Your Favorite Crime

4. Change of Plans

Tim learned from spending time in the crew's lair that Lucy thinks of EVERYTHING. If she weren't a criminal, she would be a damn good cop who could outsmart anyone, but she IS a criminal, he found himself trying to remind himself.

He takes one look at her vibrantly warm smile and forgets that she's the target. Usually, it's quite easy for him to separate himself from his suspects- not even going undercover could make him blur those lines until Tim made Lucy laugh, and he wondered how she could be the bad guy. It didn't help that everything she shared about herself was incredibly endearing to him.

The contractor he had seen come over before arrived with materials, and soon enough, the lair had been transformed to the precise schematics of the key part of the bank, the vault, and the secret second floor with the other vault that was their real target. Tim took pictures of the license plate of the contractor and texted the details to Angela. Unfortunately, the contractor named John Nolan was an upstanding man with no prior arrests or any affiliations with criminals...aside from Lucy. As far as Angela's research had revealed, Nolan probably does not even know WHY he builds the odd layouts. Lucy could have told him anything, and therefore, all they could arrest him for is an unknowing accomplice of a crime, and that would only happen after the crew was arrested.

Tim looked at the transformation inside the lair in awe- it was brilliant to makeover the space and practice until they have everything perfect. After practice for the hundredth time, Lucy raked a hand through her hair and sighed, "Alright, guys, 24 hour break before the final practice, and then it's game time."

Everyone looked confident as they left the lair to leave Lucy and Tim alone.

She nudged his arm with her elbow and asked, "What's going through that mind of yours?"

"It's a brilliant plan."

"Then, what's the problem?"

"I've never heard of people who break into a bank vault and not take any money."

"Tim, we're not criminals. I told you. We're not stealing money. We're taking back something that was already stolen."

"Technically, any stealing is still a crime."

"The world isn't so black and white, Tim. We care about justice."

"Justice?"

"It may be a foreign concept to you, but it matters more to me than the letter of the law."

"So you take justice into your own hands and make a profit."

"Lawyers make a profit when they seek justice," she shot back.

"You're not a lawyer."

"If you don't like the way we do things, then you don't have to be part of the job," Lucy shrugged and started leaving the lair.

"That's not what I said," he sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I do want in...even if my job is to just stand outside with you."

"JUST? You clearly don't understand what we're doing."

"What are we doing?"

She flashed him a mischievous smile. "We're standing in the frame of the only working camera in the area. You and I are about to have an iron clad alibi for the theft, and since I have a family with a record, and you have a rap sheet, we're the only ones that NEED an alibi."

Tim's eyes widened when he understood her explanation. "So, we're not even driving away with Aaron and Noah?"

"We won't go anywhere near them until we're back at the house."

"Hang on...that's why you had car trouble in front of the gallery? The reason we met for the first time?"

She nodded. "I know the feds are trying to catch my family, but I always have an air tight alibi for any crime by staying in the frame of the camera they're looking at. I'm always eliminated at someone who couldn't have possibly been involved, and it's not like anyone would suspect a random locksmith who doesn't have a record and the son of a pop star who has more money than he knows what to do with."