Chapter 9
The pallets were pulled off her, but she still felt as if she was being weighted down. She knew that she was spreading herself very thin, but there was so much to do now that she had everyone doing something for her. Dragon’s Breath was going to open in a few days, and she thought things could have been better, but the paper had come out to interview them and had run that they’d be opening an entire month before they’d planned. Well, things happened, and they had worked so hard to get this far. “Are you all right?” Dana looked frantic and she asked him what he was doing there. “I felt that you’d been hurt, and I came as fast as I could.” Getting out of the mess of pallets, she dusted herself off and told him she was fine. “Better than fine, I’m fantastic.” He touched his fingers to her forehead and they came away bloodied. “It’s a little blood. I’ll heal before you know it. Seriously, you have to stop pampering me so much.” “I love pampering you, and I don’t think that asking you not to use a chair to see what’s on the top shelf of our cabinets is pampering you. I’m trying to protect you.” She said it was the same thing. “No, it’s not. Never mind. What happened here that made you perfectly safe when a wall of pallets fell atop you?” “I don’t care for your tone.” Dana told her that he didn’t care for her bleeding either, but they had to live with them both. “All right. I might have thought things through just a little more before I climbed up on the ladder to throw one of the pallets on top of the stack. It wasn’t really a stack so much as a mountain of pallets that we’re going to burn.” “People pay good money for them—don’t burn them just yet. Why were you thinking that the mountain of pallets needed to be just one more taller? You have a death wish, is that it?” “Yes, that’s it. I wish to be crushed to death by smelly old pallets that needed to be gotten rid of years ago. People really do buy them? How much do you think I could get for all of these?” He told her he didn’t know. “I’ll look it up.” “Maybe they’d be worth more if they have a bit of your brain matter on them. Maybe you can try it again, but this time actually bust your head open. I’ll even take pictures.” She had to walk away or kill him. “Oh, I know, you could send it into that show that does funny videos all the time. I’m sure you’d take first place.” “I don’t like you.” He grinned at her. “Don’t be charming either. You’ve been making fun of me since you arrived. I don’t care for it.” “Then please be careful. I was happily working on my piece when I realized that we’d not eaten lunch.” Sapphire asked him who he’d been with. Not jealous, just curious. “Carmine. She was talking to me about her day at the school, which went well, and I was telling her about my life as a young dragon. Are you really all right?” “I am, I promise.” He nodded and kissed her. “We’re about ready. Some of the inventory is going to be a little late to get on the shelves, but the pack said that they’d make sure that it was ready when we closed that night if it gets here after we open.”
“It looks really good. I love the big half barrels you have out front. Were they salvaged from one of the other greenhouses?” She told him where she’d gotten them. “I bet there is a lot of crap in that old barn back there. And the shed that is out to the left of the greenhouses. You have them going up well too.” “We aren’t going to be able to plant anything this year to have it in time for summer, but we did order in some things we think will sell. And if any of the herbs that I ordered don’t sell, Denny said that we should plant them along the sidewalks so that when people stepped off them, they’d have a nice treat. I know I’ve been having fun in our garden.” “Yes, we have tomatoes, I guess. A little early, but the cook said that she helped it along a little. Do you supposed if you were to plant something for this year, the faeries could help you out as well?” She said she didn’t want to ask, not this year. “Probably a good thing. Also, you should know that there are some things in Elissa and Danburn’s barn. Old stuff that occasionally she goes through and throws things out. You might want to have a look for displays. I know that there is a Formica table in there with six chairs that used to be in the maid’s house before Elissa had it updated.” “I could use that. Do you think she’d care if we sold it too? If someone wanted to buy it?” He told her that she’d more than likely be glad to get rid of it. “We’re only using the money that we said we’d start with. I could redo this entire thing and have it up to date in no time. But I want to do this on my own. So if she won’t mind selling me the table and chairs, I’ll try my best to make a profit on it.” “Good for you.” He asked her what else was going on. “I’ve made Mel the assistant manager. He and Denny are getting along well, and I think he might be bringing him out of his shell. Also, he has some great ideas for here too. Just the other morning, he suggested that we have a cash only register. We only got one credit card machine in so far.” “I don’t have to tell you what would happen if his father showed up. You heard what happened to him and your sisters.” She laughed and told him she wished that she was there. “Yeah, me too. How about this—we have dinner, you and I, then we head over to Danburn’s to see about the barn. I can ask the pack to help clean it up, and everyone is happy. How many people you have working here right now?” “Fourteen. It’s been really nice having the extra hands here. And since they’re mostly non-humans, it’s easier on the humans that might not have the strength of their backs like they used to. Most of the people working here are about Denny’s age.” He nodded as he noticed that a group of them were starting to put a display together with Mel’s help. “He works well with everyone, but he’s not a pushover. Denny was coaching him at first, then it all seemed to click. And they all know that he has a disability as well, and we’re working around that.” “He needed someone like you in his life a long time ago. Oh, and Kendrick found out who his grandparents and father are. They want to meet him. Roger, his father, has remarried and has three kids of his own now. And the grandparents are just happy to have closure as to what happened to him. They said that they had worried that he’d fallen into the wrong hands. I did tell them about Melville, though not his name. But they know we’re aware of someone here that played a part in her death.” “I’ll be glad when this is over. Not that I think it will turn out well for Mel, not with Melville making noises all over the place that Mel and I are having an affair.” He asked her what she said. “Oh, don’t worry about it. I have it covered. Danburn hates the little shit, and he’s going to go and see him in the morning. Bright and early. He’s in for a rude awakening if he thinks he’s going to ask for one of the dragons. I had no idea that Danburn had never checked to see if the man was what he said he was. All this time, he’s taken his word for it because he smelled like strong magic. Also, he is using up the last of his black magic. He’ll either have to find more or it’ll all come rushing back at him at some point. His age, the aches and pains he might have suffered. And if he’s older than a man should be, say over a hundred and fifty, like we think that he is, he’ll shrivel up and die without the police taking him in for questioning.” “Speaking of which, they’re going to talk to him in the morning. I wonder if that’s what Danburn is waiting for.” She said she didn’t know, but had to get back to work. “No more pallet stacking. And I bet you could get at least a couple of bucks a piece for them. But to be sure, put ten. If they don’t sell, then lower the price. It’s easier to lower than it is to make them higher at this point.” When he left her, she made sure that she had enough people to stack the pallets five high. A sign was made for them, but someone that was in the back when she was getting the pallets repaired after their tumble told her to put twenty bucks on them and she’d still sell them all. While she was trying to figure out if she was going to be the laughing stock of the town for the price, a semi pulled into the lot. She’d not expected anything for at least another week. “You the owner of this place?” She told the driver that she was. “I have a load here that I can’t take back. I’m back hauling another trailer. My company told me that I was to get rid of it as best I could. The other greenhouse went under and no one bothered
to tell us about it. Mark said I could sell it to you for fifty cents on the dollar.” “How do I know this isn’t a scam?” He handed her his cell phone and the bill of lading. After making a call to Rette, she called the man on the invoice. “I’m the owner of Dragon’s Breath, Sapphire Blankenship, and I have your driver here.” “Yes, yes, I know. He just called me to tell me that you’re just opening up. Good for you. I’m the owner of Magical Beans. I know, it’s a silly name, but that’s what my daughter called it, and we’ve had it for several years now. The truck on your lot is worth a great deal of money. Most of it is plants, but there is inventory as well, a great deal of it. The order was for just over a hundred thousand dollars. If you can take it, I’ll sell it to you for fifty cents on the dollar. All of it.” “I don’t know, Mr. Mark. I’m new to this sort of thing.” He told her that he’d sell it to her for twenty cents on the dollar. “Hang on a minute.” She told Rette what the name of the place was called that she was talking to, as well as the name of the man. He pulled out his cell and made what she thought was four calls. As soon as he came back to her, Rette told her to offer him fifteen cents on the dollar, and tell him that Danburn would pay for the shipping costs.
“Mr. Mark, I’m to offer you fifteen cents on the dollar, and Danburn English said that he’d pay the shipping.” The man laughed and laughed a long time. “You know each other, I take it.” “Yes, we’re good friends, he and I. I’ll tell you what, Mrs. Blankenship, you order from me for the next six—no, make it for the next year, and I’ll give you that entire load minus the cost of the driver. He’ll need per mile on the load to you.” “To me. You mean from the other place that he was taking this to, or to me? That’s what you said, by the way.” He laughed again and told her from the first greenhouse to her. “Deal. And what do I do with this trailer? The man who drove it said that he has a back haul to take back.” “He does, for me. You have to keep it on your lot for a week and I’ll have someone come back for it. Is that agreeable to you?” She asked him if he was honest, and Rette nodded just as the man said he was. “You can ask Danburn, but I’m pretty sure that he’ll lie to you to make me look bad. Yes, I’m as honest as he is. On this, I give you my solemn oath.” The driver was nice enough to drive it to the back where the barn was. After he pulled it through the drive through like opening, he unhooked and left them standing there. She didn’t have the first clue what she was going to do with a truck load of merchandise that she didn’t order. “All right now, this is what we’re going to do. Make piles of whatever we have.” Denny winked at her as he continued talking to the entire staff. “For now, we’ll empty this sucker. After that we’ll have more time to put it in the store front. I’m to understand that there are some plants on here? Well, those will be dealt with by the planting crew. You know who you are?” Almost as soon as they realized they didn’t have nearly enough people for this sort of undertaking, a group of men and women showed up, via Danburn. He said that they were being paid by him, and that she was to work them until she was satisfied that they were done. It was the best five and a half hours she’d ever spent doing a dirty job like emptying a trailer. ~~~ Melville was just sneaking out of the apartment when he saw the police, as well as Danburn, coming down the hall. Before he could get back into his room and lock the door, they were on him and had him to the floor. No cuffs, which confused him, but he was helped up and told not to run. “You come to tell me which woman I can have for my very own?” He looked at the men that were with him. “Did you know that he’s a dragon? That he has more women at his house that are dragons too? They cry out gems.” “Mister, I don’t care if he poops out mushrooms that grow into houses, you just stand there and listen up. These men have stuff to say to you.” The mayor came running down the hall with a dirty pair of jeans on, as well as something on his face. He said he was sorry for being late. “Mayor, you’re helping out with the truck too?” “I am. I have to say, it’s a lot more hard work than I thought it would be, but we’re getting it done. Now, what is going on here?” Danburn told Rette what had happened yesterday when he’d harassed the women that were his guests for the moment. “I’m to understand that they’ve decided to stay, these women. Good for them. It’s always nice to have newcomers come to town.” “Rette, you have dirt on your forehead, and if you wipe at it again with that dirty handkerchief, I’m going to take it from you.” They laughed and Danburn continued. “Yes, they’re going to stay. And in addition to the harassment charges I’d like to have brought against him, there is the matter of the young woman, Elizabeth Tucker. She was murdered, and her child was taken by Mr. James here.” “I did no such thing. My God, how many times are we going to go over this? I didn’t do anything but take the baby when it was obvious that she was going to die.” Rette asked if she’d died by Mr. James’s hand or something else. “His. She was having a diabetic seizure, and had she gotten help when she needed it, she would have lived to see her child being born. Also, she left behind a husband and her parents, all of whom have been grieving for not just her death, but also the unknown whereabouts of her infant son.” “She was a drug addict, not diabetic—whatever. I demand that you stop bringing that up.” Danburn finished his story with him slicing open her throat and then her belly to take the child. “No, that’s not the way it happened at all. She was doped up and she.... Christ. That’s it, she gave me the child for money.” “So, you’re saying that you gave her money for her unborn child, and took it while she was still alive?” He nodded, then shook his head at Rette. “Which is it? You killed her after paying her for the baby? Or you paid for the baby then killed her?” “I didn’t do anything that she wasn’t going to do in the first place.” He asked how a person was to slit their throat. “No, not that. It was necessary to take her life, in order for me to take the child without her screaming her fool head off. But she was going to die anyway. So you should be telling me what a good job I did rather than coming here and questioning me like I’m some sort of monster.” “You are. And since you’ve just admitted to killing the woman, I will sign the arrest warrant. You should have asked for an attorney, Mr. James. But since I’ve been here with the others, you never once said a word. And since you weren’t arrested until after the confession, there is squat you can do about it now.” They’d tricked him. Just like on them shows he watched all the time, they’d tricked him into this. Now he was not only being read his rights, but he was also cuffed. He didn’t want to go to jail, nor prison. He just wanted to get himself a dragon and live happily ever after. “Danburn, how about you give me one of them women for about an hour? I can get me some bail money and get out of your town. You won’t ever have to see me again.” Danburn told him he was already getting that. “I don’t want to go to jail, and you have a means to help me out with this. Just get the girls and make me some of their gems, then I’ll go away. I’d like to take Mel—he’s been very resourceful over the years, but he’s mad at me right now. Maybe you could see your way in making that right for me too. It’s the least you can do.”
Dana Page 12
