Page 86 of Lucky Haven

“And what if we can’t get it open?”

I’m not worried about that. I give her a grim nod. “We’ll get it open.”

It takes thirty minutes of pacing and tossing rocks and sticks, but I find a route for us to get right up against his office window without triggering a light.

I pull her against my chest for a tight hug as I give her the final instructions. “I’ll go first. Watch my steps, and follow exactly the same path. Keep your head down and your hood over your face.”

“Got it.” She pushes up on her toes and kisses me. “Good luck.”

I pull the toque down over my eyebrows and stare at my feet as I jog lightly through the dead zone, holding my breath the whole way.

No lights turn on.

Good.

Flattening myself against the side of the building, I watch Haven dart across.

“Thattagirl,” I say as she collides with my chest. “You’re a badass.”

“Tell me that after we get inside. Or better yet, once we’re gone.”

I scan the quiet parking lot and the road beyond, then pull on a pair of gloves and turn my attention to the window. There’s a screen over the bottom pane. If I remove that, it’ll be a clear sign of tampering. But it only goes up halfway, and it looks like the top pane has a track, which means it can slide down. The handle to pull it down will be on the inside, and it might be locked, but that can be jimmied.

“I’m going to lift you up. Plant your hands on the window, picture yourself as Spiderman, and see if you can guide it down through sheer force of will.”

“You’re kidding,” she whispers. “That’s your plan?”

“Yeah. Up you go.” Before she can argue, I grab her by her hips and hoist her into the air.

She flattens her latex-glove covered hands against the window and pulls them down, the gloves squeaking against the glass. She moves, the window doesn’t.

“Spiderman,” I repeat. “Think…tension.”

“You’re crazy!” But she takes a deep breath and tries again. This time, the window shifts a little.

“Wait, that worked!” She sounds excited. Excited is good. But it only moves a tiny bit more before stopping. “Argh, never mind. It’s locked.”

“No, that’s good.” I set her down and kiss her forehead. “You shifted it enough to show me where the locking mechanism is.” I examine where the two window panes connect. “Wedge your fingers here and pull.”

“Pull…where?”

“Just pull. You’re creating a tiny bit of space so I can…” I tap my fist along the top pane, watching for where there’s the least bounce. Then I push, and the latch holding the two panes together audibly gives way. “There.”

“What was that?”

“A faulty window lock. Who knows how long that hasn’t been working?” I shrug and lift her up again. “Pull that window down and climb in.”

She scrambles over my shoulder and wedges herself through the window. Standing on the ledge on the inside, she gives me a panicked look. “How are you going to get in here?”

“Don’t worry about me, Lucky. Out of my way.” The church is built with substantial concrete blocks around the windows, which make for a decent ladder. I go up the side, then swing my leg over and follow her inside.

I turn on the flashlight on my phone. “Where would it be if it were in here?”

She wraps her hand around my wrist to guide the light. “His desk⁠—”

A car pulls into the parking lot, a well-tuned engine purring smoothly. It doesn’t sound like Jeb’s shitty truck. Probably Fred’s Cadillac. Headlights sweep across the window, briefly illuminating the ceiling before cutting out.

We both freeze as I shove my phone back in my pocket.