Page 43 of Stronger Than Blood
“Oh, how’d that go?” she asked, and we spent the rest of the visit with me telling her how I’d sold out of everything before I could get it set up.
Granny loved that, and when I told her how frustrated Brenda was, she just laughed. “Brenda loves things to work perfectly. I guess she gets that from your granddaddy’s side of the family, but life don’t always work out that way. Sometimes you gotta go with the flow.”
“Like you being here right now?”
I got pinned with another look, but this time she smiled. “Okay, you’ve made your point. Go, get on with yourself. I’m plumb tuckered out now with all this gossipin’. I swear you’re worse than them old ladies down at the church house.”
I didn’t have the nerve to point out that more often than not she was one of those old ladies, so I just kissed her cheek and said goodbye. “I'm not sure if I’ll manage to get here again before I leave,” I said, and Granny just nodded.
I could see she was tired, so I went back to my apartment and decided it was a great time for a nice, long, alcohol-free nap. Yesterday had been fun, but today had been a mix of hard work and terror. Luckily, the red marks on my neck had disappeared, along with the pain they carried.
I deliberately didn’t discuss the day’s events with Granny, knowing if I did, she wouldn’t agree to putting me in danger again. As far as she was concerned, that entity was pure evil. I couldn’t say I disagreed, but I felt more confident that with Madam Bellamy and Rory’s help, we had what it would take to deal with Preston Garrison once and for all.
Chapter twenty-nine
Rory
We managed to clean out the rest of the old building before Mick had to go to work over the weekend. The upstairs apartment was only half the size of the building, and although it was full of junk, it wasn’t quiteasfull.
Surprisingly, the basement was almost empty, which was a relief, considering there was no exit from that level.
While Mick was at work, Madam actually donned some old clothes and helped me sweep the place. Of course, she focused almost entirely on the apartment. We finished up Sunday morning… well, as finished as we were going to get, and went for a late breakfast at Mrs. Kennedy's.
“So, what do you think about that building?” Madam asked me.
I shrugged. “I think it’s cool. The exterior architecture is amazing, and what’s left of the inside is pretty as well. Why?” I asked.
She smiled. “Well, I’m thinking you and I might’ve been sent here for a reason, more than just helping Mick.”
I cocked my eyebrows. “What are you thinking?”
“Well, I’ve been weighing the alternatives. Did you know my great-grandaddy used to run a speakeasy in Lafayette?” she asked.
I chuckled. “No, you’ve never mentioned it.”
“Well, there’s a reason. He was arrested and shot by the overeager police, but with your ancestors as well as mine, and with Mick’s uncle’s history as well—”
She looked at me while I began to put the picture together in my head. “What? You think we should open a bar?” I asked.
She shook her head. “No, they have a bar here, and well, it’s not what I have in mind as a place to hang out, but I’ve been doing some research on the laws in Tennessee. Did you know we could open a distillery here?”
My eyes grew large. “You want to become a bootlegger?” I asked, and she laughed so loud several people turned toward us.
“No, love, I want to open a legitimate distillery that’s licensed to make spirits and, yes, sell them from the store.”
“Um,” I said and thought for a few moments. “I-I thought you were wanting to retire.”
She shook her head. “No, I’m tired of being a medium. It’s a hard job and, more often than not, a thankless one. My niece is ready to take over; she's a proper Queen now in her own right, so I don’t feel like I have to keep the family lineage alive.”
“So, you’d be giving up real spirits for the alcoholic kind?” I asked, causing her to laugh again.
She backhanded me playfully and chuckled. “Well, I hadn’t thought of it that way, but yes, sure, why not?”
“And you want me to go into business with you?” I asked, intrigued but not convinced.
She nodded. “You have a lot of knowledge of the business, and we could enroll in some online courses I found. We both like the flavor of hard liquors, and neither of us are such heavy drinkers that we’d be in danger of becoming alcoholics. It seems perfect.”
I leaned back in my chair and watched as the crowd rolled into the café. “I’m not sure they would agree with our plan,” I said, gesturing toward the smartly dressed, mostly older crowd.
