Chapter 2 #2
"Books." This time he had to strain to hear. "They're forbidden."
Thano waved a hand. Humans were so stupid.
"Have a look around next time you visit Romeo.
" They never visited Romeo. He didn't know if it was because they didn't want to leave the paved road or why.
It was smart of them. Humans off the paved road didn't last long, but no one would touch them if they drove to The Moonlight Ranch. They were Romeo's coven.
He focused on Eli who'd lost most of his color. Was he ill? Humans tended to get ill a lot. "Is he ill?" He looked at Alice again.
"No, I think he's okay."
He didn't look okay, but Thano didn't have time to worry about it. He wouldn't have cared if it was some random human, but Eli was important to The Moonlight Ranch. "I need to ask you a few questions."
Eli took a deep breath and nodded before grabbing a key from underneath the counter and locking the cash register. "We have to go to the bank. Everything is kept there since papers aren't allowed."
Thano stared at him. "You want to go to the bank?" Humans. They should all be food. He bet Eli was delicious. His stomach tightened as he imagined his blood on his tongue.
"Yes, it's where I keep all papers. The store ledger with all my transactions--"
"So you have pen and paper at the bank?"
Eli stared at him. "Yes. Or I don't actually have it, the bank does. Every time I buy something for the shop, I have to go there to make a transaction, and at the end of every day, I count the money in the cash register, take it to the bank, and book it."
Thano turned to Alice. "Explain this to me.
Papers and pens are forbidden, books are forbidden, the board is willing to shoot at vampires if they believe there is a book nearby, and yet here Eli has a book and a pen waiting for him at the bank every day, and it's the law that every business has them. "
"Ah...I'm not sure how it works."
Thano turned to Eli. "Explain."
"Every business has to be able to prove they're not selling things they aren't allowed to sell. I have to be able to show you all my transactions, from where I've bought my goods, and so on, so you know I'm not taking money I'm not allowed to."
Thano didn't get it. "But it's your money. If you sell the plant of lettuce, the money you get is yours, right?"
Eli was quiet for a moment too long. "No, I can't sell this lettuce because I haven't bought it from Alice. She's not a registered business."
He was aware of the registered business law. Stupid humans.
"The potatoes then. Where are they from?"
"Fisherman's Lake. I bought them from Joshua Fagan."
"And he has a registered business?"
"Yes. He's a farmer."
"Good. So when you've sold his potatoes, you give him his part and keep the rest."
Eli shook his head. "No. First, I buy them from Joshua, and then he has to pay taxes on the money I give him. Then I sell the potatoes, and I have to pay taxes on the money I get for them."
There were too many taxes. "And then you take the money that's left."
"No, I have to use the money to buy more potatoes or milk or meat or whatever, and I have to pay rent for the shop."
"You don't own this building?"
Eli shook his head again. "No, the board owns this building. They don't want to sell it since they get rent money."
The board owned it? It was never something they talked about in their meetings. Who took the money for it?
"If you were to sell Alice's lettuce, what would happen?" He'd told Ciar and Draven they had to have a registered company to be able to do business with humans, and it was true, but he wasn't sure what would happen if someone did business with someone who didn't have a number.
"If there was an inspection, and they found items in the shop I had no proof of having bought, I'd be punished. I'd lose my license and get a penalty." He shivered.
"By the sheriff?" Maybe they needed to fill the position. Thano had believed they'd be fine without one, but humans had too many rules.
"I'm sure the sheriff would be involved, but maybe also the board?"
The board? Thano had never been asked to punish anyone. He was pretty sure he would have liked to.
"Do you want to check my records?" Eli gestured out the window in the direction of the bank.
"No."
Silence settled. "No?"
Why would he want to check his records? It sounded boring. "No."
"You're not here to inspect me?"
"No. Why would I want to inspect you?" Though...He slid his gaze over Eli. Maybe he should.
Eli looked at Alice as if he was confused. "You're on the board, and you said you needed to ask me a few questions."
"Yes, about tolls."
* * * *
Eli was so confused. It wasn't an inspection? Why would Thano come to his shop twice in one day if not to investigate him? "Tolls?" There were no tolls, not in Last Hope. He believed some settlements had tolls, but they didn't.
"Yes, Mabel Mallon wants to introduce a toll for mooring at the dock."
Eli frowned. The only time people moored at the dock was when someone from Fisherman's Lake came into town. "A toll?"
"She claims it would generate money for the settlement."
Eli had no reply. Making the people from Fisherman's Lake pay a toll would not generate any money to speak of. "They only come here once a week."
"Once a week?" Thano's face was a blank mask.
"I don't know if it's exactly once a week, but yeah, they come if they're delivering goods to me or if they want to buy something from the shop. Normally, they come on market day too."
"Do you think they'd stop coming?"
No words came over his lips. Stop coming? Eli's shop wouldn't survive without the people in Fisherman's Lake. Trucks drove between settlements, but it took time to get the items, and it was expensive. Truck drivers took a great risk driving through wild country between settlements.
With Elijah's phone working, Eli could perhaps call to order some products, if he could find out which number to call, but he was sure the prices would skyrocket.
The Fisherman's Lake people didn't charge him any delivery cost. He was sure they'd included it in the price, taken the time and effort of rowing across the lake into consideration, but it was nothing outrageous.
"Would they go elsewhere?" Thano's cool voice yanked him out of his head.
"Where?"