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“Too late,” Folsom said. “I’ll call you back when I figure it out.”
Then there was a dead phone line.
Kobe stared at nothing as he grumbled darkly to himself.
Seconds later he was leaving the office.
I looked at Davis and said, “Another romance in the making.”
“Or the making of a murder.” Davis winced when he realized how that sounded. “Not by whomever this guy is. By Kobe because she doesn’t keep herself safe.”
I chose not to argue and instead watched the video again.
“They said that there was a son that had tried to contest the state for the property, but he didn’t have the money to pay the back taxes. So the house went up for auction,” I admitted. “That might be him.”
Davis grunted. “If that’s him, then we have some questions that need answered. One, is he connected to Herb, your boss’s death? Two, if he isn’t, is he dangerous? Three, what’s he looking for?”
All great questions that I didn’t have the answer to.
“I don’t know,” I admitted.
“Me neither,” he grumbled. “Come on, let’s go look at the area that I was thinking about for you. Meanwhile, I’ll shoot the sheriff a text and ask him to come by when he has a chance.”
I was happy to hear that he’d call Sheriff Sunny.
It wasn’t that I didn’t mind him handling my business and problems, but I also didn’t want him to go to jail for my problems, either.
I quite liked having him out, where I could do with him what I pleased.
I guess I could admit that I was starting to fall for him.
And by saying starting, I meant already started. I was halfway there, and that was only because I hadn’t really allowed myself to think about our relationship long term.
If I did…
“Let’s go,” he ordered.
But before I could take a step toward him, he caught me with a shoulder in my belly, then tossed me over his shoulder like a sack of feed.
“Oooof,” I replied as his shoulder knocked all the breath out of my belly. “Put me down, you big lug.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said as he walked out of his office, completely ignoring my order.
I wasn’t surprised to see Lars and the other guys that worked with him watching us pass through their open office doors.
I waved, and all of them returned the wave with amused expressions on their faces.
When I got to the open office in question, I was surprised.
It wasn’t dark and dreary like the other office space had been. This one had almost all the windows from the south side of the building, its own entrance, and was clearly twice the amount of space. Oh, and there was no doubt in my mind that the place would be at least double the rent.
“I can’t afford this,” I admitted sadly. “This is clearly worth twice as much as the other space.”
“Maybe,” he shrugged. “But I rent to who I want. Because I’m a private person, I have to know them personally. And I know you personally. I know that you’d pay your rent on time. I know that I’d never have to kick you out due to nonpayment.” He paused. “And, just sayin’, but I make more money in an hour for my investments than you do in an entire year.”
I scoffed. “You have no idea how much I make.”
“I have an idea, since Herb had to give me that information before I allowed him to sign the lease,” he admitted. “I’m sorry, but in the twelve seconds it takes me to sneeze and recover from it, I make more than you do.”
The arrogance on this motherfucker…
Before I could push him further, though, he was setting me down on my feet and answering a phone call that I hadn’t realized he was getting.
I took the time to walk around the area, studying all the features and amenities.
This place could definitely work.
The difference between Herb and I was that I had a different view on what I wanted out of taxidermy.
Where Herb wanted to be a traditionalist, I wanted to spice it up. Though I would offer the traditional mounts and “stuffs” as you would call them, I also wanted to offer something special for “her.” As in all those ladies that get their first deer, or their elk of a lifetime, I also wanted to offer them the glamorous aspect of it.
Bling the horns sparkly pink? I’m your woman.
Want your deer to have earrings? That’d be me.
I wanted to offer an alternative to what was traditional, and I knew that I would have the clientele.
I currently had an Etsy store that was booming for that very reason. If I had an actual shop where I could do as I wanted? I knew I could make the business fly.
I walked into the area where I would be able to process the deer and keep it as clean as possible, noting the huge stainless steel counters, sinks and steam room.
