Frank and I had been working together for about six months before I said anything. He’d come along on the first few just to watch, to see if he could add anything to the equation. He sat and studied the target the same as I did, but he saw things I didn’t. “They have a dog walker,” he said while we were watching a house. I saw the dog in the window, but didn’t think much about it. “How do you know?” I said. Frank shrugged. “Wait,” he said. A few minutes later a woman showed up with three dogs in tow. She walked up the stairs and opened the door and emerged with the waiting dog added to her pack. “Same time every day, more or less,” Frank said.

“How do you know they don’t have cameras inside?” Frank wanted to know.

“I don’t care,” I told him. “I’m only inside for a few minutes, not long enough for anyone to do much about it, even if they see me. Besides, I have this.” I showed him a stocking cap I always put on once inside, pulled down over my face.

“And how about security systems?”

“In and out before the cops can get here.”

“Safes?”

“I don’t mess with them. If I can’t find what I’m looking for, I leave.”

“And you’ve never been caught?”

“Not once,” I said.

“You’ve been lucky,” Frank said. “And you’re lucky you found me.”

That’s when Frank rigged up his toolkit. He could sweep for cameras, mess with them when he needed, get by security, and even break into a few cheap safes when needed.

“He extends our expertise,” I told Froehmer. I’d come up empty-handed a few times for Froehmer, either not being able to find what he sent me for, or, more often the case, not being able to get inside. Froehmer never complained and never criticized. He would only say, “You did all you could, right?” and that would be that. I only got paid on delivery, so Froehmer wasn’t out anything if I didn’t deliver. I always assumed Froehmer got what he wanted some other way, with someone else’s help. “We can take on more work.”

“I give you what I have,” Froehmer said, but we did get more jobs.

“His cut comes out of your end,” Froehmer said, but after a few of the more difficult jobs he sent our way, my cut went up. Froehmer didn’t say anything about it. The only thing he said was, “Just remember, the more parts a machine has, the more things can go wrong.”