Bill shut up. He was surprised that she talked to him like that, but after all, she was a strong entrepreneur like Bill, right? “First of all, I did get tired of working for the previous owner, but I didn’t make him rich — he went broke tryin’ to run this place. Yes, I wanted to be rewarded for my work, but most of all, I just wanted a job — I had a husband and a kid to support.” “So how did you buy this place?” “You’re not listening close enough — I don’t own the place, Buck does.” (Bill remembered the sign out front: Buck’s Bass and Bait.) “I’m sorry, I just thought that by the way you handled the money and seemed to run the place — ” Linda interrupted Bill this time — “Mister, I do run the place. Like I tell everyone, I’m the boss, Buck is just the owner.” “Was Buck the guy that walked in a few minutes ago?” “No that was Kenny, he’s the law.” “He watches over the place?” “No, he watches over me — he’s my parole of昀椀cer. He checks on me every week. Plus, he sends me new leads on employees, mostly his clients — folks getting out of jail.” “You mean you’d hire” — Bill stopped himself, but it was too late. “Yes, we hire people like me — it fact, all of our employees have had run-ins with the law, but they’re good people.” Bill felt he had imposed enough but was intrigued with this Buck guy. “Do you think I could meet Buck? I’d like to learn how he does this.” 10