Accessories and Alibis, a Presley Thurman Mystery: First Chapter Friday
Chapter 1
“Are you both ready?” Marshall, my attorney, said.
“I’ve been ready. We need to hurry up and get this over with soon. I have a meeting in thirty minutes,” James said, looking at his watch impatiently.
It was all I could do to keep from rolling my eyes at his behavior, but I was sitting in a lawyer’s office so James would sign over a former million-dollar business to me, so I thought I would be an adult and refrain, act like a soon-to-be business owner. I was dressed the part in a black pantsuit from Nieman Marcus, so I should probably behave like it as well. But it wasn’t easy when he acted like such a jerk. Even in light of him giving me this opportunity, he acted like a jerk.
My name is Presley Thurman, thirty something, HR director turned retail sales manager, now about to be a business owner. There had been many other jobs in between, but some things are better left glossed over. The reason I was sitting in my attorney’s office at this moment was because the owner of the high-end clothing boutique named Silk where I worked as a manager had decided to give me the business. The boutique’s original owner, Solange, James’ deceased wife, was murdered when I had first started working at Silk. James inherited the store but had let it run into the ground because he didn’t see the boutique as worth his time. In an uncharacteristic moment of niceness on his part—and I was still looking for the ulterior motive, as nice wasn’t one of James’ qualities—he had recently called and offered to give the business to me. Supposedly with no strings attached, which I still had a hard time believing.
James said he didn’t want to shutter the doors because it had belonged to his dead wife and he wanted her legacy to live on, and all that. A wonderful sentiment—but coming from James, I was skeptical. While it was a generous thing he was doing, the transition wasn’t all rainbows and unicorns. The company had serious financial problems, and while I was not going to be on the hook for all the debt James owed, it was still going to be challenging to restore Silk to the profitable store it had once been. That had been my biggest concern when taking the boutique over. Starting in the hole. But as my friend Katy said, if I started a business from scratch I would be in the hole with loans and start-up costs anyway. So this wasn’t much different, and at least Silk had an established clientele and a reputation. Though right now not a very good one.
So here we were. Moments away from signing on the dotted line, giving me more responsibility and probably a lot of debt as I knew I would have expenses for the business that the revenue wouldn’t cover. It freaked me out but was exciting at the same time. I knew what Silk was capable of and, even though I was nervous, I knew there was the potential to restore it to its former glory.
“Okay. I need you, James, to sign here and here. Then Presley, you need to sign in the same two places under his name,” Marshall said, sliding the paper over to James, who signed it and handed it over to me. Signing my name with shaking hands, I finished and slid the papers back to him.
Marshall picked the papers up, looked at them and sat them back down again. “That’s it. I will have my clerk file these this afternoon. Congratulations to you both.”
“That’s it?” I said tentatively. It seemed so easy.
“That’s it.” Marshall smiled at me.
We all stood up and shook hands. “Well, James, I guess this is it,” I said, not knowing the right words to thank him. They didn’t make a Hallmark card for this one. Even operating in the red, this business was a pretty big gift.
“Good luck,” he said gruffly and walked out of the room, presumably to rush to his next important meeting.
“Thanks for everything, Marshall,” I said.
“Not a problem.” He handed me an envelope of paperwork. “Here are all the existing contracts you currently have with vendors. I looked them over and talked to the vendors who already cut Silk off. You have some terms that are pretty outrageous, due to the nonpayment issues, but they are willing to sell to you at these higher terms, which you need to get the business back up and running. However, in six months, we can go back to them and if you’ve paid on time, hopefully, renegotiate. Right now, I’m afraid there isn’t much you can do besides give them what they’re asking if you want to keep merchandise coming in.”
“Thank you. I was wondering how I could pay them if I didn’t have something to sell because they wouldn’t fill my orders,” I said. “It’s quite the catch-22. At least having merchandise in the store will give me a fighting chance to make sales happen. I’m grateful they were willing.”
“You’re going to be fine. I know you will.”
“Thanks again, Marshall.”
I walked out of the conference room and back to the reception area where Katy was waiting for me with a huge grin on her face. She was excited for me and without her encouragement I’m sure I wouldn’t have done this. Katy was my best friend from childhood and was in the process of selling her beauty salon in the town where we grew up, Hunter’s Hollow. She was temporarily moving to Chicago to help me successfully relaunch Silk. I had guilted her into helping me, saying I wouldn’t do it otherwise, because she had experience as a business owner, and I needed her. She wanted a change, and I needed help, so it seemed the perfect temporary solution for both of us.
“It’s official! I am now a business owner!” I said, probably a little too loudly for this quiet office, pumping my fist in the air.
Katy jumped up and hugged me. “I am so proud of you! What do you want to do first? Celebrate or go to the store and check out your empire?”
“Hardly an empire yet. I think a business has to make money before it is considered an empire. We’re going to celebrate with everyone tonight, so let’s go to the store. No time like the present to dig in. I’ve got bills to pay!”
“All right, let’s go,” Katy said.
We got an Uber and headed to the store after a quick stop at Starbucks. Being an addict, I had to fortify myself with a caffeine fix. Soon we walked in the front door of the store, and although I had just been here yesterday, things were different now. Knowing I was in charge, that I alone was responsible for the success or failure of the place was daunting and I was so rattled I put my hand on my stomach trying to soothe it.
Katy saw me and give me a hug. “Just think, things will only get better from here. You can do this!”
While I had tried my best to keep Silk afloat, the fact that James wasn’t paying the bills and our credit with many suppliers had been shut off meant we had very little merchandise. Not only that but payroll checks had started bouncing lately and the good employees had all left.
I was looking at 800 square feet of half-empty racks and I wasn’t exactly sure what to do.
“You’re going to be fine,” Katy tried to reassure me, sensing my panic. “It won’t take long before you can start getting new merchandise in here.”
I took a deep breath and let it out slowly, trying to calm myself.
“Hey, boss,” one of the salesgirls, Roxanne, whom I had hired a few months ago and who had stayed even after two of her paychecks had bounced, said as she walked out of the back.
“Hey. How has business been today?”
“Decent traffic but we need more merchandise. One of the customers even said we had the same stuff as a couple of weeks ago when she was in.”
I sighed, feeling the ball of anxiety twist in my stomach again.
“I know it’s an issue, but we’ll have some new arrivals soon,” I said, parroting what Katy had just told me. It had reassured me a little, so I hoped it helped Roxanne.
A few minutes later several people walked through the door. I hoped they were motivated shoppers. I decided to stay where I was, wanting to see how the employee up front handled them. But instead of shoppers, I saw three police officers approaching the cash register. I hurried out to meet them, heart pounding and wondering what was going on. Katy was right behind me.
“Can I help you, Officer?” I asked the one in front, my brain racing, trying to figure out why they were in my store. There was nothing like the appearance of the police to make you feel instantly guilty even when you hadn’t done anything wrong. It was how I felt when I was driving and passed a cop, although that was usually because I was speeding.
“We’re here for Roxanne Baxter,” he said.
Roxanne, who was on the other side of the room, slowly turned around. Her eyes widened and her face went pale. The police coming in and asking for her wasn’t something she had been expecting when she came to work today; that much was evident. Her panic-stricken face turned in my direction.
“Roxanne Baxter,” he repeated, and she nodded. “You’re under arrest.”
Happy reading,
Laina
