Free Get Even by Gretchen McNeil

the audition.
    One hour, that was all she needed to give Bree. One hour spent dodging Ronny’s octopus hands and avoiding anyone she knew.
    Thankfully, she had an exit strategy this time. Kitty would be showing up precisely at five o’clock. It made her feel better, somehow, knowing she had Kitty there looking out for her.
    “Babe!” Ronny yelled from the front door of the café.
    Ugh. It took all of Olivia’s acting ability to plaster a demure, flirtatious smile on her face as Ronny sat down opposite her.
    “Hi,” Olivia said in return. “I’m so glad you could make it.”
    She glanced at her cell phone. One hour started now.
     
    Bree crouched behind a large green wastebin and stared at Ronny’s house. She’d been huddled in the backyard for half an hour; her knees dug into the gravel, her back ached, and the stench of rotting leaves and manure was starting to make her nauseous.
    She tapped the Bluetooth device in her ear. “You still with me?”
    “Don’t do that,” Margot grumbled. “You’re going to make me deaf.”
    “Sorry.” She could hear the clack of Margot’s keyboard on the other end as she worked to disable the DeStefanos’ security system. “Almost done?”
    “I’ll tell you when I’m done.”
    Bree shifted her weight to her heels and arched her back. “Easy for you to say,” she muttered. “You’re not the one hanging out with the garbage.”
    “You know I can hear you, right?”
    Another few seconds of manic typing, and then Margot let out a long breath. “Okay,” she said. “Try it now.”
    Bree crept out from behind the bin and ran swiftly to the back door. The crunch of the gravel beneath her boots sounded cartoonishly loud in the silence of the afternoon, and she paused at the door, listening for any signs of life.
    Why was she so paranoid? Ronny was safely engaged at the Coffee Clash, and his dad and stepmom wouldn’t be home from work before six o’clock. She had plenty of time to break in, download the contents of Ronny’s hard drive and email using the passwords cloned from his phone, delete the video, and hustle out of there before Kitty rescued Olivia from her date.
    Easy.
    “Are you inside yet?” Margot asked.
    “Patience is a virtue.” With a deep breath, Bree inserted her skeleton key gingerly into the lock and gave it a jiggle. The back door swung open. “In!” she said. “Heading to Ronny’s room now.”
    Blackout shades were drawn over the windows, but the screen saver on Ronny’s computer was bright enough to light Bree’s way into the darkened room. Which was a happy accident because his bedroom was a freaking pigsty.
    Clothes were strewn about the bed, desk, and floor like they’d been churned up by a tornado and were left where they fell. Several food-stained plates were piled up on the nightstand, and at least a dozen glasses of half-consumed mystery liquids christened every available surface.
    “Must be the cleaning crew’s day off,” Bree said, wrinkling her nose.
    “They come Wednesday and Friday,” Margot said.
    “Damn, he did all this since Friday?”
    “Bree, the computer,” Margot prodded.
    “Yeah, yeah.” She had an hour, after all. It would only take about twenty minutes to download Ronny’s hard drive.
    Bree picked her way toward Ronny’s desk, avoiding a pizza box with unknown contents and several pairs of dirty tighty-whities that made bile gurgle up the back of her throat.
    “What an incredible smell you’ve discovered,” she murmured.
    “Did you just quote Star Wars ?” Margot asked.
    “No,” Bree said quickly. “Maybe.”
    John was clearly wearing off on her.
    “Okay,” Bree said, forcing herself to focus on the task at hand. “Logging in to his computer now.”
     
    Kitty swung through the door of the Coffee Clash right on schedule.
    Ronny’s back was to her as she approached the register, but Kitty watched as Olivia quickly drew her hand across her chest from left shoulder to right, signaling that she