“Ma’am?” the dispatcher said. “Are you there?”

“Listen, I made a mistake,” Amy said. “We don’t need the police.”

“Ma’am, I already have units on the way. I have to—”

Amy hung up.

“Thank you,” Ruth Anne said.

“This is a bad idea,” Amy said. “Basil’s making it worse, not better.”

“He’ll find the man and it’ll all be fine,” Ruth Anne said. “I know it will be. Calling the police just undermines his authority.”

Amy’s cell phone rang. She answered.

“Ma’am, I lost your call.” It was the 911 operator calling her back. “I want you to know that we have a unit on the way to your location, 7414 River Park Drive, from Brecksville. They should be there shortly.”

“Thank you,” Amy said. She hung up and turned to Ruth Anne. “They’re coming anyways.”

“Oh,” Ruth Anne said, chewing her lip. “Well.”

“I’m sorry,” Amy said. “But you know what? I’m not that sorry. Let’s just sit here quietly, and in twenty minutes it’ll all be over.”

“No,” Ruth Anne said. “We’re going to go upstairs and we’re going to help Basil find this person before the police get here. We’re going to do what he says, and we’re going to keep our jobs.”

“Not me. I am not going back on that floor.”

“Oh, boy,” Ruth Anne said. She looked nervously around the room as though she was checking to see if anyone was watching. Then she looked back at Amy and all the hesitation, all the nervousness, all the nicey-nice that made her Ruth Anne was gone. “Listen to me, you spoiled child.”

Amy had never heard Ruth Anne talk this way. She didn’t know Ruth Anne could talk this way.

“Maybe you’ve got a safety net, but I don’t. I don’t have a family, I don’t have a lot of friends, and when I’m home at night, I usually spend my time doing crosswords and watching TV with Snoopy. You know who Snoopy is? He’s the stuffed dog I won at the Great Lakes Fair. Now, you know what I do have? This job. It pays my rent, it gives me a family, it bought me a beautiful kitchen, and I am not going to lose it because some little girl who thinks it’s her job to lip off all the time has the willies and won’t go upstairs to help her coworkers find the person sneaking around this store.”

“Ruth Anne—”

“No, you’ve talked plenty tonight. Now it’s time for you to listen. The last time I checked you were twenty-four years old. Thirteen and angry is a long way back in your rearview mirror. You need to buckle up because it is time to toe the line and act like a grown-up woman. You don’t want to go out on the floor? Tough titty, said the kitty. I don’t want to go on the floor, either, but having a job is all about doing things you don’t want to do. That’s why they pay you money for it. Life doesn’t care what you want, other people don’t care what you want. All that matters is what you do. And right now, what you’re going to do is stand shoulder to shoulder with me and march out that door, find our friends, and help them deal with this situation. Tomorrow you can do whatever the heck you want, but I am going to keep my job. So get up, put some pepper in your pants, and let’s get moving.”