The Rescuer's MC Bk 8

Chapter 7 - Maile takes care of the salon

For the next hour and a half, Maile called all of the appointments that were scheduled for the next two weeks and everyone either canceled or rescheduled for when Martha would be back.

While he waited, Inker sat in the waiting area acting like he was playing a game on his phone but in reality he was checking out the inside of the shop. He had never really paid attention to a shop like this when he went to get his haircut. Normally his attention was on what the person who was cutting his hair was doing and not what they were using.

As far as he could tell, the biggest and probably most expensive items in here besides the barbers chair would be the mirrors. This place had huge mirrors that measured at least 4 feet tall by 8, maybe 10 feet across but that was because there were 2 cutting stations. There was a special sink for washing a person's hair and another recliner chair in front of it. He wondered if maybe there was stuff in the back that he didn't know about that she would need. He would have to find out because he knew Prez would ask.

"Okay, that was the last one. Now I just have to check that everything is put away and locked up and then we can go." Maile told him.

She stood up and walked to the back of the shop and a few seconds later, Inker heard her swear. "Damn! That stupid bitch!"

"What's wrong?" Inker called out as he walked towards the back of the shop.

"She turned on the sanitizer and the wax machine and didn't turn them off. Hell, she never uses any of this so why did she turn them on? And she's got almost every one of the hot irons heating up back here. Why? She just needs the one by her station. If I hadn't checked, there would more than likely have been a fire!

I'll bet you that if I look in that bag she was trying to carry out of here that I'll find some of the more expensive ones in there along with some other supplies that I know we just stocked because this shelf here was full when I left the other day and we don't use that stuff that fast. Customer's have to pay more for that because it's more expensive." Maile told him.

"How did she get in here earlier?" Inker asked. "Do you all have keys to this place?"

"Yeah, we do. Some days Martha can't be here to open, so either Vera or I do or she'll leave before us so we have to lock up." Maile said and her feeling of happiness about being able to leave soon began to fade.

"Does she have cameras in the shop?" Inker asked.

"No. Right now, I really wish she did though." Maile said.

"Well, she could have and for not much money and it won't take us long to set them up at all. I put them in at my place a couple of years ago when I had to be away from the shop and had someone break in. They got one of my ink guns and a bunch of ink.

Thankfully they didn't bust the place up too much but it cost me a small fortune to replace what they stole. Good quality ink is not cheap and I won't use the cheap stuff. I don't need to get sued because someone got an infection or something. Plus, I want my stuff to turn out nice and to last." Inker said. He took pride in his work and felt that in order to get good quality results he had to use good quality materials.

"Is there a back door to this place?" Inker asked.

"Yeah, but we never use it. In fact, it's kind of blocked off so you'd have to move stuff to get to it." Maile said, pointing to a large heavily laden shelving unit that was partially blocking the rear exit.

"Wow. Now that's a major fire hazard. What if there was a fire in the shop and you were back here? You'd be trapped. Some of these chemicals would be fire fuel and this place would not only go up faster but they would put off toxic fumes that could knock you out while you are struggling to move that out of the way." Inker said when he saw the heavy shelving unit that was piled up with stuff blocking the back door.