Chapter 1

As the Chevrolet Silverado turned onto I-81 South, Roger found that the salt crews had done a masterful job and the roads were clear and starting to dry. The asphalt had thin coating of salt making the road look a dirty gray. He began to think of his adventure of the past few days. He had made some friends in Utica and had changed a few lives, hopefully for the better. He began to feel a bit sad when a vision of Pooh came to him. He really wished that he could stay; it would have been interesting to see if he and Pooh could have built a lasting relationship. But... he said to himself, he had to get this out of his system. If he didn't continue on his tour of the country he would regret it for the rest of his life.

The ride through the New York countryside was beautiful. The fields had the fresh coating of snow and he quite often saw deer coming out of the woods trying to find something to eat. By early evening he approached Binghamton, New York and he decided to stop and get something to eat. He watched the road signs that indicated the places to eat that were close to the Interstate and finally picked a higher-end franchise that he knew usually had respectable food. The franchise specialized in seafood and steaks. After pulling off of the Interstate he saw the restaurant about two thousand feet ahead of him. He saw with a bit of dismay that the parking lot was almost full. He finally found a parking spot close to the rear of the building and pulled in and shut the engine off.

Just as he was about to get out of the truck his cell phone rang. He looked at the screen and saw on the caller ID that it was his lawyer. He debated whether to answer it or not. He had had enough excitement for a while and he was sure that the call wasn't because of any great calamity that had just come up. Reluctantly he answered the phone.

"Roger, how are things going?" Hal Iverson shouted into the phone, "Are you ready for this? You know that warehouse that you bought in Syracuse at the bankruptcy auction? A commercial Realtor has a client that wants to buy it. They want a quick settlement and since you haven't done anything with it yet I thought that you might want to get rid of it. It's a cash deal; the outfit has tons of cash. I figure that you'll clear about one point one million on the deal, maybe a little less. Are you interested?"

This was a "no-brainer" for Roger. He had bought the warehouse dirt cheap because of the bankruptcy of the company that had owned it and he had intended to let it set for a while until he figured out what he wanted to do with it. He knew that that wasn't wise because of the deterioration that would quickly occur to the structure since it wasn't being used. He had figured that, if nothing else, he would eventually tear it down and build something else on the property. Most potential bidders had passed on the deal because of the rumors of hazardous waste problems. Roger had a hazardous waste remediation contractor inspect the property and they hadn't found any problems. He figured that it was worth about five times what he paid for it.

"Hal go ahead and take care of it for me. I really don't have any concrete plans for it right now plus it will be one problem that I don't have to deal with when I get back. You have my power of attorney so go ahead and take care of it. Let me know if you have any problems. I can fly back there if you really need me."

"I don't think that I'll have to have you back here. I'm sure that I can handle everything for you. Damn I like making money off of you man."

Roger smiled to himself. He and Hal Iverson had been friends since college and Roger had even introduced Hal's wife to him. Hal and Roger went beyond the normal lawyer-client relationship and Hal watched out for Roger's interests as well as Roger did, sometimes even better.

Roger's mind began to wander as Hal continued to talk, "Wait a minute Hal. Maybe the company does have a lot of cash but every company wants to keep their cash if possible. Approach them and see if they would like me to finance the deal for them; maybe even a lease purchase. Ask for twenty-five percent down and I'll finance the balance. The building is paid for so it will be a clean deal. It might be a good deal for all of us."

It was a second before Hal answered, "They asked if it was possible to get financing but I didn't think that you would go for it. I'm sure that if you want to finance it that they'll snap it up. Damn man, you know how to make money. You'll be able to live off of the mortgage payments."

"You have my OK to do whatever it takes to wrap up the deal. Just make sure that I'm protected if they walk away from the building in a few years. I don't want to have to go to court to get my property back."

"I'll take care of it for you. Anything else you need?"

Roger told him no and they exchanged a few pleasantries and then hung up. He sat for a minute to collect his thoughts. With twenty-five percent down the mortgage rate would probably at least twelve percent on an industrial property. The mortgage payments would be a bit more than twenty-seven thousand dollars a month. He smiled to himself as he got out of the truck.

Roger walked into the restaurant and found that there would be a wait of about a half an hour. He gave his name to the hostess and saw that she was wondering what to do with him as singles rarely came into the restaurant. If she sat him at a table by himself it would mean that there were three seats that would be unavailable for other customers.