5 Big Bunny Bump Off Read Online Free

rich, and Dad . . . well, short of winning the lottery, he most likely never would.
    “I heard there’s a storm coming in on Sunday. You might want to complete the move on Saturday , before it hits. I can help if you want.”
    “It’s going to rain?” I asked.
    “Actually, they’re calling for snow. Up to a foot,” Levi informed me.
    “You can’ t be serious.”
    “Afraid I am.”
    “It’s April.”
    Levi looked toward the stage. “Guess you sh ould have a chat with Jack.”
    “ Yeah, I guess I should. A foot of snow is really going to put a damper on Ellie’s grand opening next week.”
    “Did she get everything worked out with Blakely?” Levi asked.
    “Not really, but she decided to go along with the ridiculous contract and continue forward while their attorneys work out the details.”
    For those of you who aren’t aware, Ellie and her mom , Rosie, recently secured a loan from the Ashton Falls Community Bank, of which Blakely is the president, to open a second location of the extremely popular Rosie’s Café. Ellie has worked for her mother at the main restaurant since she was old enough to do so, and Rosie’d decided it was time for her daughter to have her own place. The location on the pier, near one of the most popular beaches in the area, is priceless. The new building is small, but Ellie had plans to make the most of the space and had been remodeling for the past few months. Shortly after she announced a grand-opening date, she’d learned that there was fine print in the contract she’d signed with the bank that gave Blakely control over management decisions regarding the enterprise. To say that both Ellie and Rosie are less than thrilled about this turn of events is putting it mildly. Zak helped them hire an attorney, but the truth of the matter is, they’d signed what they’d signed.
    “I can’t believe Blakely wants input on the menu,” Levi complained. “Seems picky and petty to me.”
    “He claims that because the loan is unsecured, he’s taking a big risk on the venture. He feels it’s within his rights to ensure that decisions regarding the establishment that may affect the bottom line are made in the best interest of maintaining a certain profit margin. I know it’s crazy, but the man is smart, and he included wording in the fine print that legally backs up his claim. Looking back, I guess Ellie should have run the loan contract past an attorney before she signed it, but the process took so long, she was just happy to get it finalized.”
    “I heard Blakely has been requiring Ellie to bring him samples of every item she intends to include on the menu.”
    “You heard right. If the guy continues to be such a huge tool, I can see how her next submission may be arsenic soup.”
    “If she wants to off Blakel y, she might have to wait in line,” Levi commented. “I ran into Walter Gates the other day, and he made a similar comment about wanting the guy gone. I guess things got a little tight over the winter, so he applied for a small line of credit to get him through until the tourism season. He told me that he’s had to make similar requests a few times in the past, when winters have been particularly long or hard and they haven’t had a lot of business at the resort, but this year Blakely handed him a loan agreement with all sorts of strange requirements that sound a lot like what he’s pulling on Ellie.”
    “Wouldn’t you think he’d have enough to do without wanting to have his hands in everyone’s business?”
    “It would seem so, but apparently Blakely is more of a control freak than anyone was giving him credit for.”
    “ What did Walter do?” I wondered.
    “He took his business elsewhere. I think Blakely’s strange agreements are going to hurt him now that the word is out about what he’s doing. Walter used to run a lot of money through his bank, but he’s pulled all his deposit accounts as well as his loans.”
    Walter Gates owned the largest resort on