Free The White Gold Score (A Daniel Faust Novella) by Craig Schaefer

dog food, anything like that?”
    While I worked on the lock, finding my groove again, she peered into the empty kitchen. “Nothing.”
    “Good. Dogs were humanity’s first security system. They’re damn good at it, too. And—here we go.”
    The last tumbler flipped and the lock gave a faint, satisfying
click
. I pocketed my picks and slowly pushed the knob, bracing for loud squeaks or the shrill of an unseen alarm. Nothing. The only sound came from deeper in the house, carried on a bed of audience laughter. Dino was watching television.
    Caitlin followed me inside, stepping lightly across the smooth granite floor. If we were lucky, Dino had passed out in front of the TV, sound asleep. If not, it was going to take some real skill to slip in and out without catching his attention.
    Realistically, nothing was at stake. I could grab a kitchen knife, storm in, and turn Dino into a human pincushion, then sack his place at my leisure. I couldn’t see any reason
not
to kill him, beyond the fact that I wasn’t getting paid to do it. The way I figured, he deserved anything he got.
    Then I saw the reason, crouched next to me, eyes glittering in the dark, wearing an eager smile as she looked my way. Caitlin wanted to see what I did for a living. I could either show her Daniel the thug or Daniel the smooth operator. I wanted her to see the best side of me. To see that I had genuine skills, that I wasn’t some purse snatcher or penny-ante hood.
    We were basically out on a date. A weird, fucked-up date by most people’s standards, but still. What did I really want tonight? Easy. I wanted my girlfriend to have a good time.
    And that meant I had to do things the hard way.

10.
    As we edged up a long, narrow hallway, taking it slow, my eyes adjusted to the dark. No pictures on the ivory walls, no memorabilia. Dino wasn’t a sentimental guy. Up on the left, light spilled from an open archway, along with a peal of audience laughter as Conan O’Brien delivered his monologue.
    I was about to peep around the threshold to see if I could spot Dino, when a cell phone trilled. The television volume dipped and a voice—hard, irritated—spoke from just a few feet away.
    “Yeah,” said the man. Dino, I presumed, unless he had company over. Then a pause. “I don’t want to hear about it, Max. I don’t wanna hear about any goddamn magic flying cards or some chick who lifted your guy like he weighed ten pounds. If I didn’t already
know
you were on meth, I’d be worried right now. Cut the deadwood and go hire some more guys. No more of these pool-hall wanna-be gangsters, either. Get me some
soldiers
, all right? People with security training, military experience—spec ops if you can round a couple up. Tanesha
is
going to sign with us. That’s not up for discussion. And once that’s done, we’ve got another tour to prep for.”
    Beside me, Caitlin frowned. The kind of frown, in my experience, that sailed just ahead of violence like thunder before the storm.
    “Well, Monty’s not here anymore. We’re doing this my way now. Take out her security, get her alone, and convince her to sign the damn contract.” Dino paused, listening. “Jesus, Max, do I really have to spell it out for you? Just don’t mark up her face. Her looks are half the package. We’ll talk tomorrow, I got another call coming in.”
    Dino listened for a moment, then replied in halting, broken Spanish. Caitlin edged toward the open doorway. I knew what she had in mind. Threatening an artist Caitlin liked was a great way to end up dead.
    There went my chance to show off my amazing thieving skills. Once Caitlin went to work on him, the first responders would have to scoop the remains of Dino Costa into ten separate body bags. Still, it wasn’t that momentary pettiness that moved to me to touch her shoulder, shaking my head. It was the feeling that I was overlooking something. That there were angles in play I wasn’t accounting for, and we’d be missing out if she