The Influence(43)

There was a knock on the doorframe, and Ross turned to see a smiling Jamie Wong standing on the welcome mat with a squat heavyset man: Burt Abbey, the man who wanted to buy his condo. Ross had left the door open, and he waved to the two of them. “Come on in.”

He disliked Abbey on sight.

These things happened. It wouldn’t affect the sale, but it was a good thing that the realtor was there to act as a go-between because, despite the polite smiles, he could tell that the feeling was mutual, and if there were only the two of them negotiating, the deal would probably have fallen apart instantly. As it was, their natural antipathy kept the meeting short, and after a cursory walk-through and the realtor’s point-by-point reading of an inspector’s report, papers were signed, and the three of them parted ways, with Ross promising to stop by Jamie’s office later in the afternoon to finish things up.

He drove to Garcia’s and into the parking lot the same time as Alex, who honked and waved. The two of them pulled next to each other and walked into the already crowded restaurant, where a slutty looking waitress led them to a table next to a group of elderly women. They’d been talking about nothing in particular, rehashing their criticism of Trent’s stupidity from last night, but as soon as the chips and salsa arrived, Alex got down to business.

“I’ve been in contact with the floor mat company,” he said. “Getting up to speed with their systems and what have you. I found out that they’re planning to expand and, get this, start making mats for railroads and airline cockpits. They outsource all of their machinery design, oversight and implementation, and what I was thinking—if I can get them to go for it—is that you could look over their needs assessment. From your own base, online. You could check in with their people, look into available equipment and…consult. I know you don’t know anything about floor mat manufacturing, but the plant retrofitting’s actually not all that different from the Boeing project we worked on, and I figure you could adapt pretty easily. You know how to do this. And you’re good at it.

“Obviously, it wouldn’t be a real job. There’s no benefits or anything. You’d be a contract worker for this one assignment. But it might lead to something else. At the very least, it would keep you in the game, allow you to update your resume.”

“That’d be great,” Ross admitted.

“There’s no guarantee, and the pay might be shit, but if I can convince them, can I tell them you’re interested?”

“Sure.”

“Then email me your resume when you get back. As soon as I hear something, yay or nay, I’ll let you know.”

“Thanks,” Ross said gratefully. “I owe you one.”

“Don’t thank me yet. But, yes, you do owe me one.”

They both laughed.

Since he was in the city and had the opportunity, he shopped at Target after lunch, picking up some necessities, then hit a few computer and electronics stores. He checked into a motel off Black Canyon Highway, then watched TV in his room for awhile before meeting his friends for dinner. This time, they didn’t go out. Instead, they hung out at Patrick’s place, where they ate Taco Bell takeout and played X-Box games.

In the morning, he woke early, scarfed down some muffins and bagels from the motel’s free continental breakfast, then got a cup of coffee to go, and hit the road.

He made it to Magdalena by noon.

It felt good to be back. The ranch seemed like home to him now, and there was comfort in the sight of his small shack with the desert stretching out behind it. Lita had prepared lunch—ostrich burgers—and he joined her and Dave in the kitchen of the Big House, where he ate two burgers gratefully.

“How’re the hens?” Ross asked.

Dave shook his head, discouraged. “They still haven’t been laying well. I don’t know what’s wrong. Honey production’s off, too. I’m not sure if there are environmental factors we’re just not registering, or…I don’t know.”

“Ironic, isn’t it?” Lita said when Dave excused himself to go to the bathroom. “Now that we’ve inherited money, our whole operation here’s falling apart. A week ago, this would have ruined us. Now, I guess, we can just buy some new hens. Bees, too, I suppose.” She shook her head. “It’s weird the way things turn out.”

Dave returned. He’d finished eating, so he didn’t sit back down. He nodded toward Ross. “I was going to go out and do the rounds again, see if I could find some more. Want to come with me?”

Ross stood up from the table. “Sure.”