Free Siblings by K. J. Janssen

Inc.”
    “You don’t have to remind me of that.”
    “Well then, stop pointing fingers and trying to fix blame. It is what it is. At this point, there’s little to gain by trying to bury it. I’m going to prepare my earnings report this afternoon. Let the chips fall where they may.”
    “Wait a minute—didn’t we receive a proposal from a new practice last week? It was from a doctor specializing in vascular surgery and interventional radiology. If I remember correctly, his requirement was for about the same square feet that Mitchum’s needed. He recently bought the practice from the founder, Dr. Rudolph Lassinger, who was located north of town. He wants to expand the practice and move it into the center of town. I think his name was Dr. Marshall Wentworth and he wants to call the new practice Wallington Vein and Laser. Look, Pete, can you give me a few days before you start your report? If this Dr. Wentworth wants to get set up right away, maybe we could convince John to expedite vetting him. I think even John will be impressed enough to want to lock him up.”
    Peter smiled. “Sure, why not. It’s certainly worth a try. I’ve heard nothing but good things about Dr. Lassinger. He operates Lassinger Vein Specialists. I hear he only uses equipment that he himself invented. There was an article in the Wallington Tribune about six months ago. I’ll dig it out of our files. What the hell, we may solve this problem yet if we end up recommending Dr. Wentworth to the committee.”
    “We certainly have nothing to lose by trying,” Ron said. “I’ll leave you to work on it.”

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 12
     
     
    Wilson pulled the buds from his ears, thinking he heard a knock at his door. The knocking repeated. He jumped up and went to the door. He looked out the peep hole and saw the Abbott brothers.
    Out in the hall, George said, “Come on, Wil—open the door. We know you’re in there.”
    Wilson undid the chain and opened the door. “What do you guys want?”
    “Is that any way to talk to old friends?”
    George Abbott pushed the door open and walked past Wilson, followed by his younger brother Bobby. “What a dump. Is this the best you can do?” They slumped down on the couch.
    Wilson closed the door. “It works for me. You’ll have to wait a minute. I was just finishing a text message to my sister.” He picked up his phone, pressed a few buttons, and laid it down on the table next to him.
    “How is the beautiful Margaret Symington these days? Did she ever get married?”
    “Why should you care? She sure wouldn’t have anything to do with the likes of you two. What are you doing here, anyway?”
    “Willie boy, I’m just concerned about you. I felt real bad when you were sent to the stir. You know we would have helped you if we could’ve.”
    “Yeah? Well, all you had to do was step forward and admit your role in the operation.”
    “Now what good would that have done, Willie boy? Then we all would have landed in the slammer.”
    “So instead you let me take the hit.”
    “Willie boy, don’t think that I don’t appreciate what you did. I helped wherever I could.”
    “Stop calling me Willy boy. My name is either Wilson or Wil. Get that?”
    Bobby spoke up. “My, aren’t we testy? You’d think that after being called by just a number for three years, you wouldn’t mind what people called you.”
    “No thanks to you.”
    “Cut it out, you two. This is supposed to be a social call. Look, Wil, we didn’t come here to yank your chain. Believe it or not, I want to help you. I owe you a large and I’m not a man to turn his back on a friend. Why don’t we light up and enjoy some of this Guatemalan hash we brought with us. This is primo stuff; goes for three hundred a cube.” He reached in his pocket and took out a baggie with a dozen brown cubes the shape and size of dice.
    Bobby provided three four inch long pipes with small bowls lined with a ceramic material. He offered