...Easy Go
Posted on Sat 13th Feb, 2021 @ 12:02am by Yuliette Marayan Dr. & Li Kainon
Edited on on Sat 13th Feb, 2021 @ 12:03am
1,215 words; about a 6 minute read
Mission:
Business Not At All As Usual
Location: brown sector
(Cont. from "Easy Come...")
“It’s twenty-one hundred for the lot,” Bo said firmly, unwilling to play Kainon’s game where he pretended to forget what Bo had just explained about wholesale.
“Right, the lot. Where’d you get all this, anyway? It’s a pretty good haul. Looks like some stuff that people really cared about.”
“I am quite sure that the prior owners did maintain affinity for these, until they traded them to me.” And then Bo grinned at Zereba and said with much more honey in his tone, “And they’ll all be exceptionally meaningful once more to the next customers destined to purchase them. Such is the case with all things second hand- they each bear untold life stories.”
“Did they trade them wholesale or one at a time?” Kainon asked.
“What difference does it make?” Bo hissed.
“I’m just curious about how sales work, Bo, take it easy.”
Slightly uncomfortable, Zereba opened her register and counted out cash, not as much as Bo had hoped for. As she made a mark in her ledger she said, “I just want the pendants,” and slid the credit markers to Bo.
“Thank you, Zereba. If you change your mind about the timepieces, please do contact me. It’s possible, however unlikely, that they may still be available for a day or two. But at my prices they certainly won’t be available for very long and I’m sure you would have no trouble at all on resale of them.” Pocketting the cash, Bo began collecting the other trays of goods he had brought and hadn’t even gotten the chance to pitch before Kainon had spoiled the mood.
Zereba unlocked the safety display case and started to rearrange it to make a space for the pendants.
“Could I see that pendant again?” Kainon asked as Zereba reached for it. He took it and lifted it up. “I’ve gotten a pretty good eye for these. My mom loves hers a lot. Maybe she’ll want one. Is this Vedek Danil?”
“Oh definitely Danil.” Zereba confirmed.
“You know, Mrs. Enti had a pendant just like this. And her husband had a nice watch a lot like that. They said they were stolen. That’s wild, huh?”
Bo shifted his feet, as if some gimbal in the middle of him had been knocked off balance. He heard the accusation in Kainon’s musings and he knew Kainon was about to try to peg him for dealing stolen goods. Mr. Enti, a hardworking hand in the bay farms in Brown Sector, had in fact placed his bet in favor of Radak being sure beyond all doubts that the deputy both couldn’t lose and was too honest to throw the fight. He’d lost that bet on the latter point, and his watch and wife’s jewelry went to Bo. “That is indeed, wild.” Bo agreed, carefully, still needing to allow Kainon to spool out the accusation and not incriminate himself by over volunteering anything too much or too soon.
Zereba’s easy expression grew an edge. “Hey wait, I don’t deal in any stolen goods.” She stated, piecing together what the Sheriff was saying. “If this is Mrs. Enti’s she ought to have it back.” She put her hands on her hips. “Where are you getting your stock, Bo?”
“From a variety of sources. I assure you I’ve stolen nothing.” Probably Mr. Enti had, by claiming them stolen, thought of a clever way to reacquire his duly settled payment of debt, and that both impressed and miffed Bo. He hadn’t taken Enti for much of a hustler. No, no. On second thought the outspoken Mrs. Enti had been party to the stolen items report. More than likely unwilling to confess to gambling, the old cad had let her go on thinking it was the case and allowed her to file the claim. “If there are pieces with claims on them, I’m as surprised as you are.”
“I’m sure you are,” Kainon replied, picking out the offending pieces. “You’d never do anything shady, Bo. I know that about you. If there was some sort of advantage of taken of these people you’d certainly want to get justice for them. And you certainly wouldn’t want to profit from their losses, would you?”
“You know me *so* well.” Bo said, wearing a Janus-faced grin for the sake of Zereba. “Allow me to refund you for that necklace, Zereba.” He counted out the fraction of the sale accounting for the ‘stolen’ pendant and having reimbursed her, collected it with the watch with the claim against it and held them out to Kainon. “I trust you’ll make sure these are returned to their *rightful* owners— Sheriff.”
“Yeah. The thing is, Bo…” Kainon picked up another piece. “If you can’t really specify where you got everything from, and I already know some of this might’ve been stolen, I kinda think I need to hold on to all of it for a bit.” Kainon raised a hand to prevent Bo’s protest. “I will give you a receipt for all of it until I know for sure it’s clear.”
Bo’s teeth ground in his smile. He was fairly certain all Kainon was going to ever leave him was the slip. He had a few other such slips and Kainon still held the ‘evidence’. But he couldn’t protest without drawing too much attention to the source of his windfalls in goods. Bo slid the shallow velvet lined boxes towards him.
Zereba held her hand out for the full refund and Bo handed it to her without taking his eyes from Kainon.
“You’re alright, Bo.” Zereba said, genuinely sorry for him. She gave the necklaces to the Sheriff as well. “It’s awful you got taken in like that on your deal.”
“It is quite lamentable.”
“You gotta watch out who you do business with, Bo,” Kainon said as he took the boxes. “People down here can be pretty untrustworthy. I’ll let people know I’ve got these things, just see if anybody is missing something. I’ll get to the bottom of it, buddy, don’t worry.”
Bo flattened the side of his vest and put a hand in his pocket. Kainon was likely to turn up other chumps happy to reclaim their losses. Not all of them would be so disinclined to talk as Mr. Enti had been. Which meant Bo would have to set up the next fight as soon as possible, before Kainon could run roughshod on it.
“I’m sure you will.” Bo nodded to the lady and vacated the shop.
Zereba crossed off the almost-expenditure in her ledger and closed the glass case. “Good eye, Sheriff. Mrs. Enti will be happy to have that back.” The pendants were often very personal to believers, and Mrs. Enti was nothing if not devoted.
“I’m sure you’re right,” Kainon said. “Let me know if anybody comes in with anything like this stuff or is looking to buy something like it?” He gathered up the boxes to take them out. “Maybe there’ll be another dance in it for you.”
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