A Perfect Crime (TWS)

"That money's not useless. Sure, in here it is, but I've got connections on the outside. You want something, I can get it for you. And I can get it in here."

The Crone looks thoughtful, but shakes her head.

"I don't work through middlemen. It seems to me that this little setup of yours can't give me direct control over the money. That's not how I operate."

She had a point. But I didn't have to act like I was giving up. I had one last chance.

"Okay, so you don't want a part in the big operation. Fine. Not so great for me, but that's not your problem, is it."

"No, it isn't. You'd better have a point to all this."

"I hear your Council recently banned cucumbers."

It was, of course, a wise decision. After all, cucumbers could be used to make pickles, and once you had those in your city, you were asking for nothing but trouble. The Council had our back, that's for sure.

But a twisted deviant like the Crone was sure to want to get her hands on some cucumbers. If not for herself, then to sell to the cucumber connoisseurs.

"You can offer me a supply route for cucumbers from the outside?"

"That's right. A way the Council has no chance of finding out about."

"Now that's a profitable line of business. I wish you hadn't wasted my time with all this other nonsense. Of course, I expect results before I can agree to anything conclusive. Get me one cucumber, and once I've verified it meets my standards, then we can discuss a more long-term contract."

"It's going to take time, I was hoping one of my other pitches would work for you, but yeah, I can get you one. Tomorrow night."

Of course, I didn't intend to keep up the disguise for that long. But I hadn't really gotten anything for all my efforts. I still needed to find out what her men were doing at that residential complex.

And I wasn't leaving before I had something. I had to lead from my pitch into the question, somehow. Make it sound like I needed to know what was going on before I could guarantee my delivery.

But how could I do that?