Man in the Water by David Housewright

Author:David Housewright [Housewright, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

“I have no frickin’ idea,” Marilyn Staples said. “I didn’t know E. J. had a partner, I mean besides Bizzy.”

Maybe Bizzy is listed as a partner on the LLP? my inner voice said.

“Who’s running the business now?” I asked.

“Bizzy is. Well, actually me and Jack Matachek are. You remember Jack.”

“I do,” Nevaeh said. “How is he?”

“The same. As long as he has something to complain about he’s good.”

Nevaeh and I had arranged to meet Marilyn at Neumann’s Bar and Grill, which claimed to be the oldest bar in Minnesota, after both she and Nevaeh finished work. While she was under orders not to discuss E. J. Woods Tree Care Services with strangers, Marilyn had no problem talking to the woman she called “sista” and “girlfriend.”

Marilyn took a deep swallow of the expensive cognac she was drinking while we sat on the patio adjacent to the 106-year-old building located not far from E. J. Woods Tree Care Services, but that was on me. Even as she ordered the drink I could hear my father’s voice in the back of my head telling me, “Never offer to pick up the tab until after people place their bets.”

Even during happy hour.

“Bizzy’s in charge,” Marilyn added. “Except it’s been me and Jack running the place since your dad passed. Bizzy and her lawyer came in a couple of days after he passed; right before the funeral it was. They said not to worry, the business wasn’t going to close; they said that we would keep operating as usual. A lot of people were worried that it would close. I was worried. Anyway, we stayed open and, you know, everything is going along pretty much the way it was going before except it’s not as much fun. Your dad made it fun.”

Nevaeh nodded her head as if that’s what she had expected to hear.

“How does the business work?” I asked.

“It’s a simple system,” Marilyn said. “Customers call us, send us an email, sometimes walk through the door like you did, but not often. They explain what they need, trees cut down or trimmed or planted or even moved, and then we send a guy to check it out, either Benny, Lucas, or Tom—you know those guys.”

Nevaeh nodded some more.

“They’re in charge of our crews. We have three full-time crews. We also have emergency crews on standby only we haven’t had much work for them lately. Anyway, we send a foreman out and he reviews the job and gives the customer an estimate. The customer contacts the office. That’s me. They accept the estimate and we schedule the job. That’s me, too. The crew goes out, completes the job, and we send the customer an invoice. Mostly this is done electronically or over the phone. The customer can pay by cash, check, credit card, Venmo, sometimes a bank transfer. The crews do not accept payment, though. Not ever. Often when they do the job, the client won’t even be there.”

“Do you do the bookkeeping?” I asked.

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