“Sir, if you’ll give me a minute. Sir. You see, that was me. I ordered Air Jordans with the petty cash. They haven’t been logged in the inventory yet. They’re shoes, sir. Didn’t seem right, logging them as inventory in a bookstore.”

For a moment the voice didn’t say anything at all. Then it came back rapid-fire, but softer.

Eli was having a conversation that could not only terminate his employment but get him into true legal trouble. Still, he kept his shoulders relaxed, his expression neutral. Rinn knew that Eli was posturing, but it impressed her nonetheless. Rinn couldn’t posture if it would save the entire world. Honesty was her Achilles’ heel.

“No, sir, they’re fake,” said Eli.

The voice responded equally quickly.

“Yes, sir. Okay.” Eli nodded.

And then the voice said something decisive; Rinn didn’t need words to understand that.

“Goodbye.” Eli clicked the phone down onto the receiver. When he looked up, his whole face was dazed, like he’d seen God.

Rinn couldn’t contain herself. “What did he say?”

“That was Archer Hunt Junior. He said to make sure that I put the shoes in the inventory.” Eli sounded almost dreamy as he spoke. “He said never to buy inventory without logging it into the system.”

“What?” Daniella practically screeched this.

Eli cleared his throat. “He said to make sure to put the shoes in inventory. Then he was all ‘otherwise, good job,’ which is basically bonkers. And then he hung up.”

“That can’t be right.” Daniella shook her head.

“And that’s it?” Rinn had to know. She knew everyone else would be afraid to ask, but she needed to know.

“That’s it,” said Eli with a shrug.

Jo was put into motion by this. “All right, everyone, show’s over. Get back to browsing. Get back to work. Eli—”

“Yes?” asked Eli, still with the expression that he’d possibly gotten away with a real murder.

“Stay out of trouble for the rest of the day.” And then Jo walked off, clearly not wanting to deal with the rest of them.

Rinn, however, was unsatisfied. “Are you sure that’s all he said?”

Eli finally had the sense to look insulted. “I’m not lying. He said, ‘Good work, kid. Just don’t forget to log the expense in the inventory.’ And then he just hung up.”

“It just doesn’t make any sense,” said Rinn.

“What?” asked Daniella. “Did you want Eli to go to jail?”

“No,” said Rinn.

“So thank whoever you pray to that our problem is solved.”

“It’s a problem solved, Daniella. Not the problem,” said Rinn. “We’ve still got nine thousand dollars missing that was probably going to be our payroll for the next few weeks. Without it the store is still definitely closing.”

Daniella grunted. Even she had to admit that was still true, if inconveniently so.