Chapter 4

In just two days, Brenda had collected seventy percent of the money.

A full one point nine million dollars and change.

And the extermination crew moved into the complex, right on schedule.

They gathered the owners to go over the extermination do's and don'ts.

And Brenda made a big show of hyping up the crew's poison.

"Look, everyone. This is premium German import."

"Over ninety percent kill rate on the bait."

But one look at the packaging and I knew it was no-name junk.

So I raised the question in front of everyone.

"Brenda, are you sure this is imported from Germany?"

"Did you check the import paperwork for it?"

Brenda knit her brows and said, flat and certain, "Of course. Greg and I checked it together."

One of the crew members darkened at once.

"Ma'am, please trust our expertise."

The words were barely out before an owner rounded on me.

"Right. If you don't understand it, stop pretending you do."

"If it weren't for you, we wouldn't be paying all this extra."

There was nothing more to say.

So I said nothing else, turned, and went home.

While the crew worked, I quietly followed and filmed.

But they were unbelievably careful.

Every time I got close to filming something that mattered, Brenda or Greg would appear out of nowhere to stop me.

Even when the crew came to exterminate my own unit, they wouldn't let me watch.

In the end it was the cameras hidden in every corner of my apartment that caught the whole thing.

Just as I'd expected.

This so-called professional crew was a bunch of rank amateurs.

Not only were the chemicals of unknown origin, but the placement and dosing were hopelessly amateurish.

As for the rats they'd promised to dispose of humanely, they just hauled them outside the complex and buried them in a shallow, sloppy hole.

Once I'd filmed all of it, the first thing I did was take the poison to my lab at work for testing.

As the extermination went on, the rat problem in the complex really did visibly improve.

Every day Brenda strolled the grounds with her hands clasped behind her back, looking exactly like an executive inspecting the operation.

And when the neighbors saw her, they were full of praise.

"Brenda, thanks to you we can finally sleep at night."

"You've got our vote in the next board election, for sure."

But the good times didn't last.

Barely a week later, on the very day the crew was set to pack up, the infestation came roaring back.

And this time it hit harder.

Several owners were bitten inside their own homes.

Some elderly folks and children were bitten badly enough to land in the hospital.

The crew didn't manage to slip away in time.

They got cornered at the front gate by a mob of furious owners.

And Brenda became the target of everyone's rage.

"Didn't you say this was completely taken care of?"

"How are there rats out biting people again?"

"Brenda, is this the ninety percent kill rate you promised?"

Watching the crowd boil over, with some already shouting for refunds, a flicker of panic crossed Brenda's face.

But she pulled herself together fast.

"Everyone, please stay calm. There's got to be some misunderstanding here."

"Don't worry. We'll give you all an explanation."

Just as things were about to spin out of control, Greg pushed through the crowd with the crew in tow.

He slipped a small bag into Brenda's hand.

Then he muttered something in her ear.

A moment later, Brenda motioned for quiet.

"Neighbors, this is why the extermination failed."

Then she opened the bag in her hand.

Inside, plain as day, was the homemade poison I'd handed out earlier.

The crowd erupted.

"How is she mixed up in this again?"

"Brenda, spell it out."

A crew member took the bag from her.

His face was grave.

"Everyone, this extermination failed because of that untraceable poison you people used earlier."

"It's got a compound in it that clashes with our special formula, so the rats didn't die. They just got more aggressive."

"To fix it, we have no choice but to use an even more expensive product and start the whole extermination over."

In an instant, every eye in the place swung to me.

"Nora, look what you've done."

"You're not dodging this one."

"The cost of redoing it, you're covering that."

Brenda shoved through the crowd and squeezed up to me.

She wore that martyred, disappointed look, like I'd let her down.

"Nora, honey, I told you ages ago to stop meddling."

"Look at the mess we're in now."

"I want to speak up for you, and I don't even know where to begin."

I stared at her.

I just gave a cold little laugh.

"Brenda, don't be in such a hurry."

"In a minute, you'll know exactly what to say."

With that, I pulled a tablet out of my bag.

The instant I opened the file, the color drained from Brenda's face.