Spilling Guts

Part 42 - Inferno Vivacity

Beni and Reese's day started with a flurry of texts to one another. Beni stood in the checkout line at the local grocery with a dozen doughnuts, freshly baked and dressed in neon rainbow colored frosting. And sprinkles, because everyone needed extra sparkly stuff for breakfast. Her hair, still damp from the morning shower, held streaks of fresh purple, nearly garish in the bright white of the grocery store lighting.

She took a quick picture of the doughnut box and sent it to Reese with the text: [Dibs on prple dnuts!!!]

Reese had long stopped trying to correct her "unique shorthand" when it came to texting. Misspellings, lack of punctuation, random capitalizations, it was her code for enthusiasm that he balanced with textbook grammar. [And I get the rest?]

[No. Will gets blue]

It took a moment for Reese to respond. Probably questioning why he had to share. [Are we adopting him?]

[less adopt. More keep him together with sugar glue] Beni figured that snack cakes and high fructose corn syrup, two of the many things that made life bearable, could help Will. And she hadn't gotten a message from him yet asking for a ride into work.

[Indeed, he seem to be fading fast these days. Like his batteries are running low.]

[We need to get a rise out of him. A perk. A charge. Something to inferno vivacity]

["Inferno vivacity'?]

[its like *sparking joy* but w/ nox]

[I see. Project Billy?]

Beni nodded and stepped closer to the checkout. [project Billy. we R a go]

Half of Project Billy had been planned yesterday after Will left the Watch. The other half could be done in the minutes before Will arrived. She needed something to do with that stack of poster board in the back of her desk; this would be a good investment in "vivacity".

Reese sent a picture from his own journey for the appropriate breakfast. Two bottles of cold Butterfinger flavored frappuccino. [Not our usual fare, but I am tempted]

Beni grinned, both at the candy bar flavored beverage, and at her turn at the checkout counter.

[and Im seduced. Get em!]

They would need the energy to enact Project Billy.

***

Fortified with coffee, and "good-bye, text me later" from their partners, Megan and Teegan arrived back at the police station and came face to face with Detectives Lee and Carter.

"Mister Lenore said yes to the deal," said Carter. "And Rover also said yes."

"We're searching for more to beef up our case," said Lee, walking them to the interrogation room. Overnight his forehead grew a purple bruise that swelled his voice with grit and barely suppressed irritation. "We have theft, burglary, and fraud to try him for, and the evidence for those are solid. Those years will not be reduced, and will add up, but I hope the answers you get are worth it. The lawyer is trying to haggle the charge down to murder two. Rover deserves to go away for life."

Teegan weighed the notebook in her hand. "We hope they are worth it too."

Megan and Teegan both felt worse for wear, but tried to look as steady and sound as they needed to be. Megan, after a hefty dose of painkillers, and a short night's rest, limped on her foot less than she did the other day. The healing power of a night at home and a spouse with a certification in first aid.

Detective Lee opened the door to the interrogation room. "Agents Shiloh and Carry with the Patent Office to speak with you."

Jared Rover, well rested and clean, though in the same clothes as yesterday, sneered and pointed. "That's the one that tazed me."