m happy to help her carry out either plan.
“It was gross and violating but I’m glad I saw it because now I know why you do what you do.” Her face is set in a serious line.
I reach over and squeeze her knee. “I did it for the money, babe. This is a righteous cause.”
She turns determined eyes to meet mine. “It is, isn’t it? Every woman should have the right to, I don’t know, at least hurt these creeps.”
“At the very least.”
“We should do that.”
“Do what?” I start the car. The handyman has come back from throwing away something in the trash. I’ll get it later. He’s now getting into his car.
“Oh he’s leaving. Let me open the app.” I had her download the program I use for tracking. These days with all the connected apps and locator satellites, it’s easy to follow people. The best practice is to bug their phone because people almost never leave their cell phone behind. I made Quinn turn on her location finder for me so that if we were ever separated I could find her. I slipped some devices into her bag and pockets of her jacket, and in the soles of her shoes. Better safe than sorry, I think.
“I think he’s going to get groceries,” she says as we slide into traffic two cars behind him. She’s right. Ten minutes later, he pulls into the parking lot.
“Should I go in?”
I tap my fingers on the steering wheel. “He’ll recognize you. It feels dangerous to me.”
“But it’s the grocery store. What could he do to me? There are cameras and other people and it’s really well lit.”
“I don’t know.”
“Well, you go in then.”
I shake my head no. I’m not leaving her alone.
She sighs. “If I wasn’t here, what would you do?”
“Go in,” I admit. She’s right. If I were doing this job alone, I’d go inside. He could go out the back, although I doubt it because he doesn’t know he’s being watched. Still, it’s better to err on the cautious side. I unbuckle the seatbelt. Quinn claps her hands together happily.
“I kind of like this clandestine shit,” she declares and scampers out the passenger side. “Do you think I’d be good at it?”
“I don’t know.” I join her, slipping my fingers through hers. “This is all easy and tedious. The hard part is at the end.”
“When you kill them.”
“Yeah.”
“Was it hard for you?”
“In the beginning. It got easier as time went by. That’s why I quit. Because it got too easy.” I glance down at her, wondering what she’s thinking. “While there are plenty of scum of the earth that should be taken out, life’s a valuable thing. I didn’t like who I was becoming at the end there.”
“Then scratch my previous idea.”
“What was that? You never told me.”
“I thought we could start helping other women by taking out the men that hurt them, but maybe you’re right. Maybe I won’t have the stomach for it.” She narrows her eyes at the back of the handyman. “Although when I remember what he did, I don’t think I care much what happens to him. Maybe the problem for you was that none of your kills were…what did you say? Righteous ones? Maybe if you had a real justification, it wouldn’t eat at you.”