Page 70 of Saltwater Memories
Chapter 25
“The kid didwhat?”
Lenny frowned as he listened. His little buddy, Will, had showed up, uninvited, at three of the properties on San Juan Island.
Lenny had told Gordon that he needed someone with discretion for these places. And Gordon should have known better – this was a delicate business that needed to be handled quietly. Benzini didn’t like nosy bystanders.
Each of the properties needed to be handled by someone who wasn’t counting pennies – better yet, someone who couldn’t count at all.
He’d suspected that this Will kid was too smart for all of it – a liability. What was he doing, peeking into windows and knocking on doors? Lenny hadspecificallytold him onmultipleoccasions not to go poking around!
And what did he do? Go poke around!
Lenny was sick of hearing about it. “I’m on it. Thanks.”
He hung up the phone. He wasn’t going to let this kid screw things up for him. Lenny had wasted so much time on that stupid island, forced to watch as that idiotic zombie movie fell apart. Yeah, it was Benzini’s son, it was important to keep the kid happy. But it was like a babysitting job. A joke.
Now he wasfinallygetting the respect that he deserved – all while bringing in millions of dollars – and some kid with a calculator was going to start pointing out that things weren’t adding up?
No way.
He called Gordon, who picked up right away. At least he knew his place.
“If it isn’t my favorite client!” Gordon said.
“Hey, I warned you. I told you to keep that kid out of the way.”
“Whoa whoa, Lenny, what’s going on? I’m sure it’s just a misunderstanding.”
“It’s not a misunderstanding. He went to the apartments last week, and today he went to each and every property. We have him on camera. Is he still asking questions?”
“No, nothing, he just expressed some concerns that we’re going to need more resources. You know, to bring the properties up to par. That’s his job, Lenny. Will’s a good kid, he’s not going to cause any trouble.”
“You’re right that he won’t. Because he’s done.”
“What’s that supposed to mean? Come on Lenny, don’t be hasty. We need the kid in one piece – he’s doing great work out there – he’s a real go-getter. That’s all, he’s just a go-getter.”
“Not once I’m done with him.”
Lenny ended the call and was about to make another when the barista waved him over.
“Hi sir, are you ready?”
The call could wait a minute. He’d been standing in line for this coffee for ages. He didn’t want anyone getting ahead of him.
Lenny stepped up. “Thank you Miss. And might I say, what lovely eyes you have.”
She smiled.
She probablynevergot complemented – not many guys were as confident as he was.
“How can I help you?”
He wanted one of those milkshake frappuccino-type things, but he couldn’t order something like that from such a pretty thing. That wouldn’t impress her. It wasn’t manly. And this Starbucks was only a block from his place, so he’d be seeing a lot of her. First impressions were so important. “I’ll take a large black coffee.”
“Will that be all?”
He nodded. He’d have to stick to ordering the fancy drinks at a different Starbucks. “That’ll be all. Thanks beautiful.”
He stepped aside to wait for his coffee and pulled out his phone. “Hey, I’m gonna need a plane. To San Juan Island. Now.”
