“I won’t,” but I was already in too deep.
“So, what’s the plan?”
***
The following day crawled by. I was off work, so I tried to keep busy with chores. But my mind kept returning to the same question. What if the man was telling the truth? What if he wasn’t?
Ethan arrived just after noon. He knocked once and walked in.
“You ready?” he asked.
“No,” I said honestly. “But I’m going.”
He nodded. We reviewed the plan one more time.
“You ready?”
At 1:45 p.m., I stood outside the store, my heart pounding so hard.
At exactly 2 p.m., I saw him, the homeless man wearing the same red sweater. He walked toward me with a small smile that made me uneasy.
His eyes dropped to the bag in my hand. “You bring the money?”
I pulled the top of the bag open just enough for him to see stacks of folded paper inside. It wasn’t cash, but it looked convincing.
He walked toward me.
