Stay At Home Dead by Jeffrey Allen

can answer?”
    I tried hard to think of something she didn’t cover on our tour, but failed. Mandy was good at her job.
    “I think you hit it all,” I said. “Thank you.”
    A good-looking guy materialized next to Mandy behind the counter. About six feet tall, athletic build, tan skin. Probably in his fifties, but had that “I’m totally in shape so I seem younger” look. Close-cropped dark hair. Crisp red and black golf shirt.
    If possible, Mandy seemed to brighten even more.
    “Howdy, folks,” he said. “Mandy tell you everything you need to know?” He smiled down at Carly. “You have a good time, sweetheart?”
    Carly nodded enthusiastically, still clutching the mermaid.
    He nodded, happy to see her response, then moved his eyes back to me. “And you, Mr. Winters? You like what you see?”
    He knew my name and that surprised me. “I’m sorry. Have we met?”
    “No, sir, we haven’t, but I’d be a fool not knowing Deuce Winters if he walked into my place.” He held out his hand. “I’m Jimmy Landry.”

25
    “My brother was a coach over at Bartonville your junior and senior years,” Jimmy Landry said. “Defensive coordinator. You made his life miserable.”
    We were sitting in his office, back behind the main desk area. Carly was sitting in my lap, playing with her new mermaid.
    “Sorry about that,” I said.
    He waved his hand in the air. “Please. You were a heckuva player.”
    “Did you coach?”
    “Nah, just a fan, like everyone else.” He grinned. “Too busy making plans for things like this place.”
    I nodded and took a quick look around the office. It was square and medium-sized, nothing terribly distinguished about it. There was nothing that said it was the owner’s office, other than the several plaques with Landry’s name on the walls, touting his community service. It was a room to work in, not a room to show off his ego.
    “So what’d you think of the place?” he asked, leaning back in his chair.
    “Pretty amazing,” I said truthfully. “You’ve got just about everything a kid could want under one roof.”
    “We’re trying,” he said. “I’m always looking for things to add, things that people want for their kids.”
    “Seems like you’re pretty much the main game in Rose Petal,” I said.
    “So far,” he said, then shrugged. “Somebody’ll come along soon enough and try to copy us. Lot of families in this area. Competition’s good. Keeps us on our toes. Hopefully, though, we’ve got some loyalty with the folks who are using us now.”
    “I heard someone was already planning to do something similar.”
    He stared at me, his expression blank for a moment; then amused recognition washed over his face. “You mean that crazy Barnabas fella?”
    I nodded.
    Landry laughed. “Well, I guess. But I have to tell you, at the risk of sounding pretty pompous, I did not take that guy too seriously.”
    “Why not?”
    “Have you seen him?”
    I laughed. “Point taken.”
    Landry laughed, too. “Okay, maybe that’s a little unfair. I don’t know him, so I shouldn’t be calling him crazy. But he had no clue what he was talking about, and it was just impossible to think of him as competition.”
    “So he did come talk to you?”
    “He did,” Landry said, nodding. “Couple of months ago. Wanted to know if we bought the building and had it brought here from somewhere else or if we built it.” He chuckled at the memory. “Like I said, hard to take him seriously.”
    “You ever meet his partners?” I asked.
    “Didn’t know he had any. But for my sake, I hope Barnabas is the brains of the operation.”
    “Gotcha.” I looked at Carly. She was getting antsy in my lap, fidgeting. I shifted her into my left arm and stood. “We’ve gotta head out.”
    Landry stood and put his hands on his hips. “What do you do for a living, Deuce?”
    “I stay at home,” I said, nodding at Carly. “Take care of her.”
    “That’s great,” he said, seeming to genuinely mean