Page 69 of Mission: Possible

I shook my head. "I don't expect Zach to be there. He'll be at work."

"Then, how..." Lily trailed off. "Oh!" she deduced. "We're breaking in! Yes!" She fist-pumped the air, her glee more than obvious.

"We're not breaking in."

Lily's face fell. "But Poppy is in day care!"

"That's not why you put your kid in day care!"

"It was the reason why today." She shrugged. "So what are we doing there?"

"We're going to speak to the neighbors. Maybe scan his mail."

"Is that a crime?"

"You're too hopeful of a criminal opportunity," I said, evading the question.

"Shame. I've been practicing my lock-picking skills."

"Really? Who taught you?" We started to walk in the direction of Lily's car.

"Jord."

"Why?"

"There was an incident with a pair of handcuffs a month ago and..."

I held up my hand. "Let me stop you there. I do not need to know this."

"It's actually a funny story."

"Nope," I said. "Nothing about your and my brother's sex life is funny to me." About as funny as imagining the entire five times my parents did the deed, which I didn't want to think about either.

"Who said it involved our sex life?" Lily's stare was edging towards accusatory but I wasn't about to fall for it.

"It didn't?" I asked scathingly.

Lily grinned. "It totally did, and it was all because Jord..."

I raised my hand again. "Still nope!"

"Fine, but he did teach me how to pick the lock and I've been practicing on other things. Turns out I'm pretty good at it. I picked the lock to the bar only last night."

"You should get new locks and your security upgraded," I advised. "If you can pick that lock, other people can break in."

Lily's nose wrinkled. "Good point."

We got in the car and buckled up. "Where to?" asked Lily.

"Excellent question. Don't know. I left my notes at the agency."

"We can run over there and get them."

"Or I can call Austen," I said, already dialing. Austen gave me Zach's address with barely a question as to why and I read the address to Lily.

"I know it," she said. "It's near the train station. I read in theGazettethat the area is getting gentrified. Lots of commuters live near the station so they can get to Boston easily without having to pay for parking or relying on bus schedules. A lot of people moved there because it's cheap but now they're getting forced out. All the landlords would rather rent their newly redone studios to the higher-earning professionals."

"Makes sense from a business point of view, but it sucks to be forced out of a once affordable area. Zach isn't a particularly high-earning professional. Or is he? I don't know what his job could really be classified as. Blue or white collar?"