Gina Cresse - Devonie Lace 02 - A Deadly Bargain, Plan C Read Online Free PDF Page A

Outside!” she ordered , pointing her finger at the door.
    Clancy came to the dog’s defense.  “Come on, Olive.  You know he can’t help it.  Don’t be so hard on him.”
    Olive turned, surprised to see visitors in her office.   “Have you been feeding him sardines again?” she demanded.
    Clancy laughed and shook his head.  “No, I ain’t been feedin ’ him anything but his regular dog food.  His name’s Texaco ‘ cause he’s got more gas than Standard Oil.  You know that, Olive.  Always has.”
    I bit my lip to keep from laughing and approached the computer monitor.  “You sh ould probably re boot,” I suggested.
    “Re boot?” Olive asked.
    “Yes.  You know.  Boot it up,” I explained.
    “I’d like to boot it— right out the door and off the dock!” Olive complained.
    “Now, come on, Olive.  You know we’ve gotta get into the nineties if we want to keep our business on the leading edge,” Clancy reminded her.
    “You mean bleeding edge, don’t you?  I’m ready to tear my hair out over this over-rated electronic abacus.”
    “Never mind that.   You got some change for this little gal?  I think we just need fifteen.”
    “Yeah, I think so.  What’d she buy?”  Olive pulled some bills from a cash box.
    “Sold her a trunk.”
    She handed Clancy the cash.  “ Here.   Let me just write up a receipt.”
    “No receipt,” Clancy instructed.
    “No receipt?  Darn you Clancy.  Why do you force me to suffer with this crazy contraption of a computer so our business can be run all proper-like, then you go and do this under the table stuff.   You’re gonna make an old woman out of me!”
    “You are an old woman, Olive.”
    Clancy winked and handed me the change.  “There you go.  It’s all yours.”
    “Great.  Give me a hand getting it off the boat?” I asked.
    “Nope,” Clancy replied.
    At first, I thought he was kidding, but the lack of a smile on his face told me I was mistaken.  “What?”
    “Nope,” he repeated.  “You hard of hearing?”
    “What if it’s too heavy?” I asked .
    “I’ve got a bad back.  Can’t do any heavy lifting.”
    “Is there someone else around who can help?” I pleaded.
    “Probably, but I don’t want anyone getting hurt on my property.  Law suits, you know.”
    My shoulders slumped.  “Fine.   Maybe it’s not too heavy.  I’ll go check it out.”
    Clancy followed me back to the boat and smirked as I climbed over the rail and attempted to pull the trunk out from under the bench.  I heaved and strained to slide it a few inches.
    “I’ll never be able to lift this.  How am I going to get it home?” I asked.
    “Maybe you should open it and take it out piecemeal,” he suggested.
    “Okay.  You have the key?”
    “Don’t know.  There’s a few keys on a ring hanging in the cabin.  Maybe one of them’ll open it.”
    “Good.  Let’s give it a try,” I said, slightly cheerier.
    Clancy stood and smiled at me, but didn’t move.
    I smiled back at him.  “Can I have them?”
    “Fifteen dollars if we find the key that works.”
    “Fifteen dollars!”
    “Yep.”
    He flashed a grin at me that I’d seen all too often from overly-aggressive competitors at auctions.  I pulled my wallet from my purse again.
    “You’re not a marine salvager , you’re a pirate.”  I handed him the fifteen dollars.
    “No, ma’am.   I’m a businessman.”  He retrieved a ring of keys from a hook inside the cabin.
    At that moment, I figured he knew exactly what was in the trunk.  I bet he’d opened it the first day he brought it in.  This would probably be my hun dred-dollar-lesson for the day— or month.
    “Thanks,” I grumbled.  I snatched the keys from his big, rough, weathered hand.
    “Oh, now don’t be mad.  You probably got a real good deal,” he assured me.
    “I’m sure.” 
    I tried several of the keys in the lock.  Finally, I slid the right key in the rusty old lock and turned it.  Click .  I slipped