Chapter 89: Bookkeeping

I walked down the stairs, passed the garage all the way down to the bar. It was mostly empty. A few of the bartenders worked at unpacking supplies and wiping down glasses. Cherry stood behind one counter, wiping it down. She waved me over when she saw me.
"Good morning," she said.
"Good morning." I slipped into a bar stool as I watched her work. "Is there anything I can do to help?"
She shook her head. "How are you feeling? Did you sleep okay?"
"Yes, thank you."
"How's Liam?"
I hesitated. Did she know? Did it matter?
"I bet he was pretty upset you didn't let him leave."
"Oh, yes. He was very upset."
"He has a hard time sitting still. I bet he complained about standing guard." She waved a rag at me. "But it's good for him. He needs to learn a little patience."
"Right."
"How did you like the place? While everyone was running around looking for you, I wanted to feel useful. I did some unpacking for you. I wanted you to feel at home. I hope that was okay."
"It's great. Thank you. It was nice not to come home to a bunch of boxes." I waited a moment. "Do you happen to know where Liam is?"
She pointed through the back door. "He's working in the office. He's been running things since Matei disappeared."
"Thanks."
I left her to her work as I slid off the chair and headed for the office door. I leaned against the door listening. It was quiet. I knocked.
"Come in," Liam's deep voice growled from the other side.
I pushed the door open. He sat behind a massive desk at a computer. Two leather armchairs sat facing the desk. Even though the desk was big, he looked entirely too large for the space. His massive fingers poked at the keyboard one key at a time.
"Yes?" Liam asked without looking up.
When I didn't answer, he did lift his eyes. "You should be resting."
"Is there anything I can do to help?"
He stopped typing at the keys. "You can do the books and ordering." He shook his head. "I'm not any good at it."
"Can you teach me?" I stepped around to the back of him and rested my hands on his huge shoulders.
He tensed under my touch. "I really don't know what I am doing. None of these numbers really make sense to me. I wasn't made for this shit."
"Okay. I'll figure it out."
He rose out of the chair quicker than I expected. I took a step back.
"Passwords are in the notepad. Cherry can answer any other questions you have." He turned to leave.
"Liam?"
He paused.
"Are we okay?"
"Fine." He left.
I watched the door swing close behind him. We were not okay. I pushed the thought aside. Chasing after him probably wasn't going to make it any better. I sat in the chair and looked at the computer. I was looking at some sort of bookkeeping software. I scrolled through looking at the different chart of accounts. I looked at the previous ordering. I looked at the sales.
My eyes went wide. There were a bunch of services provided in here other than the bar. Things like protection, take out, cleaning, removal of remnants, and disposals dotted the list. It looked like he ran a cleaning service. That would explain the fleet of vans in the mechanic shop. But this was a biker gang. Anyone smart enough could see it was a cover. This was how he made what they did legal. Did I ask about this, or did I just keep my mouth shut? Did they expect me to run all this?
I scrolled through the sales for the last few months. It looked like the business was limping along. After Matei left, the gang only took on big jobs and looked like they weren't getting paid. What kind of complicated mess had I just agreed to?
I spent some time pushing all the buttons in the software to figure out what it did. I read every scrap of information in the books and was fairly certain I had a clear picture of what this business entailed. It looked like Matei did a lot of mediation between clients. There were enormous charges for assessments and quotes. After his death, those broke off. He probably used his power to calm each side down so they could talk. I would have to brush up on my people skills if I decided to take that part on.
It looked like the most recent charges were for protection, but the clients hadn't paid. There was very little on the disposal side. I imagined that included dead bodies.
A knock at the door made me jump in my chair.
Cherry pushed the door open. "Hey. You okay? You've been in here for hours. The bar is about to open up."
I nodded. "Do you have a list for ordering?"
She shook her head. "I usually just get what we got in the previous orders. But things are starting to run out. Is there a way you can order based on inventory? Matei was just so good at it."
I nodded. "Okay. I'll figure it out." I turned my attention back to the screen.
"Is Liam okay?" She asked.
"I don't know."
"He looked very... troubled. Usually, he's raging around here and screaming at people, but he's just quiet today."
I shook my head. "Maybe he's upset I'm taking his place."
Her curly, honey blonde hair bounced as she shook her head. "Oh, no. He's doesn't like being in charge. He is a warrior through and through. Most orcs are. They like to take orders, not give them."
I shrugged. "I don't know. I don't have a lot of experience with orcs. I'm fairly new to this world. Wait... you're human, how can you see him as an orc?"
She gave a slight smile. "I'm not human. No one that looks human down here is. Some are part-human, but all of us are something else. I'm part fae. I don't have any special powers or anything, but I am a part of this world more than the human one."
"Once you see what's really out there, it's hard to go back."
She nodded. "You understand."
"I thought I was going crazy the first time I saw." Memories of Kira running from it passed through my mind. "It was very unnerving, but now... I just sort of accept it. I still feel like I don't know anything, though."
"Don't worry. It will come in time. You can always ask me." She gave a bright smile.
"Thanks. I definitely will. I need all the help I can get."
"No problem. Oh, we need more whiskey, top-shelf."
I nodded. "I'm on it, somehow. I'll get this all straightened out."
"Thanks." She disappeared through the door.