"I've polished this anger
and now it's a knife."
____________________________________________________
The four women huddled around the coffee table in Alivia's apartment, staring down at the same papers for what felt like an eternity.
"There's no way we'll find out who it is by just looking at these surveys. They all look the fucking same." Alivia sighed tiredly.
Ruby leaned forward. "Well, we need to figure it out before he handles it."
"What does "handle it" even mean?" Beth let out using quotation marks on the words.
"I'm guessing murder," Alivia said and shrugged which caused Annie to backslap her arm. Alivia, in turn, glared back at her friend. "That was highly unnecessary."
Annie's eyes narrowed. "Oh, was it? Because you seem more than okay with following his plan."
"First of all, what's with the attitude?" Alivia wondered as she sat up straight and raised her brows. "Second, I never said I was okay with any of this!"
The two girls glared at each other before Alivia shrugged again. "Then again, it would be easier if he just, you know..."
She gestured with her hand going across her neck causing her to receive another backslap.
"That's not gonna happen, okay? Not if we handle it ourselves." Beth said tiredly. Annie's eyes widened as she faced her sister. Beth exclaimed, "Not like that!"
"You guys, these all look legit," Ruby said breaking the silence and diverting their attention from each other. "It's not like it would take a criminal mastermind, just somebody smart, but lazy..."
They all slowly looked up at Annie as Ruby's sentence trailed off.
She quickly rolled her eyes. "It wasn't me."
Alivia groaned, "Why don't we send everyone to the same store on the same day with a small drop to spend so we don't raise flags."
"What does that do?" Ruby wondered.
"We'll sit and watch to see who doesn't show up to the store! Like a stakeout!" Annie uttered excitedly.
"Well, that's kind of more for cops," Ruby informed.
"Yeah, and we're watching to see who doesn't show, so..." Beth added.
"Oh, sorry, so like the very definition of a stakeout." The attitude was dripping from Annie's voice.
"Do you always have to label it? Or be down with the lingo?" Ruby questioned.
"It gets to be a bit much." Beth voiced.
Annie's brows rose, "you guys just cannot give it to me, can you?"
Alivia rolled her eyes at her dramatic tone. "Whatever it is, someone better bring snacks."