Free Anatomy of Evil by Brian Pinkerton

His eyes locked on another waitress at a nearby table, taller with a shapely figure. “Can we switch? I kind of like that one.”
    Kelly turned to Emma. “Do we need to kick him under the table?”
    â€œYou’re being an asshole,” Emma told Gary. “It’s not funny.”
    Then Sam began laughing.
    After ordering, Gary watched as the taller waitress walked the aisle near them. He picked up a fork and gave it a casual toss to the floor in front of her.
    â€œOops,” he said.
    She stopped and bent down to pick it up.
    Gary’s eyes lingered on her rear end as she doubled over, making his intentions obvious to everyone at the table.
    Emma stared at him, aghast.
    â€œI’ll get you a new one,” the waitress told Gary, naïve to what had just happened.
    â€œThank you, sweetheart,” he replied.
    â€œHow long before we eat?” mumbled Carol. “I’m starving.”
    Rodney reached into his pocket. He brought out a selection of candy and offered it to her. Carol chose a Snickers bar.
    â€œWhere did you get that?” asked Kelly.
    Rodney gestured across the food court to a newsstand.
    â€œWhen did you buy candy?” she said, surprised.
    â€œI didn’t,” replied Rodney, tearing open a bag of M&Ms.
    She looked him over. “Wait. What?”
    He looked at her, shrugged and smiled.
    â€œOh, you just took it?” Kelly half-smiled, as if entering a joke.
    Rodney did not smile back. “I’m a police officer. I serve society. Society owes me a few things in return.”
    She turned serious. “But you can’t just—”
    Rodney ignored her. He turned his attention across the table. “Sam, care for some Raisinets?”
    â€œYes, please.” Sam took a small bag, tore it open and spilled them across his placemat. He began eating them one by one.
    After lunch, the group headed for the terminal and boarded the flight to Chicago to continue the long trip home, fatigued and brewing with growing tensions.
    As the plane took off, Jake began to mutter about the loss of his camera.
    â€œWe had so many great pictures,” he said to Carol. “I don’t see how you could’ve just let it fall overboard on that fishing trip. Didn’t you have it looped around your neck? I always had it around my neck, or at least around my wrist. That was a high-end camera, we had pictures going back months. I don’t think I downloaded the ones from Michael’s track meet or Todd’s prom pictures. We probably lost a hundred, a hundred twenty-five pictures. It’s not just about the camera, it’s the memories. I had all those fun photos from the luau…”
    Carol turned to him and spoke in a booming voice loud enough to fill the aircraft. “WOULD YOU JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP ABOUT THE CAMERA?”
    After an extended, awkward hush, a single sound broke the silence.
    Sam was laughing.
    At the end of a very long day, the seven travelers stood disheveled and tired along the rim of a crowded baggage carousel at O’Hare International Airport. Piece by piece, they identified their luggage and lifted the belongings up and across the maze of obstacles to safely bring them to their side.
    After Rodney and Kelly had retrieved their suitcases, Rodney remained standing very still, staring hypnotically at the revolving stream of baggage.
    â€œWhat are you looking at?” asked Kelly. “Let’s go.”
    Rodney’s eyes followed a specific item that moved in a wide arc, passing throngs of travelers, unclaimed.
    â€œI bet I could just take it,” he said.
    â€œTake what?”
    â€œThose golf clubs. That’s the fifth time they’ve gone around. Whoever they belong to…they’re not here. I could go over, take them, and we could be out of here in minutes.”
    â€œOkay…” she said, looking at him strangely. “But why?”
    â€œBecause they’re nice clubs,”