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Description
“Damn it!  Where is it!” Vivienne snapped, chucking a box of crackers across the kitchen.  She slammed the cupboard door shut, picked up the box and started noisily crunching a saltine.  She’d been searching for her kettle for nearly an hour, but all she’d managed to do was destroy her kitchen.

“I want caffeine,” she whined, setting the cracker box back on the counter.
How had she collected so much junk?  All it meant were more things to lose and more things for them to get lost in.  Too bad that notion was more practical in her head than in her life.

Suddenly she heard her cell phone’s muffled ring and lunged for her purse.

“Crap!” Viv plopped down in one of her dining room chairs and rummaged for her phone, “There you are.”

She tilted back in her chair and slid the phone open, “J’yes?”

“Viv?”

“Sorry, wrong number. This is Reverend Dave’s Medical Oddities Emporium and Café.”

“What?”

“Yes, Ian…it’s Viv,” she laughed, “What do you want?”

“What’re you on about?”

“You called my number, you know it’s me.  Why ask?”

“Habit.”

“And you’re calling me odd?”  She took a pen from her pocket, pulled up her sleeve and started sketching a daisy chain along her forearm, “Well?  What’s this about?”

“Well I can tell you things will be getting interesting pretty quick.”

“Define ‘interesting.’”  She didn’t even try hiding her skepticism.

“Interesting as in there was an interesting new birth tonight.  One that will be of special personal interest to Lucas.”

He’d just piqued her curiosity.  Usually she saw Ian as little more than a spineless brown nosing nuisance, but every now and then he managed to make himself useful.  Viv quit sketching and grabbed a paper napkin from her coffee table to write on.  “Okay.  You have my attention.”

“In a moment.  I have a proposition for you first.”

“This isn't going to involve a hamster and 247 lbs of peanut butter because I've fallen for that one before.”

“What?  Are you going to shut up and listen?  I have other--”
Viv took a deep breath, trying to focus, “You know I’m just giving you a hard time.  What’s your scheme this time?”

“I’ll ignore that,” Viv could almost picture Ian rolling his eyes, “Are you still in contact with Hazel?”

“Yeah.”

“I think she’d be interested in this little gem.  You’d probably be able to arrange a decent little deal with her.  Do you think you could set it up?  I imagine you’d make a healthy return for helping me.”

Alarm bells went off in the back of Viv’s mind.  “Maybe.  I’ve have to ask though: Why’re you suddenly so…accommodating?”

There was a brief pause.  “Well, I don’t normally like taking on partners, but the fact is Hazel hates me.”

“Gee I wonder why?  Oh wait,” Viv broke into a huge grin, “You’re trying to double dip, aren’t you? Lucas isn’t going to be happy.”

“No shit.  Why do you think I need your help?  Look, if you give me a decent cut, say 50 percent of what you can get from Hazel, we can both come out ahead and I can avoid a potentially ‘embarrassing’ situation.  I just need the transaction with Hazel to be untraceable back to me.”

“‘Embarrassing situation’?  Lucas would nail your balls to a plank if he found out you were trying pull this,” Viv laughed.

“Are you going to help me or not?  I can always--”

“Fine.  But if Hazel doesn’t bite, no getting pissy with me.  Got it?”

“Fair enough.”

Viv could tell Ian was quickly reaching the end of his patience.  Good she thought to herself, “What am I selling anyway?”

“Nico’s finally been taken down a notch.  Several in fact.”

“You’re kidding, right?  Okay, you definitely have my attention.  Are you sure it’s not someone--”

“Positive,” he interrupted, “He started forming a few days ago.  He should surface sometime tomorrow night by my estimate.”

“Huh.  He’s a he?  I always would have figured that one would’ve gone the femme route.  How long do I have to reel Hazel in?”

“Like I was saying: tomorrow night should be when he’s surfacing, but that’s at the earliest.  I figure you have until tomorrow afternoon to get a deal worked out if Hazel wants to get there in time.”

“And Lucas?  If those two get there at the same time, we’re screwed.”

“We can deal with it if it happens.”

“Where am I sending her anyway?”

“Hwy 101 near marker 45.  Some park on the coast.”

Viv growled under her breath, annoyed. “That doesn’t really give me much.”

“That’s what I have, so I guess that means you’ll just have to be extra creative.”

“I have to hand it to you.  This is big.  Really big.  Hazel’s may actually jump on this one.”

“I know,” Ian said smugly.

“Careful.  You’re going to get stuck in doorways soon.”

“What?”

“Nevermind.  I’ll call you when I’ve got a figure.”

“You’re fucking weird.”

“And you’re an asshole, but I don’t keep reminding you.  I’ll let you know when I’ve got something.”

Viv hung up before Ian could have a chance to come up with a reply.

“Ass,” Viv grunted.

Her phone suddenly buzzed and then went silent.  She had a text message.  Viv flipped open her phone and read the message: “From: Ian, Message: Bitch.”
Viv stared at the location she’d written down.  Something didn’t feel right about this.  There were too many unknown variables and something told her that Ian hadn’t told her something, something important.  Even worse, Viv was breaking one of her cardinal rules: seeing is believing.  She didn’t like trying to sell information that she couldn’t verify.

This is why partners never worked out.  You could never trust them to do their part.  A second option suddenly crept into her thoughts: What if she was being set up?  She wouldn’t put it past Ian to bait her with false information.  Sometimes the only way to advance was to take out your competition and when reputations were as fragile as they were in their profession, one lie, even a little one could do a lot of damage.  It was time to do a little fact checking.

“I better grab some coffee on the way,” Viv sighed.  She entered the address Ian had given her into her phone’s memory and tossed it into her purse.  As she pulled on her jacket, Viv spotted her missing kettle on the shelf next to her couch.
“Nice timing, Mr. Kettle.”

Viv slung her purse over her shoulder, grabbed her keys and headed out the door.

Description
“Damn it!  Where is it!” Vivienne snapped, chucking a box of crackers across the kitchen.  She slammed the cupboard door shut, picked up the box and started noisily crunching a saltine.  She’d been searching for her kettle for nearly an hour, but all she’d managed to do was destroy her kitchen.

“I want caffeine,” she whined, setting the cracker box back on the counter.
How had she collected so much junk?  All it meant were more things to lose and more things for them to get lost in.  Too bad that notion was more practical in her head than in her life.

Suddenly she heard her cell phone’s muffled ring and lunged for her purse.

“Crap!” Viv plopped down in one of her dining room chairs and rummaged for her phone, “There you are.”

She tilted back in her chair and slid the phone open, “J’yes?”

“Viv?”

“Sorry, wrong number. This is Reverend Dave’s Medical Oddities Emporium and Café.”

“What?”

“Yes, Ian…it’s Viv,” she laughed, “What do you want?”

“What’re you on about?”

“You called my number, you know it’s me.  Why ask?”

“Habit.”

“And you’re calling me odd?”  She took a pen from her pocket, pulled up her sleeve and started sketching a daisy chain along her forearm, “Well?  What’s this about?”

“Well I can tell you things will be getting interesting pretty quick.”

“Define ‘interesting.’”  She didn’t even try hiding her skepticism.

“Interesting as in there was an interesting new birth tonight.  One that will be of special personal interest to Lucas.”

He’d just piqued her curiosity.  Usually she saw Ian as little more than a spineless brown nosing nuisance, but every now and then he managed to make himself useful.  Viv quit sketching and grabbed a paper napkin from her coffee table to write on.  “Okay.  You have my attention.”

“In a moment.  I have a proposition for you first.”

“This isn't going to involve a hamster and 247 lbs of peanut butter because I've fallen for that one before.”

“What?  Are you going to shut up and listen?  I have other--”
Viv took a deep breath, trying to focus, “You know I’m just giving you a hard time.  What’s your scheme this time?”

“I’ll ignore that,” Viv could almost picture Ian rolling his eyes, “Are you still in contact with Hazel?”

“Yeah.”

“I think she’d be interested in this little gem.  You’d probably be able to arrange a decent little deal with her.  Do you think you could set it up?  I imagine you’d make a healthy return for helping me.”

Alarm bells went off in the back of Viv’s mind.  “Maybe.  I’ve have to ask though: Why’re you suddenly so…accommodating?”

There was a brief pause.  “Well, I don’t normally like taking on partners, but the fact is Hazel hates me.”

“Gee I wonder why?  Oh wait,” Viv broke into a huge grin, “You’re trying to double dip, aren’t you? Lucas isn’t going to be happy.”

“No shit.  Why do you think I need your help?  Look, if you give me a decent cut, say 50 percent of what you can get from Hazel, we can both come out ahead and I can avoid a potentially ‘embarrassing’ situation.  I just need the transaction with Hazel to be untraceable back to me.”

“‘Embarrassing situation’?  Lucas would nail your balls to a plank if he found out you were trying pull this,” Viv laughed.

“Are you going to help me or not?  I can always--”

“Fine.  But if Hazel doesn’t bite, no getting pissy with me.  Got it?”

“Fair enough.”

Viv could tell Ian was quickly reaching the end of his patience.  Good she thought to herself, “What am I selling anyway?”

“Nico’s finally been taken down a notch.  Several in fact.”

“You’re kidding, right?  Okay, you definitely have my attention.  Are you sure it’s not someone--”

“Positive,” he interrupted, “He started forming a few days ago.  He should surface sometime tomorrow night by my estimate.”

“Huh.  He’s a he?  I always would have figured that one would’ve gone the femme route.  How long do I have to reel Hazel in?”

“Like I was saying: tomorrow night should be when he’s surfacing, but that’s at the earliest.  I figure you have until tomorrow afternoon to get a deal worked out if Hazel wants to get there in time.”

“And Lucas?  If those two get there at the same time, we’re screwed.”

“We can deal with it if it happens.”

“Where am I sending her anyway?”

“Hwy 101 near marker 45.  Some park on the coast.”

Viv growled under her breath, annoyed. “That doesn’t really give me much.”

“That’s what I have, so I guess that means you’ll just have to be extra creative.”

“I have to hand it to you.  This is big.  Really big.  Hazel’s may actually jump on this one.”

“I know,” Ian said smugly.

“Careful.  You’re going to get stuck in doorways soon.”

“What?”

“Nevermind.  I’ll call you when I’ve got a figure.”

“You’re fucking weird.”

“And you’re an asshole, but I don’t keep reminding you.  I’ll let you know when I’ve got something.”

Viv hung up before Ian could have a chance to come up with a reply.

“Ass,” Viv grunted.

Her phone suddenly buzzed and then went silent.  She had a text message.  Viv flipped open her phone and read the message: “From: Ian, Message: Bitch.”
Viv stared at the location she’d written down.  Something didn’t feel right about this.  There were too many unknown variables and something told her that Ian hadn’t told her something, something important.  Even worse, Viv was breaking one of her cardinal rules: seeing is believing.  She didn’t like trying to sell information that she couldn’t verify.

This is why partners never worked out.  You could never trust them to do their part.  A second option suddenly crept into her thoughts: What if she was being set up?  She wouldn’t put it past Ian to bait her with false information.  Sometimes the only way to advance was to take out your competition and when reputations were as fragile as they were in their profession, one lie, even a little one could do a lot of damage.  It was time to do a little fact checking.

“I better grab some coffee on the way,” Viv sighed.  She entered the address Ian had given her into her phone’s memory and tossed it into her purse.  As she pulled on her jacket, Viv spotted her missing kettle on the shelf next to her couch.
“Nice timing, Mr. Kettle.”

Viv slung her purse over her shoulder, grabbed her keys and headed out the door.