Chapter 80

I got back to the barge at 8AM. Wilson wasn't awake at the time, so I made coffee. Then I went to the deck above his bedroom. I knew that I was walking around on his ceiling, but I made no effort to be quiet. I had been awake for two hours and he could damn well get his ass out of bed. I don't think one can giggle mentally, but I did something akin to it at the thought of stomping around on his ceiling.

"Alright Sylvia, you woke me, are you happy now?" he asked.

"If you go put some pants on, I will be," I said.

"I'll make you a deal, you go to MrBJ's and get our breakfast, and I'll take a shower. I'll be all sweet smelling and ready to go to work, when you get back. Then you can take a shower get some of that disgusting exercise stink off you." Wilson said.

"Deal," I said heading to the parking lot. The round trip took less than a half hour. When I returned Wilson was dressed and talking to some man in the office. I dropped off his biscuit and stayed to have a listen, stink and all.

"Sylvia this is Mr Alvin Thomas. He owns a landscape company," Wilson explained.

"I'm really one of those guys who didn't go to school for it. I just love plants and the outdoors. I can't imagine doing anything else," he said. He looked like the light bulb in his head lit. "Oh, I should have said that Mr. EZ sent me over."

I should explain that Alvin was black. "Well Mr. Alvin Thomas, did EZ tell you what I needed?" I asked.

"He said it might be a big job that's about all. I kinda work alone, so I'm not sure I can do anything real big. I guess I could work on it everyday, but probably not all day. I would put in a full day when I could," he explained.

"Let's me and you ride out and look at the site," I suggested.

"Yes Ma'am that would be fine," he said.

"Can you spare about twenty minutes while I shower and dress for the day?" I asked.

"Shore, I need to make a few phone calls. I can wait here with Mr Wilson while you dress," he said.

I rushed around choking down the biscuit while I pulled clean clothes out of my net bad from the washer lady's bag. After a quick shower and an ever faster dressing of the body, I was ready for the drive to the soon to be air field. It really didn't take long at all to drive there. Most of the time was in finding the property. I had a satellite view but no map to it. Finally I found it.

"Well Alvin, I need you to take down the three derelict chicken houses. Try to level out the field once it is empty, then seed it with grass. Something that grows fast to prevent runoff." I said.

"Miss Sylvia, if it's all the same to you, I have no idea how long this will take. I need to bill you by the hour. As I said I can't spend all day everyday because I got regular customers I need to take care of too." He said.

"Okay how much do you want per hour," I asked.

"I usually base my price on twenty five dollars an hour, but if you let me work during times I would not be working, and work you into my schedule. I would do it for twenty dollars an hour." he said.

"Okay, but I should warn you Alvin I am going to verify when you work. You need to keep track of the times of day you are here." I said. "If that is acceptable then working by the hour is acceptable to me. That price does include use of your equipment?"

"Yes ma'am it does. How about I take the metal roof off, and the metal awnings over the windows and recycle them. I can burn the wood from the walls since the trees are a long ways from the houses. If I do them, one house at a time, it shouldn't be dangerous.

"I have a better idea. Take the roof off and the shutters, but leave the framing up. I will call the volunteer fire department and see if they would like to burn them for training. At least I can pay them to stand by, so we don't start a brush fire," I suggested.

Wilson didn't have anything on Brian. Either Brian was clean or he was way smarter than I thought him capable. I let it stew till after the chicken house fires were complete.

It took a week for the firing of the chicken house to work itself out. The county fire department agreed to do it and to have their men stand bye to put them out a few times each. When the day was over the chicken houses were three piles of ashes and I donated five hundred dollars to their Christmas fund.

When the chicken houses were down Alvin went to work leveling the field. While he did that, I returned to the office and Wilson.

"So Wilson have you got Brian yet?" I asked.

"No and you ask me that every day. I can tell you are losing patience with me. I just can't find a thing. He calls girls and his mother. He is also trying to find a job." Wilson said.

"That begs to be explained," I said.

"What does," Wilson asked.

"What is he using for money? If he has no job, where is he getting his spending money and money for his car payment?" I asked. "He has to be into something illegal."

"There is no indication," Wilson said.

"Fuck," I said.

"What?" Wilson asked.

"We cloned the wrong fucking phone. He has a burner for his transactions that are shady. He didn't have it when he thought he was going to a real job interview. Afraid it would ring and he might somehow blow his chances. It was probably in the car," I explained.

"That would explain it," Wilson said. "I should have thought of that."

"No Wilson, if I hadn't been wrapped up in the airfield shit, I would never have allowed this thing to stew so long. I would have figured it out a lot sooner. My bad," I explained. Having over a million in the bank didn't make me more any less stupid. I only had that much till the taxes were paid for the coming year then God alone knew what I would have. The last tax bite had been almost 50% on the four Million I had after I paid Rita off.