Read Online The Final Arrangement by Annie Adams - Free Book Online Page A

people.  Didn’t you guys have like a whole funeral a day?”
    “Oh, honey!  We had three and four funerals every day.  Mostly just blankets, but every day I was doing three or four ‘em.”  She incorrectly called the casket sprays blankets, but who was I to correct this over-flowing font of information?  “He charged a pretty penny for those things too.  My sister’s husband died and he let me have the employee discount, but there’s no way we would have paid full price.  I mean go look at them picture books; they have the prices in ‘em.  They start at six hundred dollars.  For a half-casket size!”
    Six hundred dollars was extremely expensive for the minimum priced half-coach casket spray in our area.  Mine started at two hundred dollars on the low end. 
    “Them flowers cost that much and he’s late with my paychecks? Too many damn toys if you ask me.  Have you seen that car he zipped around in?  A Porsche for hell’s sakes.  Fire engine red.  He’s got a truck and a big yellow Hummer too.  You tell me where he got the money for all that.” 
    A yellow hummer? Like the one Linda's boyfriend drove away in?  Was he involved with the Vulture?  I put it on my mental checklist to find out more about lover boy.
    “It doesn’t make sense to me,” I said.  “So how are you going to get a paycheck if the guy that gives it to you is dead?” 
    “Well I was gonna see if it was laying on his desk in there or wait for the mailman to come.  He didn’t write them out himself, someone named L.D. Stanwyck always signed them.”
    “Who’s L.D. Stanwyck?”
    “Hell if I know, but they didn’t bounce. 
    “So you don’t know what’s going to happen now that Derrick’s gone?”
    “No but I got the idea he was getting ready to split.  I was thinkin’ of quittin’ soon.  I did overhear him talking to an old man that’s been coming around here a lot lately.  I think they were maybe talkin’ about him buying the business.”
    My ears perked up at that; exactly the news I did not want to hear.
    “You say he’s an older guy?”
    “Yeah, about seventy or so.”
    “Is he a florist?” 
    “Well I think he owns a shop with his wife over in Plainville.”
    “Oh, you mean Irwin and LaDonna.” 
    “Yeah, that’s him, Irwin.  He’s a nice old man, but I don’t know what he’d be doing talking to Derrick.  I wouldn’t trust him as far as I could throw him.  Now I’ve always gotten a paycheck—eventually, but I wouldn’t ever trust Derrick in a business deal, not for a million bucks.  Hey, didn’t you say you’re from a shop?”
    “Yes, I own a shop in Hillside.”
    “You know I should give you my number in case you’re ever hiring.”  She reached for a piece of paper on the table and tore off the corner then pulled a pen from behind her ear and began writing.  “I’ve got design experience.”
    “Thanks,” I replied as I took the paper from her hand.  Unfortunately for her I had witnessed first hand her customer service skills and her design capabilities.
    “Speaking of phone numbers, you wouldn’t happen to have Irwin’s number around handy would you?” I asked.
    “Hell it’s probably on his desk in there somewhere.  I’m gonna go out for a smoke.  You can go in his office and look for it.  If you see my paycheck sittin’ around come and get me, will ya?”  She cackled herself into a coughing fit.
    “Sure thing.  Oh, before you go outside, I was wondering if you might have an extra can of leaf shine that I could buy from you.”  We had run out and were getting a new shipment of plants that needed to go to the hospital gift shop.  They looked like they were coated in a gray film when they arrived at our shop because of the water spots from the sprinklers at the nursery.  The leaf shine adds what we call perceived value to the plants.  People think they’re a lot more valuable when they’re shiny and unnatural looking.  If they have natural healthy