FELONY ON HER MIND

Map to Somewhere New #2 / 2019 / Mixed media painting / Russell C. Smith

If she didn’t wake up with a felony on her mind, she considered it a bad sleep. Calmly breathing in the break of dawn humid summertime air, and sipping her first cup of steaming black tea in a dead couple’s backyard. In her sightline were shade trees, and a tall wooden fence. Humidity already up to 90 percent. That’s what you get in mid-July in Tampa. Not even the merest hint of a breeze. She had already compartmentalized the murders. An ex-therapist had noted how she’d excelled at compartmentalizing. Dressed in black shorts, a black T-shirt, and a black baseball cap, she snuck in through the backdoor last night. Killing them with two clean forehead shots. Watching late night TV in their queen-size bed. Not the worst way to go. They were far too surprised to say more than half a word apiece. Only reason she got the contract was Joey knew she could use the extra funds. Speaking of which, she checked her burner phone to verify payment had been wired into her account. For “consulting services.” Drinking more caffeine while waiting for her fixer to show up. Gayle would park out front in a new-model white van, be all business and causal efficiency. Wearing a slate gray jumpsuit, bringing in cleaning equipment and reinforced oil barrels on a hand truck – tools of the trade to chop, saw, and dissolve two bodies. Wrapping it up by taking care of the residue of death as if nothing whatsoever had happened. They might even share a beer and a kiss before Gayle gave her a crooked grin and sped off before morning rush hour. Who says you can’t mix business and pleasure?