Chapter 33: Getting Down to Business

“Papa, we need your help,” Lexi said as her entire cadre stood in my office door. I was very proud of them. They were nearly through their junior year and everyone was excited about the new production work that would be happening at the ranch this summer. It was a little daunting to see ten of the twelve second generation clan all gathered together and asking for help.

“What do you need, kids?”

“We’ve started a business,” Lexi said. “We need help getting our supplies and production facility set up. It will require a buying trip to Chicago and we’ll need a guide. And maybe security.”

“Whoa! You’ve got a business and you need to go on a buying trip? How about slowing down a bit and starting me at the beginning. When did you start a business?”

“Informally, it started when we were freshmen,” Monte said. “We didn’t know what we were doing, but a lot of freshmen wanted prison shirts so they could participate in the Prison Break Day Brian and Cassie started the year before. Well, none of the older girls wanted to go back into organizing sewing teams, and Leonard suggested that we could do it.”

“Leonard?”

“Yes sir. I guess it’s my fault. I plan to be a fashion designer. The rest of the group has kind of been my mannequins for the past year. I sew up something. Lexi or Nancy or Pam wear it to school. Girls ask where they got it and if they can get one, too. We take orders, and get together to sew.”

“You guys all sew?” I asked, looking at Rich, Monte, and Ross.

“I kind of enjoy the sewing,” Ross said. “Mostly, I do cutting. We’ve been doing it over at my house. Mom and Dad let me kind of take over the entertainment room in the basement.”

“We’re just muscle,” Rich laughed. “We cart and haul and clean.”

“You’re cute,” Susan said. “You do as much to sell our stuff by escorting us as we do by wearing it.”

“How are you funding this enterprise?” I asked. I saw Lil standing in the doorway with a bemused expression on her face.

“None of us have really drawn any pay from what we do,” Susan continued. “I kind of keep the books and the money. We’ve bought three sewing machines, fabric, and notions. Everything else is in a bank account Ross’s dad helped us set up. But we’ve recently received an influx of cash and that’s what makes us think we can really move forward.”

“Where did that influx of cash come from?”

“Hearthstone Entertainment. Everybody in the whole clan gets a royalty on Young Cooking. And next fall, it should increase significantly when they release the new show with Elaine.”

“Leonard has a contract to provide all Elaine’s wardrobe. We’re going to be sewing our little fingers off this summer.”

“Okay. I’m sold. I knew you were all up to something. Other than sports events and dances at the school you never go out on dates. You’re all together each weekend and no one is pregnant. You have money in the bank. You have some equipment but I take it you need some other things.”

“We need a serger,” Leonard said. “We’re spending way too much time finishing edges. We’ll need a good cutting table and a place to work down at the ranch. It’s going to get crowded down there this summer.”

“I need to talk to Rex and then make some calls to Chicago,” I said. “I don’t know where the best deals are, but I know people who do. Put together a list of what we’re shopping for and what kind of contacts you need. We’ll plan a trip the day after your last finals.”

Lil and I knew nothing at all about the fashion industry. My sister, on the other hand, was a maven. And she had two daughters who loved to shop. Her son, my namesake, was another matter entirely. He was seven months older than Samantha and had been in and out of trouble his entire life. Joe was trying to get him involved in the security business but was still having discipline problems.

Nonetheless, he was assigned to our detail to keep watch as the ten kids—eleven. Rich had a new girlfriend named Amanda and she wanted to go along—and three adults. Mama Bear joined Lily and me as escorts for the kids. Rex had set it up so that she held the business license for the new company on Leonard’s behalf. It was clear that Leonard was the keystone of their company, just as Brian was the keystone of Hearthstone Entertainment.

“Great. Babysitting a bunch of faggots from Indiana,” Sylvestro muttered when he saw our group. All of the kids were dressed in fashions they had sewn from designs by Leonard.

“Just do your job,” I growled at him. “You don’t have to interact with any of them. You are on perimeter duty.” I saw him smirk. This kid had no respect for anyone. I had to think that Big Joe would have had him taken to the end of the dock and pushed into the Lake ... permanently. He acted like a thug.

“Sly!” my sister exclaimed when she joined us with Sofia Marie and Gabby. Sofia Marie was almost seventeen and Gabby was a very talkative thirteen. She reminded me of Lexi the first time I brought her to Chicago. The two girls fit in with our crew just fine, though I could tell Sofia Marie was assessing the boys as possible conquests. Gabby attached herself to Leonard and grabbed Lexi’s hand as we started the crawl up Van Buren’s Garment District toward the Mercantile Exchange and fabric warehouses.

“I want a dress like yours, Cousin Lexi,” Gabby said. “It’s so cool. No one in school has anything like that.”

“Leonard designed it for me,” Lexi said. “If we get some measurements for you before we leave, I’ll bet he’d consider sewing one up for you. Wouldn’t you Leonard? Please? For me?”

“Yes, Lexi. But not for you. I’ll do it for Gabby. Come on, sweetheart. I’ll show you a couple of fabrics I think would look good on you.” Gabby was in heaven.

I caught some of the strategy the kids were using. I had to wonder if they manipulated us parents as effectively. In each store and warehouse, they talked about what they were wearing and how it would be adjusted to match different fabrics. Inevitably a sales clerk would call a manager and the manager would come to discuss with Leonard his fabric choices and designs. Business cards were exchanged. Orders were placed. Equipment was purchased.

We arranged for a van to pick up all the purchases and have them delivered the next week to the ranch.

“Stop it!” The shout was from the back of our group as we entered the Palmer House for dinner. I was near the front and spun to see what was happening. Sylvestro had finally stepped over the line and made a pass at one of the girls. I was too far away and was blocked by the others entering the restaurant. It made no difference.

Sylvestro had chosen the wrong target for his affections.

It was just like him to single out the smallest and apparently most vulnerable of the girls to try to dominate. But Judy had taken her training seriously ... more seriously, perhaps, than any of the others. I heard the solid sound of flesh on flesh and by the time I’d forced my way back through the crowded doorway, Sylvestro was lying on his stomach on the pavement and Judy had a knee in his back with his thumb bent at an odd angle behind him.

“Bitch!” he yelled. “Let go! Get off me. I’ll kill you!”

“You assault and then threaten one of the people you were hired to protect?” I growled as I took the thumb lock from Judy and she scampered back. Monte put a protective arm around her shoulders. A little late on that, kid. “You’re dismissed. Your father is only supposed to send professionals out on these jobs. You don’t even rank as an amateur. Now get up and get lost, punk. And find a new name for yourself. I hate having people think we’re related.”

I gave him a shove and he stumbled away, looking back to glare at me. I let my jacket fall open so he could see my shoulder holster and he just kept going.

Before we left the restaurant after dinner, Joe had joined our party with two bodyguards who knew how to keep their distance and keep watch.

With the ranch going into full-time production for the summer and the upper level of the barn housing twenty-five people in dormitories, there wasn’t much room for cutting and sewing. I found a vacant office in Bloomington just a few miles away and got them space to do the cutting and sewing.

Lily and I got to sit in the audience for Elaine’s show a couple of times. I was impressed. To my unpracticed eye, Leonard’s fashions on Elaine were elegant and understated. That girl doesn’t need fashion to make a statement for her. The seamstresses and cutters were doing a good job of turning out variations on the clan gi for people as well. There was a nice sleeveless model with Bermuda-length shorts. Of course, I guessed the gis were superfluous once the parents and guests were off the ranch at night. I’d been out for morning forms a couple of times and bikinis seemed to be the most anyone was wearing.