Page 48 of Muted

His smile is fake as fuck when he says, “We can do that. I’ll get Bonnie to sit down with you to go over the order forms. I’m sure we’ll be able to figure something out.”

“We will, because as it stands, we can’t afford you any longer.” He needs to know how serious I am, that I’m not just talking out my ass.

His smile cools when he holds a hand out, directing me toward Bonnie’s office. I push away from the counter, unsurprised at this point that Cliff doesn’t move to follow. “You gonna come with?” I ask him.

“No. I’ll check out the liquors Sammy’s gotten in and see if there’s something that’ll work for us. Unless you need me?” He doesn’t want to join me, and that’s perfectly fine. I’d rather do this on my own. Cliff has been absolutely useless, and it’s the reminder I need to finish putting together an offer for Theo to buy him out.

“Nope.” A flash of anger glints through his eye, but like I knew he would, he says nothing. I know they’re watching me as I head to find Bonnie, but I ignore them. I don’t have high hopes that she’ll be able to make this work for us, but I’ll sit through the dog and pony show just long enough to act like I tried, and then cancel our contract.

For the next forty-five minutes, I do my best to listen to Bonnie’s suggestions as we go over our standing order, but the price lists aren’t computing in my head. They don’t seem unreasonable, and I can’t, for the life of me, figure out why the fuck we’re paying so much. I’m also incredibly distracted by what’s happening at the bar in the front room.

Sammy hasn’t left the back of the bar, but he’s leaning forward, bracing his arms in front of Cliff, who’s also dipped lower. Their heads are together, but their conversation is obviously heated. They haven’t stopped talking since I sat down, and I don’t have a clue what the hell they could be talking about.

Cliff introduced me to Sammy as a guy he’s known for a while, but I’ve never seen them together. Cliff doesn’t talk about him as being in any part of his personal life. I took him at his word that ‘he’s a great guy’. Why shouldn’t I? Cliff wants to succeed just as much as I do.

“Is there anything you want to change?” Bonnie asks. Focusing my attention back on her, I shake my head, frustrated because honestly, we need everything on our inventory sheet.

I give the older woman a kind smile. She’s always been easy to work with and this isn’t her problem, nor is it her fault. “Let’s leave it for now. What we’re ordering isn’t the issue, I think. I appreciate the time you took to run through all of this with me.”

Standing up, I reach a hand out to shake hers, then say goodbye. Making my way back into the front room where my partner and Sammy are, I don’t detour toward them. Instead, I head to the door, announcing, “I’m going to head out. See you back at the bar.”

“Did you get things straightened out with Bonnie?” Sammy calls out to me.

“Nope,” I say, striding to the door.

Sammy’s scowl takes over his face. “What does that mean? We’re good then?”

Yanking the door open, I turn to face him. “It means I’m going to find a new supplier. Thanks for your time.”

I ignore Cliff’s shouts for me to come back, ready to get the fuck out of here. The company we worked with before the swap to Sammy is still available. Although they were slightly higher priced, they were consistent, and at this point probably way more affordable.

Glancing at the clock, I scowl and press on the gas a little harder when I realize that I’m late. I’m supposed to pick Susu up in ten minutes, but I’m much further away. Using the time, I again think over her application, and it doesn’t make any sense to me.

As much as it pisses me off when people do it, I keep one eye on the road and quickly look up the phone number for the police station in the town where she went to college. Hitting call, I set it down and listen to the ringing through my Bluetooth. I have a touch screen on my car’s display, so when the prompts direct me to press 0 if this is a non-emergency call, I tap it, and listen to the hold music.

A friendly voice answers and asks where I’d like to be directed.

“Can I speak to one of your officers? I’m calling about a background check I performed on one of my employees and I have some questions I’d like to follow up on.”

“No problem. Let me see who’s available,” she says. I’m put on hold again for another three or four minutes before a male voice picks up.

“Officer Mercer.”

“Afternoon, Officer Mercer. I was wondering if you’d be able to answer some questions about an employee of mine, or at least point me in the right direction. My name is Chester Ahearn.” I realize very quickly that I hadn’t really thought this through or considered what I want to ask.

“I can try to help you out. What are looking for?” He sounds kind, and I relax thinking that he’s not going to be a dick.

Taking a breath, I give him a brief explanation. “I have a newer employee that I ran a background check on. My report came back and there’s a lot of conflicting information from what she wrote on her application compared to what I’ve found online.”

“You do a simple case search on her? If you haven’t, there’s a lot of information that’s public record. Especially if she’s had legal issues.”

“I did. Not even a parking ticket. I know she went to college in your town, which is why I’m calling. I’m not sure if she actually grew up there, but I do know she was there for almost four years. There was an article from a few decades ago thatcouldbe linked to her, but I’m not positive. I think I’m just looking to find out why she littered her application with lies.”

Officer Mercer snorts a laugh, but it’s not mocking. “What’d she lie about?”

“Her name, current address, and birthday were correct.”

“And…” he trails off, asking for more information.

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