Amy could see her little red Honda across the parking lot. She wished she could walk across the warm asphalt, slide behind the steering wheel, and drive … where? She couldn’t go home without the money she owed her roommates. She couldn’t leave without losing her job. She had nowhere to go.

Amy slammed the door of the partners’ entrance harder than she intended, and a shower of paint flakes rained from the ceiling. The door wouldn’t close, and she realized that something was jammed in the latch to keep it from striking home. Chewing gum, a giant pink wad of it. Amy contemplated digging it out, then decided that cleaning up gum was beyond her job description. If Basil wanted to be so responsible, he could tackle it.

He was frowning when she returned to the break area. “You can’t keep hiding in the toilet stalls. We need to start our sweeps.”

“The partners’ entrance is broken,” Amy said.

“Why were you downstairs?”

“I heard the door banging, so I decided to be responsible. Someone messed up the lock. You can’t close it.”

“A security breach,” Basil said. “You see? This is exactly why we’re here tonight!”

He raced off to investigate. Ruth Anne closed her Sudoku book. “You think someone really sneaked into the store?”

“I don’t know what’s going on,” Amy said. “But there’s new graffiti in the bathroom, and I’d swear it wasn’t there twenty minutes ago.”

“I’m starting to feel like I shouldn’t have done this,” Ruth Anne said, toying with the cap of her Blistex. “I wanted the extra hours, but I just figured I could do my puzzles. I didn’t think we’d actually see anybody.”

“Nothing bad is going to happen,” Amy said, just before Woody Woodpecker’s laugh filled the room. She checked her phone: help.

“I turn off my phone when I’m in the building,” Ruth Anne said. “That way I never get them.”

Basil burst into the room, sounding winded. “I got it closed but I can’t lock it. We’ve definitely had a security breach,” he announced. “We’d better start patrolling the floor right away.”

He walked over to the dry-erase board, drew a rough map of the store, and started writing down their schedule. “I’ve divided the store so it’s easier to search, and I’ve assigned everyone a zone. For this first pass, Ruth Anne will do the Showroom. Amy, you’ll cover the Market Floor, and I’ll tackle the Self-Service Warehouse.”

“Wait, we’re splitting up?” Ruth Anne asked.

“There’s a lot of ground to cover,” Basil explained.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Amy said. “And there’s some graffiti in the women’s bathroom you need to see.”

“Graffiti is the least of my worries,” Basil said.

“It’s kinda weird—”