Chapter 8 Casey #2
Doug shrugs and looks at the other guys. “Someone ordered it? We run a legit flower shop. Grams was passionate about flowers and taught us everything we know. When she passed, we decided to open our own flower shop. Been pretty good business, actually.”
The other guys grunt in response.
“Well, damn. I came here to take you out.” I stand straighter. “Prove you’re legit, and I’ll grab my phone from your truck and leave you be.”
One of the nameless to me ones opens his mouth, but Tony holds up a hand. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
“Someone said you were being shady, and I said I’d look into it. Seems there was a misunderstanding. But I need proof and my phone.”
Tony tips his head, just looking me over.
I bounce on my toes and examine them each. “Also, which one of you is Steve? And why didn’t you name the shop after Grams?”
Three of them go red and one raises their hand. “I’m Steve. It was my idea, so I named it.”
“I mean, I get it, but weird. I do like the whole macho sexy man look, though. And I’m gonna need to know the deets for the person sending all the flowers to Dallas. They’re stalking him.”
Steve shakes his head and steps closer. “I’m not giving out client information. There’s a certain confidentiality between us and I don’t wanna break that.”
“This isn’t a confessional. You can give me the info I’m looking for or I’ll hack your weak ass system. Your choice.”
“Or we can call the damn cops.” Tony says as he pulls his phone from his pocket.
“That is so unnecessary.” I roll my eyes and turn on my heel. “I’ll leave, but I’m grabbing my phone first.”
“Why the fuck do you think we’ll let you go?”
“Your freezer is dead and stinks. Get that fixed before you ever call the cops, otherwise they might think you killed someone and dumped the body inside.”
Doug’s eyes go wide. “I swear it was working!”
“Do y’all not smell that?” I hold my nose and wave my hand in front of my face. “It’s nasty.”
“Allergies,” Doug says as he wipes his nose. All of their eyes are a bit watery.
“We’ll get it taken care of.” Tony glares at Doug.
I turn to the nameless one. “So what’s your name?”
“Manny.”
“Well, Steve, Doug, Tony, and Manny. Have a lovely evening. Sorry to disturb your flower delivery. I’ll grab my phone and be on my merry little way.
” I skip toward what I’m hoping is the garage door, surprised no one stops me.
I stop at the fridge unit and grab one of the vases with a single blue rose as I go.
Then I’m rummaging in the bed of the truck for my phone.
“That was fucking weird,” Doug whispers loud enough I can hear when they enter the garage.
The trick is to keep everyone on their toes. I pop up. “Found it!”
“You know our names, so what’s yours?” Tony asks.
“Nope, not happening any time soon. But you can call me The Masked One.”
A few of them snort. “So original.”
I shrug and hit the garage button to exit, and there’s a group of five more guys all unloading actual flowers onto different wagons. I look back at the four behind me. “We good?” I’m still itching to fight, but nine against one aren’t great odds if I’m being honest with myself.
“We’ll let you go for now, but if we find you here again, I’m calling the cops.”
“Fair enough, but you know they don’t give a shit about you. Toodles.” I give them a finger wave and turn on my heel.
This was fun. I got a little bit of info on Dallas’s stalker. I found a cute little flower shop. And I need to talk with Cindy’s kid to see what the fuck scared them. Sure, the guys come across as scary, but my instincts tell me they told me the truth. That said...
I still “trip” into one of the people loading up a wagon. The water from the vase spills everywhere and I make sure not to drop it where it’ll shatter. We roll around on the ground until he can get me off him. All the while, I’m patting him down for drugs or anything weird. Nothing.
I bounce to my feet and grab the vase. “Sorry ‘bout that. I’m all two left feet right now.”
“So’kay,” they mumble. I lean in close. No alcohol on their breath.
“Sorry, again.” I walk backward until I’m out of sight, then I’m running through the alley, forgetting about the goose shit until I’m running from a gaggle of geese for a few feet before they get distracted.
I’m panting when I get to my car, and I scratch the soles of my boots on the asphalt, hoping any goose shit that attached to me comes off.
When I’m satisfied, I hop into my car. I buckle the vase into the passenger seat because of course I do. Then I’m on the road back home.
Now, I trust Jim and Cindy. However, something isn’t adding up.
But I’ll question them another day. I’ll have to remind them I’m not here just to rough up people they don’t like.
Just not my vibe and they know it. I enjoy making sure my people are safe.
And so far Steve’s Flower Shop doesn’t exactly scream bad guys.
Just bad shipping timing. I sill plan on investigating them further.
I’ll tap in to a few security cameras and watch them a bit.
A yawn escapes and all I want to do is crawl back into bed with Dallas. The man is basically his own heater and with the temperature we keep the apartment he’s all cozy. But there’s no way in hell I’m crawling into any bed until after I’ve showered.