Chapter 21

The following new character appears in this chapter:

Elizabeth von Riedesel

Courier, 5’-8’’ tall (1,72 meters), 135 pounds (61 kg), has a nice figure, 25 years old, shoulder length blond hair, blue eyes

Yuryi still has the Narrative

Little was said on the short trip back to the Grahams’ house. Once out of the vehicle, I took a good look at their house. It was plain that the two houses were contemporary, built within a few years of each other. The Grahams’ house looked a great deal better.

“There was considerable termite damage on the Morgans’ house that you don’t have,” I told Ariana.

“Oh, but we did. It wasn’t quite as bad as at the Morgans’ house. Moninne’s Grandson many times removed, Myles, knows a spell to remove and repair termite damage, and another one that will keep termites away from your house permanently. He fixed up our house some three years ago when the children were about a year old,” she told me.

“Myles! He is Moninne’s great grandson?” I asked, surprised.

“Yes, you didn’t know?” she asked.

“I thought the last name was a coincidence. It isn’t all that uncommon a name. I never realized that he was related to you. I’ll need to speak to him about working on the house once it is ours.” I told her.

We soon departed, as they were getting ready for dinner and to feed the children. We only had a short wait on returning to the parking area at Maddy’s property. Daeva was the one who moved us through the Wards.

“How did it go?” Maddy asked when we arrived in the house.

“We have tentatively agreed to buy the house. We need to meet with their lawyer next week,” I told her. Monday, I called the lawyer to set up an appointment.

“Mr. Lawristan, good morning. Mr. Morgan called me on Friday afternoon about your offer to buy the property. Do you know where our offices are? We can meet this afternoon if you can be here then,” he told me.

“I have your address and am sure that I can get directions there on the computer. What time did you have in mind?” I asked.

“Would 2:00 PM be alright?” he asked.

“Yes, that would be fine,” I told him. “We’ll see you then,” I finished before turning to Yvonne.

“It’s a good thing that I called Fritz on Saturday,” I told her.

Early on Saturday morning, I had called Fritz, the president of the largest company that I owned in Europe.

“Fritz, Yuryi,” I said on reaching him at his private number.

“Yuryi, is there a problem? You don’t usually call for no apparent reason or to wish me a happy birthday,” he said.

“I need you to send me a couple of checks. They are to be hand carried and not mailed or sent by bank deposit,” I told him to a groan from him.

“Okay, what are you up to, Yuryi?” he asked in a tired voice.

“The first check is to be for an investment, and it is to be listed as such on the books. It’s a long-term investment. It’s to be for fifty thousand dollars and made out to ‘Dragon Fine Woods, LLC’. It will be about ten years before they start paying dividends, but it will be a very lucrative company,” I assured him.

“And the second check?” he prompted.

“The second check is to be for one million dollars. It is to be made out to the law firm handling the sale of the property that I am purchasing. I’m not sure how to list that on the books,” I told him to a short silence.

“Is this to be a personal residence?” he asked.

“Yes, for me and my new wife here in Atlanta,” I told him.

“You’ve remarried, after all of this time?” he asked in surprise.

“Yes, to a wonderful woman. She is similar to Gretchen. She is a financial consultant also,” I told him.

“The money shouldn’t be a problem, Yuryi. We can list it as an update to the owner’s property. Many people are doing that now. How old is the house?” he asked.

“It was built in the late 1920s, and is in very good condition. We’ll need to make a few changes when we move in, but I’ll take care of them,” I assured him.

“I’ll have a courier on a plane some time on Monday. Where are you now?” he asked.

“We’re just outside of Atlanta. Give him my cell number, and he can call me when he lands. I’ll give him directions on how to reach me,” I told him.

“When are you coming over so we can meet your new wife?” he asked.

“It will probably be a while. We’re having twins, so they will need to be old enough to travel before we can come over, probably a couple of years. I can have her and possibly the twins at our next teleconference,” I told him.

“Okay, the checks will be on the way on Monday. Good luck on the house,” he told me before disconnecting.

Monday afternoon, we met with the lawyer at his office. He was in the same town where Dr. Graham had her office but in a different area. The traffic was very heavy, but we had left early in case of problems. The offices of his firm were in a small building off of a very busy road. The map, which I had gotten off the internet, had been very good, and we’d had little trouble other than the heavy traffic. On arriving at the office, the secretary knew my name and directed us to his office.

“Good afternoon, Mr. Lawristan. Is this your wife?” he asked as we shook hands.

“Good afternoon. Yes, this is my wife, Yvonne. We were recently married,” I told him.

“Ah!” he said. “When I checked on your finances over the weekend, they indicated that your wife had passed away some time ago,” he said.

“Yes, Gretchen. We were married for a long time,” I told him but went no further.

“You are a very difficult man to obtain information on, even financial information. You appear to be very well-to-do with a large house in Duluth, and you own a mall building there, and are a partner or owner of several companies that have retail stores in that area and others. I also tried to obtain information on you from Europe, but the European Union, and especially the Swiss, are very tight lipped on the finances of important people there. I take it that you are one of them,” he told us with a smile.

“Only somewhat,” I told him. “There are many others who are more important than I am.”

“I see. Could you give me an idea of just what your financial worth is?” he asked. I just smiled and pointed to Yvonne.

“Ask my wife. She is my financial consultant,” I told him.

“I hadn’t quite finished my evaluation of Yuryi’s financial worth before we began our trip, but I was already up to 1.1 Billion dollars,” she told him to a shocked look from him.

“I see,” he said very slowly. “There shouldn’t be any problems with your purchase of Mr. Morgan’s house and property. Do you have a mortgage arranged?” he asked.

“That won’t be necessary. This will be a cash sale. The check will be here tomorrow,” I told him to another look of surprise from him.

“The check will be in the name of one of my companies, and they will be the owners of the house and property. How long do you believe it will take to complete the paperwork?” I asked a still stunned lawyer.

“I was expecting a considerable delay in obtaining a mortgage of that size. We can probably have the paperwork ready in another week or so for a cash sale. How will the check be made out?” he asked, regaining his composure.

“It will be made out to your firm. I’ll pay the Transfer Tax with a separate check,” I told him. “How soon would you like the checks?” I added.

“We usually receive them on the day of the sale. However, with a check that large, it might be better if we received it a few days ahead of time. It will require some time for the bank to clear it,” he told me.

“I could bring the checks by some time tomorrow or Wednesday,” I told him.

“That would be fine, sir,” he agreed. “Would Tuesday of next week be satisfactory for closing, at say 2:00 PM?” he asked after several seconds.

“Yes, I believe that would be satisfactory,” I told him and made sure that he had my cell number before we left. Traffic on the way back to Maddy’s was just as bad until we were well out of the town.

While Yuryi and Yvonne drove back to Maddy’s, the lawyer was calling his client.

“They just left, Dan. He is paying the entire cost of the house and property in cash ... well by check, but that’s the same thing. It appears that he is very well off ... very,” he told his client. “Be careful that Charles doesn’t get his hands on any of the money,” he added.

“That won’t be a problem. Yuryi had a little talk with Charles when he showed up here. They both disappeared like a puff of smoke. About five minutes later, they appeared again. Charles didn’t say anything but ‘I’m out of here’,” Dan told him.

“So, he’s some kind of Magic user?” the lawyer asked.

“Oh, he’s more than that. He’s staying at the house of Madailein Kavanagh while here,” Dan told him.

“OH!” was all the lawyer said for some time on realizing just what that meant.

“We are working on having everything finished and having the closing here next Tuesday at 2:00 PM. Will that fit your schedule?” the lawyer asked.

“Theresa and I will be there,” Dan assured him,

Early on Tuesday morning, I received a call.

“Yuryi Lawristan,” I said on answering.

“Mr. Lawristan, this is Elizabeth von Riedesel. I’m the courier sent by your firm. Where am I to meet you?” the female voice on the phone asked.

“Good morning, Miss Von Riedesel. Are you at all familiar with the Atlanta area?” I asked.

“Only somewhat,” she answered.

“Will you be driving yourself or do you have a driver?” I asked.

“The firm has arranged for a local driver,” she told me.

“Is he there with you?” I asked.

“Yes.”

“Ask him if he knows where the offices of Dragon Security are located,” I told her. The phone was silent for over a minute while she inquired.

“Yes, Mr. Lawristan, she knows where it is but isn’t anxious to visit the building,” she told me.

“I will meet you in the parking lot of the building. I’ll ensure that you can enter the parking lot,” I told her.

“She says that it will take, at least, an hour and a quarter to reach there,” she told me.

“I will be there well ahead of you,” I assured her before we disconnected. Yvonne had heard all of the conversation.

“I’ll go with you, so the poor girl isn’t terrified,” she told me. We had gotten up early, as I was expecting the call. We left in plenty of time to meet them.

An hour plus later, a sedan arrived at the entrance of the parking lot of Dragon Security. Yvonne and I had been there for twenty minutes or so. Steve, Dallas’ husband, opened the perimeter ward, and the vehicle hesitantly drove in to stop near us. A young woman of about 25 years old or so emerged from the vehicle. The driver, another woman, appeared very nervous. Yvonne went to talk to her while I met with the woman who had emerged.

“Mr. Lawristan?” she asked. She was about 5’-8’’ tall, maybe 135 pounds with a nice figure, shoulder length blond hair and blue eyes.

“Yes, I’m Yuryi Lawristan. You must be Elizabeth von Riedesel. I had presumed that Fritz would send a male courier,” I told her.

“Yes, he said you would say that. Do you really call him Fritz? No one at our headquarters would dare to call him that,” she told me with a smile.

“I’ve known him a long time. He started working for me when he was twenty years old,” I told her to another smile.

“You don’t give the impression of one who is that old,” she told me.

“Ah well, I’m well preserved,” I told her with a grin before she opened the small case she carried, removed two envelopes, and handed them to me. There was also a large portrait of me in the case for positive identification. She had obviously studied it.

“Thank you. Will you be returning immediately?” I asked.

“No, I’m here for three days. We have some other business in the Atlanta area,” she informed me.

“I wish you well on your other business,” I told her before she returned to the car. The driver left as quickly as possible. Steve returned the wards to their original condition, as Yvonne joined me.

“The driver, Beverly, was terrified to come here. She thought we were all Dragons. I managed to convince her that we weren’t all monsters, but she was still anxious to leave,” she told me. We thanked Steve for his help, and I transported both of us back to Maddy’s house.

That afternoon, I transferred to the lawyer’s office, as I was tired of dealing with the traffic in that town. Their secretary was glad to see me and ushered me right into his office.

“Good afternoon,” I said. “I’ve brought the check,” and presented it to him still in the envelope that it had come in. I had, of course, inspected both checks to ensure that they were correct. He also inspected the check on accepting it.

“You’re sure this is legal?” he asked looking at the name of the firm on the check.

“Of course, I’m the owner of the firm,” I reminded him.

“I’ll deposit this to our account this afternoon. It will take a few days to clear,” he told me before I also handed him my check for the Transfer Tax.

“You’re a very prompt businessman,” he said with a smile. “There are many who aren’t.”

“I’ve been in ’Business’ for a long time,” I told him before departing.