"Can I help him sit up at least?" she asked Jacobi.
"Alright. Since we are going to be here a while." He fished out the key to her cuffs with his left hand. "Turn around." He watched her carefully as she slowly spun one hundred-eighty degrees. One of the circlets popped open.
Marla resisted the urge to make any quick motions. She did take a few seconds to massage her wrists, before stooping to check on Danny. The letter opener wasn't far from her mind. If her hands stayed free long enough, she'd take pleasure in jamming it into some soft part of Jacobi's body.
Soft fingers touched Danny on his temple. Pain shot through his head, sharply clearing cobwebs and causing him to wince. "Easy."
"Sorry. It doesn't look too bad." Marla paused. "Okay well, it actually looks awful, but head wounds are never pretty. I think you'll be okay." The gash was long and narrow and would probably benefit from a couple of stitches. She looked up at Jacobi. "Can I get the first aid kit? It's under the cash register."
Without answering he walked around the short counter and grabbed the small metal box. It flew through the air in a brief arc, caught easily by the young lady.
"Thanks." She opened it and took out some sealed envelopes. "This will sting a bit." The tang of rubbing alcohol filled the air.
A hiss of air forced its way out of Danny. "Liar."
"Wuss." She cleaned his scalp as best she could and held a patch of gauze in place to staunch the bleeding. "Hold that there." While he did as he was told she shook to tablets out into her hand. "Take these, you'll have to dry swallow them."
Danny grimaced at the thought, but took them just the same. A whopper of a headache had already begun. "Thanks." The two young people locked eyes, light green and brown, both showing determination. He saw her determination turn into realization or something akin to it.
She stood, pivoting as she did so. "I know you. I mean you looked familiar when you first came in here. There's a picture of you in my dad's study. It's younger, but it's definitely you."
Jacobi cracked a smile. "Your father and I do know each other. We go back quite a way as a matter of fact."
Marla wanted to come to him, to poke a finger in his chest. Brave though she was, she was not foolish. So she stopped short of that. "So why? Why are you doing this?"
Jacobi chuckled. It wasn't a pleasant sound. "Don't confuse relationship with friendship. We were never friends. We had business dealings. I occasionally worked for him, sometimes it was as equals. No doubt you know that he was not always a florist."
"I know enough about him to know what you're saying is probably true." She set her jaw and spoke her next words through clenched teeth. "But he has changed."
The chuckle became a full bore laugh. It rang through the shop. "Men like your father and I don't change. We can try, but it doesn't take."
Danny watched the two go back and forth, then stood. "Look, you know what, can we just get this over with?" He struggled to keep his voice even. "I'm tired of being threatened, confused, and afraid. Kill me if you want to. Hell kill us both, I don't care. I'm just ready for this to be done."
"Alright. It's as well done here as anywhere at this point. That wasn't the plan, but it seems that God is laughing at my plans today."
