Chapter 24
Five days later, Paulstood on the porch as he watched Petra leave for work and sighed as he looked at all the chairs leaning against the porch.Petra had talked with the chief of the local fire department and learned they had just gotten some new chairs and wanted to get rid of the old ones.There were at least seventy of them, and they had unloaded them from Petra’s vehicle before she left for work.Now he had the task of taking them to the shop.He paused when he heard a vehicle approach, and watched as the big brown delivery van pulled in.
“Rankin?”
“That’s me.”
“Several packages for you.”The driver nodded as he carried two of them out of his truck and Paul met him halfway.By the time the packages had been delivered, there were ten in all.All the same size, and once the driver left, Paul looked at the return address and grinned.
“Thank you, Kessler and Flynn.”He left the boxes on the porch, went to the garage, and hooked up the lawn wagon to the lawn tractor.It took three trips, but he was able to get all the chairs Petra had brought home to the shop and unloaded.He would make sure to stop off and make a donation, even though Petra had already said she’d made one, but didn’t tell him how much.He figured another five hundred should do it.
Once the chairs were stored, he returned the lawn equipment to the proper shed, and walked back to the house.Since all the boxes had the exact same markings, and were the same size, he found the one with an envelope taped to the top.He removed the envelope and found a sheet of paper with a single line of written words.
“As requested, Kessler and Flynn.”
“Short but sweet,” he said to the wind, and shook his head.He opened one box, nodded at the contents, then took them to his truck.Once they were loaded, he made sure the shop and barn were locked up, then pulled his phone to make a call.
“Mott,” Warren answered gruffly.
“It’s Rankin, you busy?”
“Oh, hey, not unless you call overhauling my back room at the bar busy.I took a page out of Petra’s book and started cleaning to clear my head.”
Paul couldn’t help it, he laughed.“How’s that working out for you?”
“It fucking sucks, but it’s also productive.I’ve finally thrown out things that I’ve been meaning to for years.”
“For example?”
“A light that used to hang over the pool table once, but some over zealous patrons took a pool cue to it.I stuck it in the storage room, thinking I would get it repaired, but then forgot about it.Shit like that I’m tossing.”
“Ah, I understand.”
“Did you need something?”
“Are you at the bar?”
“I am, I just said that.”
“Right.Anyway, I received a package today and thought I’d bring it by to deliver it.”
“I’m here.I’ll put on a fresh pot of coffee.”
“Perfect, I should be there in forty minutes.”
“Got it.”
Paul double checked that everything was locked up, and at the last minute, he went back into his shop to grab his tool bag.The same one he used to install his own security system when he and Petra had arrived months earlier.He headed out, and in thirty-eight minutes, he pulled into the parking lot of The Last Chance.Warren must have been watching for him, because he was on the porch before Paul even exited his truck.
“Come help me,” Paul called as he got out of his truck, and went to the back.As he pulled three boxes forward, he turned and handed them to Warren.He grabbed two more to join him.
