Page 5 of Love vs The Ooze Monster!
The morning of the party, Lew had died of a heart attack, so Boyd never did learn what job the man wanted to give him. It must have been real, though, if Mabel was telling him the truth about Lew’s respect for him.
Of course, she could be lying about that, too.
Boyd cleared his throat, trying to get back on track. “Lew’s gone.” He reminded her. “Sylvester is leading the Irving Syndicate, these days.”
“Yes.” Her voice went flat.
“Sylvester owes me thousands of dollars.”
“Well, I told you not to deal with him, didn’t I?”
He felt the muscle beside his eye twitch. Mabelhadtold him, but it was when she’d first arrived and before he’d realized that she was a genius. Sylvester had screwed Boyd over on a deal for high-quality brandy. Instead, he’d delivered fifty-eight jugs of vinegar, which were presently stacked up in the storeroom. Boyd fully intended to drown Sylvester in it, just as soon as he had the chance.
“Sylvester can’t be trusted.” Mabel went on. “If you’d listened to me, in the first place…”
“Listened to you?” He interrupted incredulously. “You’ve been lying to me this whole time! And now I’ve got accusations that you’re a spy for that piss-ant. Infiltrating my business to feed him information.”
Mabel blinked. “What?” She seemed genuinely startled by that idea.
“Someone says you got yourself hired here in order to help your cousin…”
“Step-cousin.”
“…step-cousin to sabotage my whole operation.”
Mabel stared at him for a long beat. …And then she burst out laughing.
Boyd’s eyebrows climbed up his forehead as the serious, studious girl he’d hired doubled over in hilarity. His accusation seemed to be the funniest joke she’d ever heard. He tried to ignore what the joyful sound did to his insides.
Jesus, she had a nice laugh.
“I’m sorry!” Mabel wiped her eyes. “I’m so sorry… It’s just…” She swallowed down more gleeful giggling. “The idea of me helpingSly!Who in the world told you such a thing?Because I guarantee, if you ask around the railhead, you’ll find out why it’s absolutely ridiculous to think I’d ever lend that moron a hand.”
“I got a letter outlining all the evidence.” It had been left on his desk, where he’d be sure to see it, filled with plenty of corroborating details. And eventhenhe hadn’t fully believed it. Hadn’t wanted to.
“A letter? Well,Slysent it, then!” She slapped a hand down on the desktop in frustration. “Of course he did, that duplicitous asshole.”
Boyd’s eyebrows shot up at the swearing.
“I can clear this all up, right now.” Mabel settled back in her seat, arms crossed over her chest. “Sly would like me to return to the Irving Syndicate. …Which I will never do. He thinks if I lose my job here, I’d have no choice but to reconsider his offer. …Which I never will. But he doesn’t believe that, so he’s attempting to cast aspersions on my character with this silly note claiming I’m spying… Which I never have. That’s it. That’s the whole story.”
No, it wasn’t. He could tell there was twice as much information she wasn’t saying. “Why will you never return to the Irvings?”
“Because Sly doesn’t want me to get my inheritance.”
Boyd fully believed that part, at least. Sylvester Irving was a dirt-bag of the lowest order, who would for certain rip-off his step-cousin. “If he stole from you, why’s he so keen on having you back? What makes you so important, that he’d go through all the trouble of getting me to fire you?”
“Perhaps, Sly is beginning to realize how difficult it is to run a large operation with no backbone and zero care.” She didn’t sound very sorry about her step-cousin’s struggles. “He’s hoping I’ll come bail him out, because he has the brainpower of a mushroom.”
“You helped Lew.” It wasn’t a question. It was obvious.
It should have been obvious from the beginning. Hell, maybe he’d always known how obvious it was, but he’d been unwilling to question things, because he knew the answers would ruin his life. He’d wanted to keep Mabel, so he’d turned a blind eye to the fact thatsomeonehad obviously trained this girl to work in bootlegging. She’d raised Boyd’s profits by sixty percent in half a year. How could she possibly do that, unless she was familiar with the business?
“Lew and I helped each other. I will never help Sly do anything, except maybe walking in front of a bus.”
“Even if it means bringing the whole Irving Syndicate down?”
“Oh, thiswillbring it down.” Mabel seemed sure about that. “Sylvester can’t run things on his own. His new recipes are abysmal, his contacts have fled, and he’s a terrible businessman. The organization has months, at most, before it falls. That will be beneficial for us, so I plan to let it happen.”
