Spring It On Me

by Weston Parker

  “Willow,” I said again, not sure what I wanted to say. I wasn’t sure of anything right then.

  “Outside. Now.” Her voice was stern, leaving no room for argument.

  I shot the manager one last dirty look before letting her pull me outside. I stood on the sidewalk, staring at the storefront. From where I stood, it all looked fine. It only confirmed my belief the break-in wasn’t a break-in at all. It was the result of incompetence. Incompetence and stupidity.

  Chapter 14

  Willow

  “What the hell was that about?” he snapped at me.

  I looked at him. “Don’t you shout at me, mister. I didn’t break in there and neither did your manager.”

  “Do you know what that is going to cost to fix? I cannot stand incompetent people. I can’t stand people that don’t do their job. It’s not that hard to lock a fucking door. Look at the window, the door. They aren’t broken. The back door is steel. I know damn well no one pried it open.”

  I licked my lips, waiting for him to finish his little temper tantrum. He so reminded me of Jake when he would get himself worked up over nothing. The best way to get through it was to get through it. Going all the way through all the ugliness of it. Trying to stop it was only going to prolong the tantrum. It was like the man had been holding back for years. I listened to him go on and on about bad managers and everyone in his life screwing up. It was pretty obvious he was mad at a lot more than just the break-in.

  “Well?” he practically shouted the word.

  “Well, what?” I asked.

  “Are you still going to try and defend his stupid decisions?”

  “I’m going to tell you that you need to get all the facts before you start running off at the mouth. You don’t really know what happened. You haven’t even given him a chance to explain it.”

  He scowled at me. His bushy brows came together to form one long furry brow above his eyes. I had to keep myself from laughing. “This is none of your business!”

  “It kind of is. This is your business, in the very sense of the word. I work for you. Therefore, this is my business.”

  “This is my business! Mine. Mine. Mine.”

  I leaned back, staring up at the grown-ass man-child throwing a fit. I wasn’t sure if I should send him to the nearest corner or send him to bed without dinner.

  “Are you done?” I asked, folding my arms across my chest.

  “Excuse me?” he growled.

  “I asked if you were done with your little temper tantrum. If you’re going to drop on the sidewalk and start kicking your legs and screaming, can I suggest you take off your jacket first? It will give you more room to thrash your arms about.”

  The man looked like he was going to faint. “No, I’m not going to throw myself down. What the hell are you talking about?”

  “You’re throwing a tantrum. In my experience, it’s best to let the tantrum play out. I’m waiting.”

  He spit and sputtered, his face turning a little red before he must have realized just how ridiculous he sounded. “I’m not throwing a tantrum,” he said in a haughty tone.

  I shrugged. “Whatever you say. Now, if you’re ready to be rational, why don’t we take a look in back and see what the alley looks like?”

  “I don’t know what good it will do,” he complained but followed me anyway.

  I scanned the area, not pretending to be some super sleuth but wanting to see what kind of area it was. The name of the shop was in black block letters on the door, just like the other shops along the same street. I pushed the button to ring the buzzer. “I assume this is where you get your deliveries?”

  “It is.”

  The door opened and the manager popped his head out. “Oh,” he said, looking from me to Ashton.

  I pulled the door open and stepped inside the back area. I immediately noticed the security pad on the side of the door.

  “See.” Ashton pointed to the alarm system. “Security. It’s fine. So it wasn’t set, was it?” He was very accusatory.

  “Sir, that’s not—”

  “Ashton, wait,” I warned, already knowing what the manager was trying to say.

  “It was cut,” the manager blurted out.

  “What was cut?” Ashton barked, looking at the pad that on initial appearance seemed fine, but Ashton wasn’t seeing what the problem was.

  “There are no lights,” I pointed out.

  “Yes,” the manager said, bobbing his head up and down. “Exactly. The power was cut to it.”

  “Bullshit. I have security in the office and my house. You can’t just cut the power. There are battery backups and alarms that are triggered when the power goes out.”

  I shook my head, studying the pad that was probably as old as I was. “Ashton, modern security systems have all those fail-safes, but this thing was probably around when the dinosaurs roamed the earth.”

  He scoffed, rolling his eyes. “It has worked just fine.”

  “As long as no one cuts the power cord,” I told him. I lifted the pad and pointed to the green wire that had been neatly cut. “Right there.”

  “That doesn’t explain how they got in the back door to begin with,” Ashton said, glaring at his manager.

  I hated bullies. I felt like my entire life the last few weeks had been devoted to fighting back against bullies. I was tired of it. “A crowbar would work,” I pointed out.

  “Was our shop the only one broken into?” Ashton asked.

  The manager shook his head. “No, sir. The jewelry store next door and the women’s shop a couple of doors down were also broken into. The police believe the area had been targeted.”

  “Thank you,” I told the manager. “Please finish your inventory and get me the list. I’ll work with the police department to handle the report and all the messy business.”

  He nodded. “I will do that.” He looked at Ashton, asking for approval. “Sir, I assure you that door was locked. The alarm was set.”

  “You can’t know that for sure,” he said. “You weren’t here.”

  “Thank you,” I said again, trying to protect the guy from Ashton’s sharp tongue.

  He rushed back up front, leaving me and Ashton alone. I waited for him to admit he was wrong. I was going to demand he apologize to his manager. “This is bullshit,” he said.

  “Do you keep cash in the store?” I asked.

  “Well, of course, we do.”

  “We should check the safe,” I said, looking around and seeing more destruction. There were cases ripped apart, left partially open. I couldn’t tell if there was anything missing.

  He groaned and headed for an open door. I followed behind him, scanning the small office and finding it trashed as well. There was a small safe on the floor behind the desk. It looked untouched. Ashton dropped to a squat in front of it and quickly opened it. I saw the relief come over him as his shoulders drooped. “They didn’t get anything in here.”

  “Silver lining,” I offered.

  He stood up and looked around, his hands on his hips with his jacket pushed open, revealing a flat stomach and broad chest. I had never seen him without a jacket. The pale blue shirt stretched across his chest, giving me the impression he worked out often. “Why here? Why suits? Who steals suits?”

  I shrugged. “I don’t know. Your suits are right up there with some of the top designers. I bet they are going to be on eBay by the end of the day.”

  “But they’re just samples. They’re not even tailored. My whole schtick is tailored suits. I don’t understand.”

  I wanted to pat him on the shoulder and tell him it would be okay. “How much inventory was in here?”

  He threw his arms up. “I don’t know. I’ll have to look at the reports. The diamond cufflinks aren’t cheap.”

  “You have insurance,” I reminded him.

  He blew out a breath. “What a mess. I’m going to have a shit ton of paperwork.”

  I smiled at him. “That’s what you have me for. And my new filing sy
stem.”

  “Doesn’t change anything now.”

  “No, it doesn’t, but your manager can’t and shouldn’t be blamed for what happened here.”

  “He’s the manager. Who else is there to blame?”

  “The robber. The bad guys.”

  He didn’t seem to share my opinion. “The security system has worked all this time. Why now?”

  “I can’t answer that. I would say someone knew how old these systems are and how easy they are to get around. A two-year-old could have busted in here.”

  “I don’t think so,” he snapped.

  I blew out a breath. “You need to consider the possibility that this is one of those things that just happens. It is not the fault of your manager.”

  “We have yet to determine that.”

  “So you think being a dick to him and treating him like total shit is the answer?” I asked, my patience running thin.

  He looked shocked and surprised. He needed to be put in check. I had let him have his tantrum, and now it was time to snap him back into the professional world of being an adult business owner. “I’m not—”

  “Don’t even try to say you’re not being a dick. You are and you know it.”

  “Stop using that word,” he growled.

  I smiled. “Would asshole be more suitable?”

  “Stop.”

  “I hope you will apologize before you are through here. And just for your information, if you ever speak to me that way, you better be ready to be on the receiving end of a tongue lashing.”

  “Excuse me? You work for me!”

  “I work for you, yes. Yes, I am your secretary, but I am also a human being. You can’t go around treating people like garbage. You tried that at the restaurant. That was your one free pass.”

  He was shaking his head, his eyes flashing with anger. “I would remind you I am your boss and it is you who is speaking out of turn.”

  I shrugged a shoulder. “I rarely speak in turn. I’ll be waiting in the car while you handle this. Be nice to him or you’re going to find yourself either closing the doors for good or in here selling your own suits.”

  “I can sell my own suits,” he mumbled. “I’ve done it before. At least I would know how to lock the damn door.”

  “Your choice, Ashton. Remember that. What you do in the next couple of minutes can either make your life easy or make your life far more difficult than it has to be. Choose wisely.”

  I walked away, moving toward the front of the store. Ashton could be a very difficult man. He seemed to be in a bad mood all the time. I had seen him smile maybe once or twice, but it was more of a forced thing. It wasn’t natural and it wasn’t real. I was beginning to understand why Kyle said all that he had when he hired me.

  Ashton was difficult to work for and be around. There was something about him, though. I couldn’t seem to dismiss him or walk away. I saw the thick, prickly outer shell he was encased in, and I wanted to help him shed it. I couldn’t explain why. It was probably my own narcissistic personality trait. I had the grand idea that only I could crack that shell and expose the man underneath. I was expecting to free a butterfly, but I had a nagging feeling I would only be freeing a beast.

  “Can you email the inventory today?” I asked the manager.

  “Yes.”

  “And send me the case number for the police report. I’ll handle things from there. I think you have your hands full here.”

  He sighed. “Yes, I suppose I do. I don’t understand why they had to make such a mess of things.”

  “There’s never any good reason for why people do what they do,” I told him. “They were set on destruction, and that’s what they did.”

  “Is he going to fire me?” he whispered.

  I wished I could tell him no, but I really wasn’t sure. I didn’t know if my words had gotten through to Ashton or not. “I don’t think so,” I said. “Hang in there. It’s a shock to him and he’s angry. I think his anger is directed at the only person he can see.”

  He grimaced, nodding as he looked around. “Lucky me.”

  I smiled again before walking out to wait outside for him. I hoped Ashton could use the opportunity to show a little kindness to his employee, but I wasn’t going to hold my breath.

  Chapter 15

  Ashton

  I went back to the alarm pad by the door and inspected the cut cord. It was rather flimsy. I was only leasing the office space. The landlord was going to get an earful from me. They touted the storefronts as secure and safe with twenty-four-hour monitoring. I paid a small fortune to be in the space that catered to more of an upscale clientele. I wanted what I paid for.

  After taking a few moments to calm down, I realized it wasn’t the manager’s fault. It was a burglary, and shit like this happened. It had never happened to me and I had somehow gotten the idea I was above it all. I was pissed someone had taken what was mine. I was pissed I had worked hard to get to where I was, and some loser had waltzed in and helped himself to whatever he wanted.

  I was pissed in general, but I could see now I had no right to be pissed at the manager. The guy had looked pretty shaken as well. I walked up front to find him, daintily picking up a suit jacket and shaking the glass from it. “Make a pile to send to the dry cleaner. We’ll have a sample sale and try to recoup some of the loss.”

  He spun around, clutching the jacket to him. “A sample sale?”

  “Yes. We have new inventory coming in soon. Most of what’s here was from last year. I’ll call the manufacturer and have new samples made of our top sellers, and the rest will go into our back catalog.”

  He nodded. “Yes, sir.”

  I surveyed the damage and realized the man was hired for his retail skills and experience, not for his cleaning skills. “I’m going to make a few calls and get a cleaning crew in here,” I told him. “Salvage what you can, but none of this can be sold, not as it is. Anything in plastic that is untouched needs to be put into a pile. We’ll put those back on the floor. The rest goes to a dry-cleaner. We’ll have to run with minimal inventory for now until I can shuffle some things around.”

  He was nodding, but I wasn’t sure he was truly understanding. “I’ll do that,” he said. “A lot of the stuff in the back seems to be okay.”

  “Yes, it does,” I agreed. I owed him an apology. I was worried I would choke on the words. They were not words I spoke very often—if ever. “I’m sorry you had to walk into this.” It wasn’t exactly an apology for my behavior, but I was hoping it helped soothe things.

  “I’m sorry this happened at all.”

  “Leave the store closed for the day. We need this cleaned up, and I need to figure out what to do about the back door. I’ll be looking into a new security system as well. I will call and let you know when that will be put in. Call the other employees and have them come in if they are not scheduled. They can help do the inventory and set up the racks once the cleanup is finished.”

  “Thank you. I appreciate that.”

  “I’ll check in later,” I said, still not able to apologize for my behavior. I walked to the door and looked back. “Thank you for being a good manager. I know it wasn’t your fault.”

  A smile spread over his face. “Thank you.”

  I walked out of the store and found Willow sitting in the back of the car we had taken to the shop. I climbed in and ordered the driver to take us back to my office. Willow was very quiet. I knew she was angry with me. I couldn’t take the silence any longer.

  “How did you know about that alarm system?” I asked. Part of me wondered about her past. I had not been the one to interview her or see her past job history. She could be a cat burglar for all I knew.

  “I used to sell them, or rather, I tried to sell them. I worked as kind of a telemarketer for a security company.”

  “Oh,” I said with some surprise. “I had no idea.”

  She released a small laugh. “I’ve had a lot of jobs. If you want to stop that from happening again, you nee
d a good security system in there. Granted, it might not stop the burglary, but the police are going to know about it a lot faster. The burglars are going to realize they can’t cut a wire and have their fun in your store. You need cameras as well. Your inventory is expensive. I don’t understand why you are guarding it with a two-dollar security system.”

  “I didn’t know it was a two-dollar system. I assumed we were in a safe neighborhood.”

  “No neighborhood is safe. If anything, you’re only enticing would-be burglars by being in an upscale neighborhood with all the expensive things.”

  I wasn’t going to move my storefront to the bad side of town and hope that worked better. “What security system do you recommend, since you seem to have all the information?”

  She laughed, pulling out her phone. I watched as she quickly did a search and then handed me her older smartphone with a dazzling pink case. “That’s where I would start. You can have them do the monitoring for you, which I recommend. You can also have a live feed going straight to your phone. You can pop into your store and spy on your people if you would like. There are a lot of bells and whistles with this system. If I had something valuable to protect, this is the one I would get.”

  I quickly read through the specs and was very impressed. I was sure it would cost a small fortune, but I wanted to make sure this bullshit never happened again. At least, I wanted to try and lessen the damage should someone get through the door again. Plus, I would offset the cost by making the landlord pay a portion of the bill. He could pay or he could reduce my rent.

  “Can you email that to me? I’ll call when we get back to the office.”

  “Absolutely,” she said with her usual enthusiasm. I was glad to see she was back to normal. “If you have any questions that you want explained in plain English, I’m your girl.”

  I nodded. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

  As soon as we got back, I went into my office and closed the door. I was hoping the security company could get out there today. I knew it was a lot to ask, but I would offer a bonus. Money talked.