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~*~
Harley put the phone back in the cradle and sat there with his hands holding his head up. This was a nightmare. They were so fucked right now, he wasn’t sure what they could do about working this out, so they came out on top. Calling Brock to come into his office, he told him to close the door. As soon as he sat down, Harley told him what was going on.
“I don’t understand. Why would they sell this building without giving us first dibs on it? That’s very unprofessional of them.” Harley just stared at his brother. “We have a twenty-year lease with this building. I’m sure we have a few more years left on it.”
“No, we have ninety days. Thirty more than we should be getting. The new owners had it put in the sale of the building that they don’t have to honor the arrangements the previous owners had with us. We’re so fucked right now, Brock.” Brock asked him how that was going to fuck them over. “We don’t have the capital to move. Not only that, we don’t have enough money right now in ready cash to have a building put together the way we need it.”
“Will they rent the building to us?” Harley just stared at him again. “Since I didn’t talk to the people, I’m in the dark right now. Why don’t you tell me who you spoke to, and I’ll give them a call to figure this out since you want to be so snippy about things.” He told his brother who he had spoken to and what they said about renting this building to them. “Why does that name…are you telling me that Katherine Archer bought this building so that she could evict us? That’s about as petty as I’ve ever heard anyone be.”
“You’re pretty petty too, Brock. But the thing is, I have a feeling this has to do with Merce more than it does us. She’s lied to them about things, and that is why they’re not working with us. I’ve just thought of a plan.” He told his brother his idea that only just then occurred to him. “We take Grandfather out of the nursing home and tell them that since we have no recourse without a rental or even a way to buy a place to work from, we’re going to be putting him in a much cheaper run-down place. That should get her moving into getting us what we want. It’s not like anyone likes Merce much anyway. She’s just a child that sleeps around with anything that she can get to. I no more believe she has a college education than I have a million dollars in the bank right now.”
“She does. Not only that, but she was valedictorian of her class and graduated with a five-point grade average. I looked it up. Merce was only seventeen when she got her education, and then twenty-one when she was able to get a doctorate in engineering.” Harley asked Brock if he knew how she’d gotten that. “Well, it’s not like anyone is going to tell me she fucked her way to the top. All the college could tell me was that they wished all their students were as smart as she was.”
Harley snorted. “I’m betting that’s not the truth either. I do wonder at times how she’s able to pull the wool over so many people’s eyes. Next thing she’ll have them believing is that she’s the virgin she claims to be.” Brock said he hadn’t any idea how to check on that. “Me either. Not that it matters. She’d just sleep with some asshole and have him lie for her.”
“When did we lose control over her? I mean, when she was just a baby, she would do whatever we told her, and there was never any fighting about it. Now that she’s older, it seems like the more we try and do for her, the more she pushes back. Dad should have let us raise her when she was a baby. I think she’d be more like us and not this heathen that she seems to be right now.” Harley told him he thought he was right and that she was out of control. “I think your plan to hold Grandfather over her head will work. I’ve never seen anyone so attached to an old man in my life. You’d think he was her guardian instead of us.”
“We’re not, you know. I know we told her that when she was younger, but it wouldn’t fly now. She is supposed to be over eighteen now, I guess, so she’d be considered an adult anyway. However, that doesn’t mean we can’t keep trying to rein her in. Someone will have to before she gets herself knocked up, and we’re going to be the ones that have to take her in. Lord knows that Father wouldn’t be able to do it.” Harley thought of something else. “I think we should consider having Father put into a home now too. There should be some sort of law that says that once you reach a certain age, you need to have an exam once a month to make sure you’re in your right mind. I don’t think Father could pass it now, much less in a few years. I’ll look into that.”
When his brother left him, Harley felt better. Not completely, but enough that he was able to make sound decisions regarding his sister and father. Calling the nursing home where Grandfather was, he was put on hold four times before anyone could talk to him. Explaining it all to the woman he’d spoken to when he committed his grandfather, he was satisfied that he’d be able to have his grandfather moved within the hour.
“Mr. Lowery, when we took your grandfather in, you and your brother assured us that you had power of attorney over him. I have notes right here that say you were to have brought the paperwork in several times, but we’ve yet to see it.” He told her it had slipped his mind. “So much so you don’t remember that you don’t have the power to make decisions for him? I’ve spoken to his attorney, and he said you put him in here under false claims. Do you know how much trouble we could be getting into over that if he was still here?”
“I’m sure it’s a simple misunderstanding on— What did you say? If he was still there? Where is he if he’s not in the nursing home?” She told him she wasn’t at liberty to tell him. “What the hell is that supposed to mean? Where is he? You had better not have done anything nefarious to him. Or so help me, I’m going to—”
“Going to do what? You have no grounds to sue us for whatever we did for him. Nor did you have any rights to put that poor man in here without any kinds of extras. Do you know that he had to wash dishes for the extras he needed?” Harley said if they were extras, he should have to work for them. “You’re a piece of work, aren’t you? Well, I’m glad he’s no longer here. The man needs to be treated better than you two ever did. If you want more information, I suggest you find him and ask. He’s a lot smarter than you ever gave him credit for.”
He was still talking to her when she hung up on him. Harley had a good mind to call her back, but his plan was out the window once he thought about what was going on. He did wonder who would have the nerve to take Grandfather out of a good place they’d put him in. It wasn’t the best, not by a long shot, but it was a place to store him until he died. Harley almost hated to tell his brother. However, he knew he was going to have to. And he was going to have to talk to Merce too. She was behind all this. He knew it.
Pulling out his list of things he had to do today, he was surprised to find three envelopes with his and his brother’s names on them. Since he didn’t want to call him back into his office just yet, he opened the first one.
It was a letter of resignation from his personal secretary, June Baler. Not only was she leaving, but she was taking her four weeks’ vacation as her notice. He wasn’t sure she had any time coming to her—he never did the payroll but sent it out to be done. That way, he could blame someone else for mistakes. But to know that he had no one to answer his phone explained why he was having to do it today. Damn it, was nothing going to go right for him?
The other two were the same thing. Resignations from his agents, also using their vacation time as their notice. There were sticky notes on them telling their schedule to show houses today and tomorrow. He supposed they thought he was going to do it for them. Well, he had a list of things to do, and it didn’t include cleaning up their mess they’d made by quitting. Harley had a good mind not to pay them their vacation time. But he knew that doing that would cause him more trouble than it would be worth.
Before he was ready to take off to take care of his little sister, he had four more resignations and no one working. He was pissed off, more than he’d been in a long time, but there was little he could do about it now. First things first. Take care that Merce behaved, or he was going to have to take care of her the hard way.
~*~
Judy moved around the office slowly. Her body ached, and she was sure that had she called off one more time, she was going to lose her job. And wouldn’t that just make Mark a happy person. Though she couldn’t remember the last time he’d been happy a
bout anything other than beating the shit out of her.
Every time the phone rang, she answered it with a smile on her face. Even that was painful, but she’d read somewhere that if you had a smile on your face, you’d be able to speak happily. There wasn’t anything for her to be happy about, so she faked it like she did a lot of things lately.
“Hello, Judy. I’m glad you’re back. How are you feeling?” Smiling at Del, she told him she was just fine and handed him his messages. Del looked through them as he spoke again. “Do I have anything going on tonight? After about five? I have a date.”
“You do? Well, aren’t you just about the luckiest man in the world. Who is it? The pretty little girl that’s been hanging around here?” When his face turned pink, she laughed. It was painful but so worth seeing her boss embarrassed more. “So you and Miss Merce are an item, are you? I have to tell you, I think she’s a perfect match for you. She’s a right there in your face kind of person, and you’re more of the lay back and see how things go before you react. Congratulations, sir. She’s a good person.”
“Thanks. She’s coming in later to pick up some paperwork for a project we have together. Can you let me know when she gets here? I have about three billion things I have to fix up.” He started away and turned back. “Are you all right? I don’t mean to be rude or anything, but you look a little under the weather still. You don’t have to be here if you don’t feel like it, Judy. The place might fall apart a little, but you don’t need to push yourself too much.”
Tears, nearly always on the surface of her emotions, filled her eyes. Pretending to cough, she turned away from him to get a tissue. Telling him she was fine, really, Judy was thankful that the phone rang just then so she could take her mind off of how nice it would be to have someone like Del in her life.
Not that she felt anything romantic towards her boss, but he was a nice person, and she’d gone a long time without someone nice in her life. Putting her hand over her still flat belly, she wondered what she was going to do when Mark found out about this child. Would he push her down the stairs again? Would he beat her until she lost it? She was terrified that—
“Hey.” She looked at Merce and saw the concern on her face. Staring at her for several seconds, Merce took her hand and dragged her to the bathroom down the hall from the office. Once they were both inside, she closed and locked the door. “Show me. Show me what whoever it was that beat you did to you, so I can go and give him ten times that much.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” But she did. Merce just stood there, nothing written on her face but patience. “Merce, it’s just fine. I promise.”
