“You are too young to be this old,” she said.
We played this game a lot too. She told me I needed to get out. I pretended to consider it. In the hall, the on-duty nurse shot me a “time to head out” nod as he passed the doorway.
“I should leave before this snow gets any worse.” I stood to stretch when my phone vibrated with a call. Tension immediately clenched my jaw, grinding my back teeth.
Please, not tonight.
The name on my screen showed Benny Gauner Jr. He was my boss, most of the town’s boss, really, because he owned half of it. And while most people around Slippery Slopes werewelcoming and quirky, Benny had fully taken on the Mr. Potter qualities that came with the ownership of a town when his father, Ben Gauner Sr., passed. He was a grumpy little shit who took pleasure in bossing people around. Not only was he the man who paid me for security around his properties, but he also hired me for miscellaneous odd jobs. I was always flush with work, so no matter how much I disliked the slimy guy, I needed to keep my temper in check if I wanted to make money.
“You been drinking, Soupman?” Benny said by way of greeting. I winced at the horrible nickname he managed to get most of the town calling me.
“No,” I said, looking left and right. I assumed he didn’t mean the cup of tea sitting next to Ivy’s.
“That’s right, you aren’t a drinker. Not like you can afford to lose any more brain cells,” he said.
“Happy New Year to you.” My back teeth were close to shattering.
“Not yet, it ain’t.” The background noise of his call made it hard to hear him until the sound of a door shutting muffled the crowd. “You wanna take a job?”
“Tonight? It’s a holiday.”
“Since when does that matter?”
I thought of my nice, warm bed and maybe picking up some chimichangas from The Quickie on the way home. The last thing I wanted was anything involving my boss, especially if it involved going out in this weather. Big guys get cold just like the rest of the world. Plus, slipping and falling on ice was a lot scarier from this height.
“What is it?” I said dryly, still not fully committing. I couldn’t be the only person for this job, but Slippery Slopes was a small town, and I was the resident muscle for hire.
“The security camera is offline up at the shop, and I need somebody to go make sure there wasn’t a break-in.”
I closed my eyes. I had a feeling I knew which shop based on the context, but of all the properties in town Benny owned, that was my least favorite to visit. My stomach roiled at the thought of being that high up off the ground.
“Which one?”
“Peaked Interests, you goon. Use your brain for once, would you?”
Ivy had her head turned listening to the conversation, nostrils flared.
“You really want to send somebody up there?” I asked, ignoring his insults. It wasn’t any different from most of what I heard every day.
“Yeah, and every second you waste asking asinine questions is another minute wasted.”
“Aren’t you able to go?”
Peaked Interests was a gift shop located at the exit of the tram. Tourists stepped off the aerial tram into an explosion of overpriced goodies stamped with “Slippery Slopes.” The alarm was probably set off by one of the wild guinea pigs. They’d managed to make their way up the mountain in their search for dominance. There were so many details about Slippery Slopes that nobody outside this town would believe. But despite all our quirks, I doubted anybody would break into a kitschy thirty-year-old tourist trap on New Year’s Eve.
Benny snorted. “Can’t. Been drinking. Some of us celebrate holidays. Also, the road up is closed, so you gotta take the tram. Faster anyway, but just letting you know you can’t drive up.”
“I didn’t say I would do it.” I was absolutely not doing it now. Fuck that mountain, and screw that tram. No, thank you. I was too big for the tiny metal box the employees called The Can. I hated that my body weight made it groan and swing. I got motion sickness just thinking about the twenty-minute trip up The Slope.
“Oh yeah? Hot date with the old teacher?” He mumbled something else I couldn’t hear.
I wouldn’t expect Benny Jr. to understand the concept of found family.
“I can’t,” I said.
There was a beat of silence, followed by an exacerbated sigh.
“I’ll pay you twice your going rate. Just go up there. It’s probably some punk kids. Bring ’em down so I can beat their asses. Then you collect your money, and Happy Freaking New Year.”
