Crystal Clean by Kimberly Wollenburg

Author:Kimberly Wollenburg [Wollenburg, Kimberly]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Biography & Autobiography, Retail, Personal Memoir, Nonfiction
ISBN: 9781480080010
Amazon: 1480080012
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
Published: 2012-12-12T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

I found one downtown on the third floor of a lovely historic building. When the management asked what line of work I was in, I told them I was starting a gift basket business. I don’t remember exactly why, other than I’d been passing time in craft stores and floral shops spending money on pretty things that I didn’t need.

I had a theory that hiding in plain sight was the best way to go about the business of selling drugs, and in a building filled with four floors of offices for small businesses and lawyers, I felt safe. The Idaho A.C.L.U. was one door away from mine. Maintaining the appearance of a legitimate gift basket business was easy. With all the drug money coming in, I kept UPS busy delivering baskets, shredded paper, ribbon, dried flowers, greenery, bath products, gourmet chocolates and exotic foods from a dozen wholesale companies I set up accounts with. I hung a sign on the door beneath a hand-made wreath, lush with eucalyptus, cinnamon pinecones and dried roses.

One of my customers, a man who worked at Hewlett-Packard, had a three hundred dollar a week meth habit that he hid from his wife. After normal business hours, he brought me stacks of brand new ink cartridges that I listed and sold on E-Bay. That was how he covered his tab. Shipping out the cartridges put the finishing touch I was looking for on the gift basket business, so it worked out nicely for us both.

I had a state seller’s permit and a tax I.D. number. I filed and paid taxes each month on nonexistent sales for the gift basket business. Paying some taxes made me feel more like a decent citizen. Again, there were times when the line between the legitimate and illegitimate would blur and I would forget that it was all a front for what I was really doing, which was selling meth. I did actually make some baskets for friends. I was good at it and enjoyed making them, but the money was nowhere near what I was already making. Once in awhile, I’d think how nice it would be if Allan were able to take care of us long enough for me to really give it a shot making baskets, but I knew that wasn’t going to happen.

The office was five hundred square feet and housed my computer, a desk and two long tables laden with basket making supplies. Foam, paper shred, glue guns, basket sticks, glue dots, tags and ribbon were strewn about giving the place a busy and productive ambiance. The office smelled heavenly thanks to the flowers, candles, potpourri and cinnamon scented pine cones, so I had no worries about smoking meth there. But just in case, I had an air purifier that ran constantly, and I would blow the smoke into it so it wouldn’t drift through the air ducts. The only windows I had in my third floor office were directly across from the elevator overlooking the arboretum in the center of the building.

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