[part of The Fixer series]

I’ll come through later, sweep the scene clean.

You’ll be safe in South America by the time

they sound the alarm. That’s the professional service

ethic to expect when you hire the Quicker Picker Upper.

It’s the forest primeval out there. Society’s reverting

to a brutal state of nature. So find your fortune, cash out,

set up in a country that is skeptical of extradition.

Enjoy the cuisine, catch fish. I have got this thing.

No blood or fingerprints on door knobs or surfaces

once I sanitize the site. Not one stray hair

for the crime lab to hang you with. No scuff.

They’ll rule this death Anybody’s Guess.

It’s ungodly expensive, sparing you The Chair,

or Life without parole. You’ll understand I have to ask

for cash. I can’t mess with travelers’ checks.

You can thank me from Rio, Caracas

or Buenos Aires. Don’t say which one,

they have their ears on.

TODD MERCER won the Grand Rapids Festival of the Arts Flash Fiction Award for 2015. His digital chapbook, Life-wish Maintenance, appeared at Right Hand Pointing. His story, “Because Hipsters” was read at Liars’ League NYC. Mercer’s recent poetry and fiction appear in Bartleby Snopes, Literary Orphans and Main Street Rag Anthologies.