20. Blackmail
TWENTY
Blackmail
TARA
Driving home, Tara thought about how she always loved spending time with her dad, reading to each other, and talking about every book they’d gotten their hands on. Growing up, her best memories were when she, her brothers, and sister could go inside the bookstore or the library and pick out their very own books to read.
They’d sit down and read them together. Then, inevitably, over dinner, the whole family would discuss what they liked best about the books, even if it was thinking Mr. Darcy did an awful job with his first proposal to Lizzie.
“He’s mean,” was all Tara could remember thinking about that part of Pride and Prejudice .
Or when she and Tristan both cried for Dan and Little Ann in Where the Red Fern Grows . Of course, she still cried whenever she reread that delightful book by Wilson Rawls.
Her sister, Tiffany was more likely to talk about whatever biography she’d started reading that day, and Theo was always into science fiction and action novels.
She and her twin brother loved Tolkien, of course. But when she couldn’t get enough of Robert Jordan when his Wheel of Time was so popular, Tristan moved on to spy novels. He never took to fantasy as much as Tara did. In fact, she still recommended fantasy to young readers who come into the shop.
After a while, she convinced her parents to expand the Sci-Fi/Fantasy section to include more women writers such as Tahir, Adeyemi, Novik, and Jemisin. She loved being able to feature women writers of all genres in the shop more prominently and was happy that her parents only cared about whether the story was good.
Tara pulled her car into one of their designated spots in the alley behind the Hyler building that housed her family’s bookstore. She pulled out her keys to open the back door to their shop, nearly slipping as a precariously balanced broom tumbled down to the floor.
“What the…” She leaned the broom against the opposite side of the door, but when she turned back, the corner of a small envelope caught her eye. She bent over to pick it up. It felt thick, and someone had handwritten the word September on the outside. She opened it to find it was full of cash.
“Mom?” She dropped her purse on the office desk while flipping through the bills. She counted $600.
“Yes, honey?”
“Uh, Mom?” Tara’s head turned sideways with a suspicious eye toward her mom. “You and Dad haven’t taken up blackmail by chance… have you?”
Her mother snapped up from behind a bookshelf. “What?”
Tara held up the envelope with the cash inside.
Confused, Helen shook her head.
Tara prompted her. “There’s cash inside. $600.”
Realization struck her. “Oh. Oh. Oh. That should be from our new tenant.” Her mom answered matter-of-factly.
“New tenant?”
“Yeah. Steve something. Nice guy. He’s new in town. Has a gruff exterior but is kind of handsome when he’s not snarling. He’s been up there a few months now. Helps us move the boxes of books inside sometimes.”
“That’s nice of him.”
“Yes.” Helen grabbed a book, checked the title, and re-shelved it on the correct shelf. “We finally finished fixing up part of the upstairs and converted it to a two-bedroom apartment. Abe Mitchell helped. He’s so good at fixing up old houses. Commercial buildings aren’t usually his thing, but he and your father go way back. Besides, the plumbing was already there. Just needed to jump in when your father needed help.”
“I’m confused.” Tara looked across the counter at her mom. “So you converted the offices upstairs to an apartment, and now you have some new guy living above the shop? The hallway by the storage room goes straight upstairs, which means he can come right down into the shop anytime.”
“I’m sure it’s fine. And the shop door locks. Besides, the apartment was mostly in place. We just updated it, added a few coats of paint and put a sign out. That’s probably rent for September.”
“You mean half of September, right?”
“No. It’s a full month if $600 is in there.”
“$600 a month in rent?” Her jaw hit the floor. “This might get you a parking space in Chicago. You could easily get twice this. Even in a small town, it would be a steal. A two-bedroom apartment right on the square?”
Her mom shrugged.
Tara grunted out, unsure what to think. Her parents needed the revenue from rentals, but were charging what had to be way below market value. The apartment was a done deal, but in her mind the wheels were turning. “When’s the last time the office space was appraised?”
“Oh, it’s been years.”
“Ahh. That explains it, then,” Tara said. “I’m going to schedule someone to come out here so we can be sure to charge fair market value for the commercial space.”
“Anyway, I found the envelope by the back door. Does he always pay in cash?”
“Usually.”
Tara placed the rent money inside the drawer to add to the day’s deposit. She started opening drawers as if looking for something. “Where do you keep the rental agreement?”
“We don’t have a formal agreement,” her mom explained, “Your dad and Steve agreed with a handshake.”
“Mom! You still need a rental agreement. I can find a generic one online and personalize it for the apartment upstairs. What utilities does he pay?”
“He’s responsible for electricity, cable and internet. Rent includes water and gas.”
“Are you even making any money with this?”
“Yes. Plus, it’s nice to have someone around the building at night.”
“So he’s security?”
“No, but if anything happens, he’ll let us know, I’m sure.”
“You don’t know that. What if he’s the one making something happen?”
“Oh, I’m sure he’s fine. He’s a veteran, a Marine, I think. Your father said he moved here to be near family. You don’t move to a new town to be near family if you’re just going to cause trouble. Besides, he needed a place in a hurry because he was starting a new job. We live in a town where we help each other, Tara. You know that.”
Knowing she wouldn’t win this argument, Tara smiled back at her mom. “Yes, I do.”
Helen wandered back up front when they heard a customer come in while Tara returned to her paperwork. She rubbed her hands over her face after crunching numbers for a while.
She exhaled. “I need to get out from in front of this computer.”
Helen was just ringing up a customer excited with her latest handful of cozy mystery finds when Tara walked behind the counter. She looked around the shop as if scrutinizing the space.
She waited for the customer to exit the shop before addressing her mother. “It’s so cramped in here. Have you ever thought of taking over the space next door when the boutique moves out? You can use part of it for author signings and other events.”
“Oh gosh. We haven’t had any signings in a couple of months.”
“No signings?” Tara’s brows raised up. “You used to have them once or twice a month.”
“I just haven’t gotten around to scheduling them like Lucy did, though we have one set up for next month. A local author who wrote a coming of age story.”
“Author signings sell books, Mom.”
“Mmhmm.”
Tara rolled her eyes and shook her head. She held up another letter with a furrowed brow. What would you like to do with this? It’s from someplace called the Bronson Group. I did a quick search, and they’re in commercial and residential real estate.
“Yes,” Helen said while straightening the different-sized bags behind the counter. She stood up and leaned against the counter. “Your father and I hear from them a few times a year. They want to buy the building and always promise a fair offer. We just ignore them because we want to keep this in the family if we can.”
“If you can?”
Her mom continued. “Eventually, we’ll hand this down to one of you if you want it, though you’ve been the only one who’s ever expressed interest. Of course, you’re doing so well in Chicago that you may not want to.”
Tara stepped back in surprise. “It’s not that I don’t want to, I do. I’m just not ready for it. Besides, you and Dad aren’t anywhere near retirement. Heck,” Tara laughed. “You’re not even old enough for the Golden Buckeye card yet!”
“We’re a lot closer than you think,” Helen said then changed the subject. “Have you wandered upstairs yet?”
“Not yet. You said the keys are in the office, right?”
“Top drawer.”
“Maybe I’ll head up now and wander around. I wrote up a lease agreement for the tenant upstairs. It’s generic and doesn’t change anything, but at least you’ll have something official.”