my family was doing?”
“No! You spell that, n-o! They came to me and asked my advice about finding someone to construct a Web site for them and I recommended someone. When I asked if they needed any other business services, like a good CPA, they said that they already had an accounting firm. I tried to talk them into switching their business to your firm, but they were adamantly opposed. Said you didn’t need to know their business. I had to respect that, and there was no way in hell I was going to go up against the three of them. And, obviously, I could not say anything to you about whatever was going on.
“That is the sum total of my involvement in their activities. I have to say I didn’t think anything in this life could surprise me, but you did one hell of a job. Did they really make all that money doing . . . ah . . . what they’ve been doing?”
“Oh, yeah, and they have the capacity to make twice that much if I can manage to recruit more help for them. I didn’t tell you this, but some dude named Oscar, who works with them, wanted to take me out to the barn and kill me. To keep me silent. Did you hear what I just said, Barney? They were actually considering it.”
Barney laughed. “Well, they didn’t, that’s the important thing. What are you going to do? Do you have a game plan?”
“Not exactly, but I will do what they want me to do if that’s the only way they’re going to let me back in their lives. I have a list of . . . potential employees. I just have to go visit them and give them my spiel. That means I have to snatch them away from their current digs and get them to Blossom Farm.”
“I’m thinking that might be kidnapping, Gus.” Barney laughed again.
Gus fumed. “You have a better idea? And it’s not kidnapping if they come willingly. Oscar, the dude who wanted to kill me, said they have minds of their own and can do whatever they want to do. Wait. Maybe that was Fred. They all look alike to me. And I was worried about my well-being. So that’s your advice. You know what, Barney, that wasn’t even advice. You just made a comment.”
“I can’t believe they didn’t want me to invest their money. Goldman Sachs, my ass! That really hurt!” Barney said, all trace of his earlier laughter gone. He sounded wounded to his very core.
“Ha-ha! Guess they didn’t trust you, either. Now you know how I feel. Felt.”
“Well, if that’s all your news, I’m going to shut down and go to bed. I have a full day ahead of me.”
“There is one other thing. Elaine had me served today. She’s charging me with everything under the sun.”
“They always do. Just turn it all over to Jill and let her deal with it. You have more pressing things to deal with right now.”
“She hates me. Don’t you know any other lawyers? Like a man, for instance.”
“I do, but they won’t work for your situation. Trust me, she will give you superior representation. She doesn’t have to like you, and you don’t have to like her. The end result is all that counts. And she knows everybody and uses all her contacts. Suck it up, buddy. Keep me posted on how you’re doing. I can’t believe they didn’t want me to invest their money. I seriously doubt I’ll ever be able to sleep again knowing that.”
“Guess they didn’t want you knowing their business, either,” Gus jabbed. Instead of a reply or remark, Gus realized he had nothing but dead air on the line. He ended the connection and flopped back into the recliner. Neither dog so much as cracked an eyelid.
Gus sniffed the air as he looked at his watch. He’d slept away the better part of the afternoon. He was smelling the tantalizing aroma of garlic and . . . spaghetti sauce. Maggie was cooking dinner. He could hardly wait to chow down.
Four o’clock! If he hustled, he could make a trip to the Sea Crest facility, where he might be able to recruit someone named Elroy Hitchens. Sea Crest was, at the most, seven or eight miles as the crow flies, from where he was standing. But first he had to fax the papers the process server had handed him to the fireplug.
Gus trudged to Barney’s office,