“LuAnn?”
LuAnn stared at the source of this exclamation. Behind the counter, the young man was dressed neatly in a short-sleeve shirt, necktie, and black slacks. In his excitement, he repeatedly clicked a pen in his right hand. LuAnn stared at him, but no recognition was forthcoming.
The young man almost vaulted over the counter. “I didn’t expect you to remember me. Johnny Jarvis. I go by John now.” He extended a hand in a professional manner and then, grinning, he gave her a solid hug and spent a full minute cooing over Lisa. LuAnn pulled out a small blanket from her bag, set her daughter down on it, and gave her a stuffed animal.
“I can’t believe it’s you, Johnny. I haven’t seen you since, what, the sixth grade?”
“You were in the seventh, I was in the ninth.”
“You look good. Real good. How long you been working here?”
Jarvis grinned proudly. “After high school I went on to the community college and got my A.S. That stands for associate degree in science. Been at the mall for two years now. Started out as a data inputter but now I’ve moved up to sort of the assistant manager of mall operations.”
“Congratulations. That’s wonderful, Johnny — I mean John.”
“Oh hell, you can call me Johnny. I can’t believe you just walked on in that door. When I saw you, I thought I was gonna fall over and die. I never thought I’d see you again. I supposed you’d just gone on to New York City or something.”
“Nope, still here,” she said quickly.
“I’m kinda surprised I’ve never seen you around the mall before then.”
“I don’t get up here much. It’s a pretty long way from where I live now.”
“Have a seat and tell me what you been up to. I didn’t know you had a baby. Didn’t even know you were married.”
“I’m not married.”
“Oh.” Jarvis’s face reddened slightly. “Uh, you want some coffee or something? I just put on a fresh pot.”
“I’m kind of in a hurry, Johnny.”
“Oh, well, what can I do for you?” He suddenly looked surprised. “You aren’t looking for a job, are you?”
She looked pointedly at him. “What if I was? Something wrong with that?”
“No, I mean, course not. I just meant, you know, I never expected you to hang around here, working in no mall, that’s all.” He smiled.
“A job’s a job, ain’t it? You work here. And while we’re talking about it, exactly what am I supposed to be doing with my life?”
Jarvis’s smile quickly faded and he rubbed his hands nervously down the legs of his pants. “I didn’t mean nothing by it, LuAnn. I just always thought of you living in some castle somewhere wearing fancy clothes and driving fancy cars. I’m sorry.”
LuAnn’s anger faded as she thought back to Jackson’s proposition. Castles might be within her reach now. “It’s okay, Johnny, it’s been a long week, you know what I mean? I’m not looking for a job. What I’m looking for is a little information about one of your renters here.”
Jarvis glanced over his shoulder at the rear office area where the sounds of phones and clattering keyboards could be heard mixed with short bursts of conversation, and then he turned back to her. “Information?”
“Yeah. I came by here yesterday morning. Had an appointment.”
“With who?”
“That’s what I want you to tell me. It was that business on the right as you come in the mall next to the bus stop. It ain’t got no sign or anything, but it’s next to the ice cream place.”
Jarvis looked puzzled for a second. “I thought that space was still vacant. We got a lot of that. This mall isn’t exactly in the middle of a booming area.”
“Well, it wasn’t vacant yesterday.”
Jarvis walked over to the computer on the counter and started punching buttons. “What was the appointment for?”
LuAnn’s reply was immediate. “Oh, it was a sales job, you know. Pushing products door-to-door.”
“Yeah, we’ve had some people like that come in on a temporary basis. More like an interview room than anything else. If we have the space, which we usually do, we rent it out, sometimes just for the day. Especially if it’s already been built out, you know, ready-made office space.”
He pulled up a screen and studied it. As voices continued to filter in from the back office he went over and shut the door. He looked a little apprehensively at LuAnn. “So what’d you want to know?”
She noted his concerned look and glanced in the direction of the door he had just shut. “You’re not going to get in trouble over this, are you, Johnny?”
He waved his hand dismissively. “Hell, no. Remember, I’m the assistant manager here,” he said importantly.
“Well, just tell me whatever you can. Who the people are. What the business is. An address somewhere. Stuff like that.”
Jarvis looked confused. “Well, didn’t they tell you that during the interview?”
“Some of it,” she said slowly. “But I just want to make sure it’s all legit, you know. Before I accept or not. I got to buy some nicer clothes and maybe get me a car. I don’t want to do that if it’s not on the up-and-up.”
Jarvis snorted. “Well, you’re smart to do that. I mean just because we rent space to these people, it don’t mean they’re shooting straight with you.” He added anxiously, “They didn’t ask for money from you, did they?”
“No, as a matter of fact, the money they were talking about me getting was pretty unbelievable.”
“Probably too good to be true then.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of.” She watched his fingers sail across the computer keyboard. “Where’d you learn to do that stuff?” she said with admiration.
“What, this? That’s when I was at the community college. They got programs over there that teach you just about anything. Computers are cool.”
“I wouldn’t mind going back to school one day.”
“You were always real smart in school, LuAnn. I bet you’d pick it up like nobody’s business.”
She gave him a pretty look. “Maybe one day. Now what’cha got for me?”
Jarvis studied the screen again. “Company’s name is Associates, Inc. At least that’s what they put on the rental agreement. They leased for a week, starting yesterday in fact. Paid in cash. Didn’t give any other address. When they pay in cash we don’t really care.”
“They ain’t nobody there now.”
Jarvis nodded absently as he tabbed down the screen. “Guy named Jackson signed the lease agreement,” he said.
“About my height with black hair, sort of fat?”
“That’s right. I remember him now. He seemed very professional. Anything out of the way happen during your interview?”
“Depends on what you call out of the way. But he was real professional to me, too. Anything else you can tell me?”
Jarvis studied the screen again, hoping to find a few more kernels of information with which to entice LuAnn. Finally, strong disappointment etched across his features, he looked at her and sighed. “Not really, I guess.”
LuAnn hoisted up Lisa and then eyed a stack of steno pads and a cup of pens on the counter. “Could I have one of those pads and a pen, Johnny? I could pay you something for them.”
“You kidding? Good golly, take all you want.”
“One of each is all I need. Thanks.” She put the pad and pen in her handbag.
“No problem at all, we got tons of that stuff.”
“Well, I appreciate what you told me. I really do. And it was real nice seeing you, Johnny.”
“Hell, you made my whole year walking in the door like that.” He took a peek at his watch. “I take my lunch break in about ten minutes. They got a nice Chinese place down at the food court. You have time? My treat. We could talk some more, catch up.”