Chapter 31
Two months later
Mankato, Minnesota
 
I was sitting at my desk, back in accounts receivable, and sifting through some department receipts. I was so engrossed I didn’t even hear Nate approach. It was good to get back to normal. Although, I had a nagging feeling something was missing. My work seemed dull in comparison to the exhilaration I felt when I was tracking down the book curse. I hated to admit it, but I missed the excitement.
My mother had told me Gretchen resigned from her position as librarian and was on a book tour with Jerry White, Thomas Nolan, and Peg Nolan, promoting their latest endeavor, a self-help book for self-published authors, entitled Unconventional Marketing Strategies for Self-Publishing. She neglected to tell me just how popular they were.
“Have you seen this, Phee?” Nate announced as he slapped a copy of USA Today on my desk. “Thought you’d get a kick out of it.”
I was startled for a second and then took a look at the paper. I was staring at the business section, where the lead article read, “Unconventional Marketing Strategy Pushes Novel to NY Times Best-Seller List.” The Twelfth Arrondissement had reached number one.
“Guess whoever came up with that marketing strategy knew what they were doing,” Nate said as I read the article for the second time.
“Yeah, it’s just too bad two people died as a result of their ambitions.”
“I don’t know. I think the book curse idea was the cover up, but the actions would have happened anyway. Listen, I didn’t stop by just to show you the article. There’s something I wanted to talk to you about.”
“Sounds serious.”
“Serious. Not fatal. I wanted you to know I put in my retirement letter, effective January one. I’m starting my own business in private investigating. I even put down a deposit for office space.”
“Wonderful, Nate! You’ll be spectacular.”
“That’s not all. I want you to consider joining me.”
“To do your accounting?”
“Uh-huh. I wouldn’t trust anyone else. But here’s the caveat—it’s in Arizona!”
“What???”
“That office I’m renting is not too far from Sun City West.”
As soon as he said those three words, my stomach began to churn. It would mean I would be living so close to my mother she’d think nothing of coming over to rearrange my kitchen cabinets or vacuum the rug.
I’m sure Nate could see the tension on my face. “Come on, kiddo. Give it a try. I always told myself when I retired I’d move to a place where I wouldn’t have to put up with ice or snow. You could easily rent out your house to one of the officers in Mankato.”
“I, uh, um . . .”
“Look, you don’t have to commit right away. Think about it. You could take an unpaid leave of absence for a year and work for me. I’ll match your salary and benefits. Oh, what the hell! I’ll do better than match them. You see, I’ve been saving up for a long time and, thanks to a few very healthy investments, I’m able to pull it off. If you don’t like it, you can always return to your present job. If you do like it, and I know you will, you can take early retirement from Mankato. You’ve got twenty years into this place. So, what do you say? Will you give it some thought?”
I was stunned. Flabbergasted. All I could do was stare at Nate with my mouth open.
He chuckled. “I’m just asking that you give it some real thought. Okay, kiddo? Besides, you don’t want a repeat of the Super Target incident last winter when you fell facedown on the ice. There’s no ice in Phoenix.”
The Super Target incident. Why did I ever tell him about it in the first place?
I paused for a second and took a breath. “Just the accounting, right?”
“Right.”
“I’m not an investigator.”
“I know.”
“I want my own office. Or at least my own cubbyhole.”
“Done!”
“And call monitoring so I’ll be warned if my mother’s on the other end.”
“Done!”
“And one more thing.”
“What’s that?”
“That you never accept a case from my mother.”
“Done!”
As things turned out, two out of three wasn’t bad.