Chapter 92

So without the imminent threat from the Russians, I decided to go back to my old life at least a little bit. I still did not want the messenger service, but I wasn't going to be Gwen's bitch either. If that Yankee bitch thought she was going too make a few grand from holding my company a week, she was nuts. I was pretty sure Jen could stop the sale of 'At Your Service'. The question became, if Lucas didn't get it, who did.

"Good Morning Archer, Jen tells me I have some decisions to make." I said it on the phone while waiting for my breakfast. I did have a cup of pretty foul restaurant coffee in front of me at the time.

"Yes we have been sitting around waiting for you to show up. Where did you wander off to anyway?"

"I went to a fall revival, no big deal. You know one of those first church of the missionary position things. They held it in the great outdoors." I said.

"Yes, I know what those are. So now are you back long enough for 'His Laboring Few' to finish the renovation?" Archer asked.

"I expect so. I thought that I would swing by the site and get them started again. So you just tell me what time and I'll meet them there."

"I'll have the foreman call you, if it's okay to give him your number?" he asked.

"Sure why not, it's pretty hard to commit murder over the phone." I said it with a rude smile which Archer couldn't see.

It was too early to get Jen on the phone at work, so I decided to wait for office hours. I wanted her to handle Lucas. I was way to personally involved. I felt sure my shyster friend had built an escape hatch into the sale. I hadn't specifically told her not to act like a lawyer, so I was reasonably sure she had played the part to the hilt. It was just what Jen did and I loved her for it.

"Hello," the voice came through my cell phone. Of course only after it played the first few bars of 'The Magnificent Seven'.

"Hello," I said into it as much to shut it up as to communicate.

"Ms Stone, it Mark from His Laboring Few. I am on my way to your job site. If you could meet me there, we can get started again." He sounded a little peeved because he had been pulled off the job for a couple of days. I knew that he would have been more peeved, if he had worked a couple of weeks only to find that he couldn't collect for his work. I was pretty sure that having his funds tied up in my estate would not have been a lot of fun either. Oh well he didn't have to know the details.

"Mark, I can be there in a half hour is that soon enough?" I asked

"That's just fine." he said, then the line went dead. He was either a man of few words or he really was pissed.

After breakfast, but before I left the restaurant I called Jen. After her receptionist put me through I asked, "Jen have all the papers been registered for the sale of my company to Lucas?"

"It's a done deal. What's the problem?" she asked.

"He told me last night that he and Gwen were planning to sell the business for a profit and move to Boston."

"That little shit, I thought something was funny with him. At the signing he could hardly look me in the eye. So what do you want to do."

"I want you to make him an offer he can't refuse my fairy god mother. I am not going to be Gwen's bitch, even if it costs me every dime of the sales price."

"Are you sure you just don't want to bury them in legal shit till they shout uncle and give it back to you?" she asked.

"You know that I'm not as spiteful as you. Make them one offer, I'm willing to refund all their out of pocket expenses. Let them keep the profits they made from the work, and wave goodbye to them." I said. "Or we will let them stay here and operate the business in good faith as they presented that they would do." I added.

"If they choose any other option, I will have them in court every week for the rest of their lives defending themselves against fraud suits." Jen said. She actually sounded as if she were hoping they chose to fight us.

"Okay Jen, let me know what they have to say. I don't want the messenger service back. However if I have to run it, I want to start before they run it into the ground."

"Can do Max, good to have you back. Life was getting boring in only a week." Jen said laughing.

I drove to the motel and found it had changed as much as Jen promised. Half the front doors were missing. There were signs everywhere of patches to the exterior walls. I knew that those were immaterial since the whole thing was going to get a coat of stucco to give it a Spanish flare in the end.

"Hello," I said in greeting to the almost retirement aged man, who met me in the parking lot. "I'm Maxine, I don't know if you remember me."

"Ms Stone, no one forgets you. Good to have you back."

"Thanks, I guess I'll ask the question you get asked the most. Do you have any idea about how much longer before you guys are finished? I'm staying in a motel and I'm not happy about it." I informed him.

"If you don't mind the noise, we can probably have one of the units finished in a couple of days," he informed me.

"Get me heat and power and I'll live with anything else," I informed him. "So what are the decisions I have to make?" I asked.

"Carpet first, here are your measurements. You can buy it anywhere you want, but Lowe's has a pretty good deal on carpet at the moment. Ask for contractor's grade. It is a good price for a fair quality carpet. Probably in this environment you are looking at ten years wear on it."

"You are going to plaster over the concrete blocks inside aren't you?" I asked.

"Yes we have a plastering crew, they can have this knocked out in a couple of days." he suggested.

"So anything besides carpet I need to choose?" I asked,

"Plaint and appliances need to be picked, might as well do it all at once. Don't choose anything too fancy or too large. There is a small space set aside for the kitchen."