Raven Mortis's Arc

Chapter 4 of 5

Raven drove home with Harold's warning still in her ear. Steven's license was current. Steven had also spent three summers running a friend's shop, and Raven had never asked how that shop closed. If the state pulled his file on audit day and found a violation, her opening was over before it started. She had four days. She needed to see his record before the inspector did. She started with the county clerk's office and got a queue ticket for Monday. Monday was too late. She called two lawyers. One wanted a retainer. The other wanted a week. Raven sat in her car and thought about who moved paper fast and asked no questions. She drove to the diner off Route 9 at the end of the overnight shift. The waitress there had a reputation. People said she'd worked a records desk before whatever happened last summer, and that she still had the logins. Raven slid into a booth and ordered coffee she didn't want. The waitress poured it with both hands and the cup still rattled. Her name tag was crusted brown at the corner. She hadn't cleaned it. Raven had heard the story in pieces — three coworkers who didn't come out, and this one who did. "I need a license history," Raven said. "Cannabis board. Private. Today." "Name." "Steven." Raven wrote the license number on a napkin. The waitress looked at it. "Two hundred. Cash. (I don't take cards.) One hour." Raven paid. She sat in the booth and drank a can of blood orange energy from the cooler by the register because her hands needed something to do. The waitress went to the back and came out fifty minutes later with a folded printout. "Clean license," she said. "But the shop he managed got fined. Unlogged inventory. His name's on the incident sheet as manager of record. Not on the license itself. Board can flag it in audit if they cross-check. They usually do." "How do I kill the flag?" "You don't. He files an amendment. Says he wasn't the responsible party that night. Needs a signed statement from the owner. Forty-eight hours to process if you drive it in." Raven took the printout. "Thank you." The waitress was already wiping the next table. "Don't come back for a week." Raven drove to Steven's apartment and put the printout on the counter. Steven read it and went quiet. Then Steven picked up the phone and called the old owner. The call took twenty minutes. Steven hung up and nodded once. "He'll sign. I drive up tonight." Raven exhaled for what felt like the first time in a day. The license would clear. The audit wouldn't void her. Then Steven said, "There's one other thing on that sheet you should probably see before I go."