There were a lot of shaking of heads and a few mumbled comments. Karl sighed and tried another tack. “Well, what do we know for sure about him then?”
Dennis spoke up. “Buffy thinks she saw him messing around in here while you all were out looking for her. I don’t know what he was doing, but knowing him, he couldn’t have been up to any good.”
“Can we just have the police arrest him then?” Susan asked tiredly.
“No,” Brad told her. “We can’t prove it was him in here or that he has done anything wrong yet.” He thought for a minute. “What we need to do is catch him in his own game.”
“But is he really doing anything illegal?” Lucy asked.
Karl fielded that one. “I guess we’ll see tomorrow. He’s supposed to inspect all of these repairs at nine a.m. We should be able to tell from his reaction if he is legitimately doing his job or if he’s just creating problems to get more money out of everyone. Or something else.”
Allie looked up at him. “What do we do then?”
Brad folded his arms. “We get him to provide as much documentation justifying his penalty fees and charges as possible, then we compare them to what the town dictates he can do. If there are discrepancies, then we have somewhere to start. We’ll need Dennis to contact other people that he’s been harassing so we can make a comprehensive list.”
“Good idea. I can do that, no problem.” Dennis nodded, taking out a notepad and looking at it. “I’ve got a list started already. I meant to mention this earlier, but I got sidetracked. Everyone on my list belongs to the community. Do any of you know of anyone else Lou’s been after?”
“What if he wants more than money?” Ginny asked, speaking for the first time.
They all stared at her. She looked around the group. “He’s been making all kinds of rude comments to Carly for months. I think he might be after something different.”
“What kind of comments?” Dennis asked.
“Just little jabs and innuendos about us being freaks or unwanted.” Ginny shrugged.
“This is getting into tricky waters,” Karl said. “We need to bring in Chuck.”
Allie looked at her watch. “They had someplace to go after work, but Daddy Dave promised they’d be here as soon as they could. It shouldn’t be much longer now, I’m sure. When they get here, we can all take a break and sit down and bring them up to speed and see what they think. Until then let’s get back to work. There’s still a lot left to do. People should be dropping in and out all night to help for as long as they can. sky said she had been able to get ahold of about twenty people from the club the last time I talked to her.”
Carly had tears in her eyes. “It’s so sweet of everyone to pitch in like this. How can I ever thank you all? I can’t possibly pay everyone.”
“There’s no need for that. You do a lot for other people.” Allie put an arm around Carly’s shoulders and gave her a squeeze. “Now let us do something for you. There will be plenty of opportunities to help others out over the years. Besides, I want to talk to you later about starting a charity to aid members of the community that need a helping hand from time to time. Until then, sky is going to organize a phone tree for emergencies like the things that happened today.”
“That’s a great idea.” Dennis patted Carly on the arm. “But for now we need to get back on the job. We’ve got a hell of a lot left to do before morning.”
* * * *
They worked through the night. New people came periodically, and others went home to take care of their responsibilities. Only Dennis, Allie, Karl, Brad, Carly, Ginny, Daddy Dave, Chuck, Tony, Crash, and AJ stayed and worked tirelessly throughout the night. Dennis taught them how to install the new flooring and appliances, and everyone had pitched in as if it was their own livelihoods on the line. By dawn the entire place was cleaned and the new equipment installed.
Carly handed around mugs of coffee as they all finished their various tasks and congregated in the dining room. She wanted everyone as alert as possible for their drive home.
They took chairs, watching as Daddy Dave, Chuck, and Tony finished the installation of a camera system throughout the diner.
“Do you really think it will work?” Carly asked.
“I don’t know,” Karl answered. “We can only hope to get Lou to say something incriminating while he does his inspection. Besides, in today’s world you really should have a security system.”
“Absolutely. Well, I think that’s all we can do for now,” Dennis said, brushing off his jeans as he finished his inspection of the kitchen. He looked around at the group sipping their coffee. “You guys all did a great job, especially for not having done construction before. If any of you are looking for a new career, come talk to me later. After I’ve gotten some sleep. All I have to do now is turn the water back on.”
He went to the back of the diner as Dave and his boys finished up their project and joined them. Carly stared around her. If she hadn’t been there, she would have sworn that the place had been transformed magically by construction fairies instead of by a night of hard work.
“This is unbelievable.” She began giving hugs all around. “Anyone who wants to stay for breakfast, it’s obviously on the house. I’ll understand if you just want to get back to bed, though. Especially—” She had just reached Crash and was giving him a conspiratorial wink when there was a loud, alarming sound from the back. Everyone spun in that direction just in time to see a flood of water come shooting out of the restroom and race toward them.
“What the—” Karl ran to meet it, yelling, “Dennis! Shut off the water!”
“I’m not sure I can!” came Dennis’s shouted reply. “The valve broke off in my hand!”
It took them ten minutes to get the water shut off, and by that time the whole place was flooded. While most of them grabbed mops, squeegees, and towels and began trying to get rid of the water, Carly, Dennis, Karl, and Allie surveyed the offending plumbing fixtures.
“It looks like there were some cuts made in several water pipes, as well as the valve being tampered with,” Dennis concluded. “The damage wasn’t obvious, which is why we all missed it, but when the water was turned on all of the affected pipes burst at once. Fairly clever, although it won’t cause much lasting damage.”
Carly leaned her head against the wall, feeling defeated. “That’ll give him what he needs to shut me down, then.”
“Temporarily,” Dennis said. “You wouldn’t be able to open anyway until all of the damaged pipes are replaced. But I think I can have most of it taken care of in a day or two. Let me make some calls.”
Carly opened her mouth to object, but Allie put a hand on her shoulder. “Let him,” she said. “We all need to fight Lou, and we need to show him that we’re standing together. It’ll be much harder for him to bully all of us.”
“That’s right,” Karl agreed. “Think of it as leading the charge for the rest of us. If you can beat him, it’ll stop the harassment of other small-business owners.”
They were making sense, Carly realized. This wasn’t all about her or for her. It was for all of the people Lou would victimize in the future. She sighed. “What do you want me to do?”
The door dinged, and they sloshed back through the water to the front. Lou stood in the doorway, a solicitous smile on his face as he looked around at the roomful of people with mops, buckets, and towels.
“What happened here?” To Carly it sounded like sarcasm mixed with triumph. She strode forward, hoping her face reflected the determination she felt. Of course, it was easier to gather her courage and resolve when Dennis, Allie, and Karl were standing behind her. She stopped, facing him, her hands on her hips. AJ and Crash looked up and came to stand behind Lou as he advanced into the room, surveying the mess with suspiciously twitching lips.
“Someone tampered with the pipes,” Carly said in her most accusatory voice. Her eyes flickered to the two football players. She hated to drag them into her problems, but there was no doubt they could
come in handy in a situation like this.
“Tampered with the pipes?” Crash’s voice boomed through the room as he repeated her words, sounding like he couldn’t believe anyone could do something so heinous. He and AJ stepped closer, looming above Lou and raising their eyebrows in affected shock. “Who would do such a thing?”
“I can’t imagine,” Carly said, playing along. “Would you have any idea, Lou?”
Crash bent ever so slightly, giving Lou a stare that might have melted a glacier, had there been one in the neighborhood. Somehow he was able to narrow his eyes with the brow still raised. It was an impressive trick, and one that had probably intimidated a fair number of opponents on the field in its time.
The blood drained from Lou’s head, starting at the round, bald top and working its way down his face and neck, disappearing under his shirt. He made a motion as if he was going to tug on his collar, but instead he gave Crash a conciliatory smile and turned back to Carly.
“Well, obviously you’re having some issues here. I told y—I mean, we’ve discussed before the fact that the plumbing in here is getting old and will probably start malfunctioning—”
“All at once?” AJ stepped up and duplicated Crash’s menacing gaze. “That seems a little coincidental.”
“And then there’s the fact that Sami saw someone in here yesterday.” Karl took a step forward on Lou’s other side and joined the force of his scowl on the smaller man. “She said she heard banging noises. She also saw a dark-colored car fleeing the back alley right afterward. Do you know anyone with a dark car, Lou?”
Lou began backing toward the door. His face had developed a soft glow, partly from sweat and partly from rising blood pressure, Carly suspected. The group moved with him until he stopped with his hand on the knob, staring at something toward the back.
Daddy Dave and his boys were coming into the main room. It must have seemed to Lou that Carly had called a meeting of every big, tall, and dangerous man in northern California just to corner him. He sent her an appraising look.
“Obviously this morning is not a good time for us to meet, Miss Elliott.” He seemed to be trying to sound confident and professional, but there was a telltale squeak in his voice. He cleared his throat before speaking again. “How about if you take some time to get organized here and we meet later?”
Chapter 21
After three hours of tossing and turning interspersed with dreams of water flooding through her tiny rental house, Clifftop, and even, disturbingly, her grandmother’s house in Portland, Carly finally got up and staggered into the kitchen. She put the coffeepot on and rummaged for food in the fridge, even though she had no appetite whatsoever.
She finally gave up and sat at the table, her head in her hands, wondering how everything had gone wrong. What had she done to Lou to make him hate her so much? Of course, it wasn’t just her, was it? He was after Allie and several other people, too, that she knew of, and probably more that she wasn’t aware of. She pondered it as she poured herself a mug and wandered toward the living room.
There was someone sitting on her front porch. Carly jerked to a halt with a small screech, splashing coffee on her pajama top. She could just see the silhouette through the small frosted pane of glass. It wasn’t moving and whoever it was didn’t seem to be trying to peer in. Just sitting on her top step.
She put the mug down on the hall table and crept to the door to try to get a better look. Then she let out a sigh of relief and opened the door.
“Sami, what are you doing here?”
Sami jumped as if she’d been shot and spun around to face her. When she saw Sami’s tear-stained face, Carly stepped wordlessly out onto the porch and gathered Sami into a hug.
They stood for a moment before Carly realized that Sami had begun to cry. She guided them to her porch swing and sat holding Sami and stroking her hair as sobs wracked her body.
“It’s okay, sweetie,” Carly said when Sami seemed to be gaining some control over herself. “Tell me what’s wrong.”
Sami buried her face in her hands. “I’m an idiot. A complete idiot who doesn’t deserve to have friends. Why do you put up with me?”
Carly chuckled. “Because you’re the sweetest person I know. I’m sorry, honey, but I’m not quite sure what happened yesterday. I was kind of distracted. By the time I knew you had gotten there, you’d already left again. Dennis said he took you to his house. Did you get some sleep?”
“Not much.” Sami sniffed, leaning her head back. “I was too confused. But when Dennis came home this morning he told me about everything that had happened. AJ and Crash went to buy you some new appliances?”
“Yeah. They were really sweet. I couldn’t have afforded all the stuff they bought me. I didn’t like it, but they insisted and I couldn’t re-open without them. Then they stayed all night and helped get the place ready for the inspection this morning. Did he tell you about the water pipes?”
Sami nodded. “I’m sorry I didn’t get there in time to stop Lou.”
“You probably did stop him from doing anything worse.” Carly squeezed her shoulders. “I am really grateful for that. But tell me why you were so mad at the guys, anyway?”
Sami wailed, covering her face again. “Because I’m an idiot.”
“Stop saying that.” Carly gave her a little shake. “You’re not an idiot. I’m sure it’s perfectly understandable. Start from the beginning.”
Sami’s voice was unsteady. “I woke up, and there was a note. It said, ‘Thanks for last night but gotta go.’ Then their suitcases were out, and you said—you said you were sorry—”
Carly waited for her to calm down. “I said I was sorry to take them away from you for the day. Crash had just been telling me that things were going well. Honey, I didn’t mean that I was taking them away permanently. I would never do that to you. You should have known that after all we’ve been through together.”
“I know.” Sami shook her head miserably. “I’m not sure what I was thinking. It was just that everyone was feeling sorry for me and it seemed to mean that they’d left.”
They sat in silence for a minute. Then Sami turned to Carly again. “But why were they packing?”
Carly shook her head. “I don’t know, honey. Maybe you should ask them that.”
Sami groaned. “I know I need to apologize. I just don’t see how they can forgive me after the way I acted.”
“They’ll forgive you.”
“But what if they don’t? What if I crossed a line that can’t be uncrossed?”
Carly stood up and held out a hand. “Then you’ll deal with it. I know you. You’re strong and resilient and don’t let little things like this get to you. Come on, let’s get you some coffee. Then I need to start thinking about what I’m going to do with Lou.”
* * * *
“Let’s see if we can’t get back on track today.” Allie stood in the middle of the living room late Thursday afternoon, surrounded by Roy and Lucy, Greg and Susan, and Crash and AJ. Crash looked around, wishing for the thousandth time that Buffy was there. Mostly because he didn’t want to lose her, of course, but also because he felt like he and AJ were a couple when they were all paired up like this.
He heard a man’s voice behind him and pulled his attention back as Allie said, “Here’s Phoenix now. He’s going to show us some of the different styles of floggers that he makes, give a short lecture, and do a demo for anyone interested in trying it.”
Phoenix was an average-sized guy, but he carried a huge duffel bag with him. He greeted the group and immediately began pulling bundles of leather and wood out and setting them on the coffee table.
“You’re all welcome to look at these, but please don’t start throwing them yet. Even if you know how to use them, I don’t want anyone getting hit accidentally. Remember—safety first. Whoever wants to try them, on either side of the handle, is welcome to, but let’s organize who will be where before we start playing.”
The last one he pulled out was a
beast. It was nearly as tall as he was, with what looked like dozens of strips of some very thick, leathery material. He let it swing in front of him as everyone stared.
“I’ll be happy to demo this on anyone who would like to see what a real flogger feels like.”
“Holy shit.” Crash went over to examine it. “Do you really use this on people? On women?”
“Preferably, yes.” Phoenix chuckled, handing it to him to test the weight. “Many of them prefer this. It’s kind of like a very heavy massage. Interested?”
“Hell, yeah.” Crash put both hands on the wood at the top and hefted it. He handed it back with a grin. “Impressive. Where do I go?”
“First let me give a short demo for those who’ve never thrown a flogger before,” Phoenix said. “Do I have a volunteer demo bottom?”
Most of the hands in the room went up, and Phoenix looked around before pointing to Susan.
Crash stared, unable to believe that the woman who’d argued and complained about everything that week had actually volunteered. But she was getting up, squeezing Lucy’s hand, and even—he shook his head to make sure he wasn’t hallucinating—giggling a little.
“Thanks for coming up. I promise not to do any lasting damage,” he told her, turning her away from the audience and running a hand over her back. “Now, when you’re flogging someone, there are a few important things to remember. First, only hit where there are fairly thick muscles to protect the organs and bones. That means here on the upper, meaty part of the back and shoulders, the thighs, calves, and, my personal favorite, the ass.” His hand traveled down to her lower back but lifted just as he said “ass,” so that her startled look caused the others to laugh.
He gave her a wink. “So you’re going to avoid the kidneys, shoulders, spine, neck, head, hips, and groin, at least for heavy flogging.”
Roy raised his hand. “How do you avoid the spine with one of those long things?”
“Good question. It just goes to show that, no matter how experienced you are, it’s easy to get carried away. I forgot the basics. Let’s go over the parts of a flogger. The part you hold is the handle, obviously.” Phoenix chuckled and nodded at Roy. “The ‘long things’ are called falls, and the ends of the falls are the tips. It’s not rocket science, but it is important we’re all on the same page. Any other questions on this part?”
Double Dom Fantasies Page 23
