𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐓𝐔𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐄 || 𝐀𝐒𝐎𝐔𝐄

𝟎𝟓: 𝐁𝐔𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐅𝐋𝐈𝐄𝐒, 𝐁𝐔𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐅𝐋𝐈𝐄𝐒-𝐆𝐎 𝐀𝐖𝐀𝐘!

"Or you could start doing your own laundry," Jacquelyn suggested.

I stared at her blankly. "Yeah . . . no. That's not gonna happen."

She sighed. "Put some clothes aside to visit the sewers, and then cover it up with a bit of vinegar. If you have a place in your house where your aunt doesn't often venture to, use it to dry and hide those clothes. If all goes well, then we'll have this done before it gets out of hand."

I noticed the hook-handed man look at his hooks, pouting. Clearly, he had heard that last bit and had taken Jackie's words a bit literally. 

"Fine," I hissed, a little more than a little put-out about going into a smelly sewer. "But we have to plan the next time we meet so you can tell me how to plan a time to meet him."

"Next week, come by at the exact same time," she said. "I'll have a break at the time and we can go into your bank account vault for complete privacy."

"Wait, I have a vault at the bank?" I asked, shocked. 

"Your aunt set one up for you," she replied. "A trust fund in case anything happened to her to make sure you got the education you needed. I'm surprised you didn't know."

I swallowed, finding the prospect of being an orphan like the Baudelaires, capable of landing in the hands of random strangers—with how stupid adults could be, especially if my social worker ended up to be someone like Mr. Poe—and even, possibly, serial killers.

Unlikely in my own world, but a scarily likely thing in this one.

"Alright," I said at last, loud enough for our eavesdropper to hear clearly. "I'd love to stay and chat about the fundraising account, but I've got a date. A playdate, actually."

"Alright then, I'll see you in a few days about your balance, deposit, and credit," Jacquelyn said casually with a peppy beat in her voice as she stood up and straightened her outfit. 

We parted ways at the street, her heels clicking on the pavement as I skipped off towards the direction of my neighbourhood, pretending not to notice the hook-handed man following me. Although I was glad I'd saved Jacquelyn from being kidnapped by him for now, I was a bit more than a little creeped out and nervous by his stalking. Hopefully he hadn't suspected anything and wouldn't have attention drawn towards me. The fact that Count Olaf underestimated me was my second-guess advantage in this mission, the first being that I knew everything to come in this series of unfortunate events. 

I stumbled in the middle of my way as a thought occurred to me: Count Olaf's troupe wasn't supposed to start spying on Jacqueline until after he forced the Baudelaires to make dinner for him. That was when the Baudelaires were supposed to come to Aunt Strauss and I for help. I'm certain that part hasn't changed. There was no way the few minutes I'd spent with the Baudelaires could have made them choose not to come and attempt making dinner for that ungrateful "guardian" of theirs, right?

Unless I scared them away. 

Nah, couldn't be. A little kooky, yeah. Silly, definitely. 

But scary?

I'd never particularly imagined myself as someone who intimidated others. Usually, it was the other way around. 

I crossed the street, watching for cars like I'd been taught. I forced myself not to look back to see how close Hooky—that's what I was gonna call him now—was. 

My mind wandered back to the plot, and I tried to remember as many miniscule details as possible. The Baudelaires definitely didn't go visit Mr. Poe at the bank until AFTER the dinner because they decided they had to after Count Olaf hit Klaus during the dinner, which, um, hello, CHILD ABUSE!