Sizzling Sixteen

“Yeah, but you paid everything off, right? How much did it come to?”

“A million three,” Co

Vi

“We sold your phone,” I said.

“Yeah, and your bike,” Lula said.

“That’s not nearly adding up to a million three. Where’d you get the rest of the money?”

“I’d rather not say,” I told him.

“Stephanie’s right,” Co

“I came in to unplug,” Mooner said. “The Alliance wants me to go to the airport to pick up some Hobbits flying in for the big event.”

“Okay, so I don’t have a phone,” Vi

“He needed money,” I said.

Vi

“And?” Co

“Well spent,” Vi

“Why did Sunflower need money?” I asked Vi

“Bad investments, I guess.”

“Like what?”

Vi

“I got two hundred dollars for it,” Lula said.

“It was high def!” Vi

“Well, if you want, I can call Bobby Sunflower and tell him I want two hundred dollars back so you can repo your high def, plasma TV,” Lula said.

“Nope, that’s okay,” Vi

“Too much information,” Lula said.

Co

“What’s Wellington?” Lula asked Vi

“It’s the venture capital company that owns the agency.”

“Oh yeah,” Lula said. “Now I remember.”

Vi

“Yeah,” he said. “Yessir. Yessir. Yessir.” And he hung up.

“That was a lot of yessirs,” Lula said.

“He wants me to come to his office,” Vi

“Be good if you put some clothes on,” Lula said. “He might not like little Vi

“I’ll get them,” Mooner said. “They’re in the Love Bus.”

“What does he want to talk to you about?” Co

“I don’t know,” Vi

“Maybe it’s the phantom bonds,” Co

Vi

“We scoured the office, looking for money, and I found the file.”

“It started out small. I swear on my mother’s grave I meant to pay Wellington back.”

“Your mother isn’t dead,” I said to Vi

“She will be someday,” Vi

“Is this the dead bookkeeper?”

“Yeah,” Vi

I thought about Victor Kulik and Walter Du

Mooner came back with Vi

Vi

“I’d kill him,” Vi

“Probably, this Drager guy wants to have you arrested for embezzling,” I said to Vi

“I haven’t got a driver’s license,” Vi

I hitched my bag onto my shoulder. “I’ll take you. Where are we going?”

“He’s downtown in the Meagan Building.”

THE MEAGAN BUILDING was a black glass and steel high-rise built several years before the commercial real estate market crashed. The Wellington Company was on the fifth floor. We stepped out of the elevator into a carpeted hall. Pale gray carpet, cream walls with cherry chair rails and cherrywood doors. Classy. Wellington occupied the entire floor. It was getting to be late in the day and the Wellington front desk was unma

Drager was in his forties, nicely dressed, had severely receding brown hair, was around 5’10”, and his body was going soft. His hand was clammy when we shook. He led us through a room with cubicles and banks of file cabinets. There were private offices with windows on the perimeter of the room. Doors were open, and most offices were empty. Desks and chairs. Same with the cubicles. Just a few guys slouched back playing computer solitaire. Not much work going on. No phones ringing.

“Where is everyone?” I asked Drager.

“Flex hours,” he said. “Most everyone prefers to come in early and leave early.”

We followed him down a long hall to his corner office. Large ornate desk and credenza on one side of the office. Seating area with a small couch and two chairs and a coffee table on the other. He directed us to the seating area. So far, he hadn’t seemed to notice Vi

“Let me get right to the point,” Drager said to Vi

“Yessir,” Vi

“Not if you repay the money.” Drager stood and looked at his watch. “I have another meeting. You can let yourselves out?”

“Absolutely,” Vi

Drager walked partially down the hall with us, said good-bye, and entered another office. Vi

“What?” the kid said.

“Sorry,” I said to him. “Looking for the ladies room.”

“By the elevator.”

I thanked him and closed the door. I didn’t say anything to Vi

“So what do you think?” I asked Vi

“He was nervous,” Vi

Vi