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A simple price to pay for efficient work is always welcome. I have no tolerance for fiddle-faddling about. The law is far too slow for sweet revenge and far too blind. You cannot count on that. No, it seems to me that a bargain is always best. You get what you pay for, after all.

I’d heard good reports on her work in the shadowy parts of town where all the truths lie hidden. They say she made her own bargain many years before, to some voodoo king or other. I’m not that interested in her history, only her efficacy. And they said she was the best.

The only problem is that her work is rather singular and very much final. There are no subtleties here. She does not have a range of pain and humiliation up her sleeve, or the slow deterioration of your victim’s life. No, her work is swift and fatal and that’s it.

I might quibble that this lacks some artistry, but there is no doubting the efficiency of her Art. She’s not one to argue or barter with either. Her terms are her terms and the only terms. Still, why would I push the point? She could just as easily turn her doll and pin in my direction after all. No, it’s better by far to be a focussed customer, and thereafter a satisfied one.

And I’ve been both. Just yesterday I stood with the other hypocrites mourning the passing of my target, the rain falling on our shrouded heads like the gods trying to wash away the truth. I had to hide my satisfied smile as they lowered the coffin into the moist, pitiless earth.

It’s all hidden now, just like the body of the one I hated. Food for worms. All that’s left is an electronic transfer of funds from one bank account to another. A normal, unremarkable thing in this normal, unremarkable world. But under that, something far more remarkable.

And me, a very satisfied customer indeed.

(c) Helen M Valentina 2020