Chapter 31

Five minutes later, Jeff, Wainwright, Margaret, Diana, Evie and Dave, with Martha as a guide, were in the Escalade turning down Highway 40.

Jeff glanced at Diana, "Try your cell; we should have a signal here."

When Diana flipped her phone open, she responded, "Yes, it's pegged. Strong signal."

"Dial this number," he said, giving it to her. "Tell his secretary that I need to speak with Wadsworth right now. I don't care where he is or what he's doing. Tell her it's vitally important."

Diana dialed. There was a brief argument with someone on the phone, then, "Mr. Wadsworth, this is Diana Matthews. Hold on for my husband, please."

Jeff pulled over to the side, detesting people that talked on a cell while driving all over the road. "This is Jeff Matthews... Yeah, I'm fine, but I haven't got time for the pleasantries right now. I need to put you on alert. I know this is going to sound nuts, but we're on the way to talk to a lady that's about to have her property and home foreclosed on by a bank president and a realtor that I overheard laughing about putting her out and reselling the land to a development company for a lot of money.

"Her husband died last year. Since then someone blew up her silos and burned out her barn with most of her farming equipment in it. I want to pay off the mortgage, and I want to do it today. I heard them say that the foreclosure would take effect at noon tomorrow."

"Mr. Matthews, you know I'm not admitted in Colorado..."

"We've discussed this before," Jeff snarled. "You need to get us someone out here that we can trust, or you need to take their bar exam, or whatever you call it. I'm afraid to use local lawyers that I don't know. They might be in with these two. And I'm afraid to go in that bank without a lawyer, and maybe give them a chance to stall until the deadline is past."

"Easy, Jeff," Diana said, putting her hand on her husband's arm.

Taking a breath, realizing he was pushing too hard, he said, "Look, I'm sorry. I just listened to these assholes for fifteen minutes laughing about taking this widow's property, and I am going to stop it, one way or the other."

Wadsworth chuckled, "Okay, Mr. Matthews, we'll get it done. Uh... my secretary has just told me she has your number on the caller I.D. I've got a friend in Denver. Let me get him on the line. Which city is this supposed to happen in?"

"Winter Park. That's the closest city and that's where his bank is."

"What's the driving time from Denver to Winter Park?"

"Depends on where you are in Denver. From the side nearest Winter Park, about an hour and a half to two hours this time of day, I think."

"Well, lawyers usually drive a little fast," he chuckled. "Mr. Matthews, you realize that pulling him away from what he's on..."

"Just get him here. And make damn sure it's someone that knows what he's doing."

"Get me the name of the bank and the banker's name ASAP. And that realtor too, if you can. I'll get my people on background while your local lawyer is on the way. Chances are, if they're that unscrupulous, there will already be complaints. Keep someone on the phone while you're talking to this lady. I want all the information you can give me, just as soon as you can get it to me."

There was a hesitation, then, "Rachael is already talking to my friend in Denver. Now let me get started with him, and call me back as soon as you have more info."

Jeff closed the phone and handed it back to Diana. Checking for traffic, he pulled back onto the road and pushed the accelerator to the floor.

Martha had sat stunned listening to Jeff's conversation. Figuring out that there was going to be more than one lawyer involved, she leaned forward in the seat, touching Jeff's shoulder. "Mr. Matthews, you know that those lawyers are going to charge, no telling how much, to just drop what they're doing and come way out here. Why are you doing this?"

"Because we can," Jeff and Diana said, almost together.

Diana giggled, and Jeff grimaced.

"We need you to help us convince your friend that we're trying to save her place..."

"Well, I don't know whether I can do that. I mean, I heard what you told that lawyer, but... Well, she's lost it anyway. I suspect she would lots rather anyone else get it than those two."

Wainwright and Margaret sat grinning as the Escalade roared down Highway 40, Dave and Evie in deep discussion in the back.

"Slow down, Mr. Matthews, her driveway is a little dirt road on the right about a quarter mile ahead."

As Jeff turned into the drive, Martha continued. "This is her property on either side of us, but most of the farm lies back behind that long hill in front of us. It's a really nice place. I think she's got about eight hundred acres, if I remember right. She and her husband were doing pretty well until the cancer caught up with him. Their insurance didn't pay for half the hospital bills. She sold off most of her stock trying to keep up."

They topped the ridge to view a large house in the distance, if a little old. There was slightly rolling pastureland on the right side of the road, with flatter land on the left, obviously devoted to hay. There was another large field in the distance which seemed to be standing in corn, and other fields, but Jeff wasn't familiar enough with the local crops to tell what they were at this distance.

As they pulled into the large yard, a U-Haul truck was backed to a side door with two women standing on the porch looking at them. Both were brunettes, one about forty and the other in her early twenties. Both were about five-five, with lean, but shapely figures obvious in the tee shirts and jeans that both were wearing. Both wore well-worn work gloves.

When the Escalade stopped and Jeff stepped out, the older of the women stepped off the steps. "Get off my property. You can't have it until noon tomorrow," she snarled.

Martha came around the side of the Escalade and approached her friend, "Easy Carla. These people have come to help you. And I've heard it all. They're on the up and up. We need to sit down and talk. Mr. Matthews here needs all the information you can give him, as quickly as you can give it to him. He's got lawyers coming to keep your place from being foreclosed on. He's..."

"Oh, my God," the woman said, abruptly sitting down hard in the grass. Then looking up at Jeff, "How can you do this? Why are you doing this? I can't pay you anything. That son-of-a-bitch burned my barn down with my equipment in it, not to say anything about blowing up my silos. I've already sold all my stock trying to keep up with the mortgage and to pay bills. I don't have anything. Even if you got them to put off foreclosing, it won't do any good. I haven't got anything to bring my hay in with, and nothing to feed it to, if I did. My crops are standing in the fields for the same reason. I've tried to sell the place, but the bank blocked the sale."

The younger of the women squatted down beside her mother putting her arm around the older woman's shoulders and hugging her. Looking up at Jeff, she said, "Don't come in here getting our hopes up. There's nothing we can do, anymore."

Martha took Carla's arm, lifting her to her feet. "We've both seen hard times. I think these people are real. And they're rich. Even if the place winds up in their hands, that's better than it going to those two assholes. Now let's get inside and get some coffee. Mr. Matthews needs a lot of information as soon as he can get it. He's got a lawyer from somewhere getting another lawyer out here from Denver. The way I just heard his end of the phone conversation, we need to talk, and talk in a hurry."

Diana brushed by Jeff. "I'm Diana Matthews, and we've come to help you. Can we go sit down and talk?"

"You men stay out here," Diana ordered.

"About all we've got left in the house is the kitchen stuff. But I can get some coffee started," the young woman said, leading the way up the steps.

A little later, Diana sat at the table in the large farm kitchen with a stack of paperwork in front of her, the mother and daughter sitting across from her, daring to hope a little. "How long have you had this property?" Diana asked.

"We've paid on it a little better than fifteen years, and we've never been behind on a payment until they burned my barn down, and blew up my stuff."

"You should have been able to refinance this."

"Not without any equipment or any cattle. I had no way to show that I could make money. I tried everything around here, and that fucker at the bank just turned up his nose at me."

"What about insurance on the barn? Did you have any?"

"Oh, yeah. We paid on that ever since we had the property. But they wanted to give me current value, or some shit. They sent me a check for twenty thousand dollars and change for a barn nearly two hundred yards long, my silos, and all my tractors, cultivating, mowing and bailing equipment. Twenty thousand won't even start to buy used equipment to replace what I had, and everything was in good shape — let alone replace my barn and silos."

"Did you cash the check?"

"Hell no. I'd just have to give it to the hospital, anyway. They're threatening to sue now. And be damned if I'd take that measly payoff for everything I lost, let along turn around and give it to the hospital. A friend of mine had some of the same tests run that Sam had. She showed me where her insurance paid about a tenth what the hospital charged for the same tests, and her bills were marked paid. And I had to pay up front for the tests, even with Sam so sick. Then they billed me for hundreds of thousands of dollars of other stuff. I tried going to the hospital to talk to them, but it's useless. They just keep telling me I have to pay what my insurance didn't. After I've sold off everything, the bill is still over fifty thousand dollars."

Diana frowned, then took a sip of the coffee, "We'll get a lawyer into that later, but first..." she dialed the phone. Turning to Carla, she said, "You listen to everything we say, so you'll know what's going on... This is Diana Matthews. I have the foreclosure notice in front of me as well as the original mortgage... No we don't have a fax here, and we're a long way from our home. I'll read everything to you, and give you the numbers... Okay, here goes."

A few minutes later, Diana burst out the door as Jeff paced in the yard, Wainwright and Dave sitting on the steps. "We've got to get to Winter Park and get to a fax machine. Martha knows where one is. I called the numbers off to Wadsworth, but he got the Denver lawyer on the line with us and he wants us to fax him copies. He's got a portable fax in his car, but we need to hurry before he loses the signal in the mountains."

The Escalade left the yard spitting gravel, then hit 40 and accelerated.

The bank president and an assistant calculated and recalculated as the Denver lawyer, standing, put his hands on the president's desk and leaned forward while Jeff stood glaring. Carla and her daughter sat in chairs, the rest gathered at the door of the office. "I'll say again: give us a payoff total and I'll have a certified check here in ten minutes. Keep stalling and I already have an associate completing the paperwork to the Banking Commission. We'll walk out the door and I'll start things rolling on you. This will be your third complaint, and it will be backed up by my office — documented."

Shortly, a few blocks away in a branch of Jeff's bank, Diana's phone rang. Repeating the figure aloud, she said, "Fine, the accountant and I will be right there with the certified check. They're just waiting to enter the amount."

"Shall I write you a check now?" Jeff said as they stood by their vehicles in the bank parking lot.

"You don't owe me a thing," the Denver lawyer said, trying not to stare at the women. "I'll bill Ted, and he can bill you. But don't shit when you get the bill," he laughed, getting in his car where his secretary was waiting for him, and pulling away without another word.

Jeff stood watching him leave, wondering whether he should curse or laugh.

As they pulled back into Carla's, she just kept saying, "I can't believe this is happening. I had no hope. No hope!"

As they stopped, Martha said, "Carla, I'll come over after I close tonight and help you get your stuff arranged. I've got to get back to my restaurant now," she finished looking at Jeff.

Wainwright and Dave looked at each other, and Frank spoke, "We'll stay and help get her furniture back inside if you want to carry Martha back and pick up your women, Jeff."

"We'll all stay, Jeff. Just go pick everybody up," Diana said.

Dave handed Jeff his keys. "How about having someone drive my vehicle back while I help out here?"

"You bet." Jeff took the keys, thanked Dave, and having his orders from Diana, he grinned and got back into the Escalade with Martha.

"Oh, I hope everything went all right at my place. There were still quite a few customers when we left," she fretted. Jeff just grinned again as he backed up and turned around.

A few minutes later as they parked, Jeff sat for a moment watching Ann washing the outside of the windows with a long-handled squeegee. When they walked by, Martha said, "Child, you don't have to do that."

"Why not?" Ann laughed at them, obviously in a good mood. "There wasn't anything for me to do inside."

Inside, the place was empty of customers. Jennie was washing the inside of the windows. When they came in, she waved cheerily to them with a rag and continued with her job.

As they entered the kitchen, Helen was just finishing scrubbing a large stack of pots and pans. "I'm not sure where all of these go, so I waited for you to show me," she said, her face red from standing over the sink, her pretty dress wet down the front with water and soapsuds.

Arlene had a row of glass coffee pots standing, gleaming on the counter as she leaned over a sink scrubbing out the coffee stain on the last one.

Laura was just finishing scrubbing a now equally gleaming grill as she stood back up. The parts of her beige dress not covered by the apron splattered with grease stains from cooking and cleaning.

Melissa and Fred walked back in with filters that they had carried outside to hose and clean. Fred moved the short stepladder he had found into place and slipped one of the filters into the ceiling vent as Melissa handed him a screwdriver. Her once pretty dress was caked with grease from the filters and cleaning under the tables in the restaurant.

"Oh, my God," Martha said, staring at her thoroughly cleaned kitchen. A moment later in the dining room, she stood turning in a slow circle to view a spotless restaurant, the floors gleaming almost as much as the high-gloss finish on the tables. "I expected to come back to chaos. Where are my waitresses?" she finished, looking around.

"One went to pick up her child at school," Helen said, "and the other is in your office doing the book work."

Joan walked out, having heard Martha. "We had a good lunch hour, and we made more money in tips than we've ever made. The customer's must have liked these people," she laughed. The tip jar is absolutely stuffed.

Jeff saw his daughter's face flush, and knew exactly where the extra money had come from, and Martha, seeing the exchange began to figure it out, but nothing else was said.

"And you people didn't even get to finish you lunch," Martha said, "We'll have to correct that."

"Yeah, I'm still hungry," Jeff laughed. "But let's do this. I want to introduce everyone to Carla and Jessica. And we need to discuss a little business with them as well. Why don't we 'run' do that, then come back here for dinner? Maybe we'll get a chance to finish this time."

"Well, that's just fine, Mr. Matthews, but in this little country restaurant run by this ol' southern gal, we just call it supper. If I had a nice big restaurant, I might call it dinner. But come back and eat supper with us. It's on the house."

"My name is Jeff, please. And we'll do that."

After everyone finished up and Martha's effusive thanks finally wound down, the clan headed back for Carla's, Laura driving Dave's Escalade, following Jeff. As they drove sedately down the road, the girls laughing and regaling each other with their exploits at the restaurant, Melissa said, "Oh, Husband. You should have seen your new wife. She had this enormous heavy boiler in her hands and turned to put it in the sink when she stepped on a wet spot on that slick kitchen floor. She did the splits right there in her new dress."

"Baby, were you hurt?" Jeff quickly asked, looking at Helen.

"No. Nothing but my pride. Then we all got tickled and couldn't stop giggling. I think Joan thinks we're all crazy."

Later, everyone sat in Carla's living room, extra chairs having been brought in from the kitchen by the men. "Okay, Carla, here's where we stand. Like we discussed briefly with my accountant. As of right now, our corporation owns your property — but that's going to change as soon as you two," he said nodding to Carla and Jessica, "and our accountant work out the best way to do things. You said you really didn't use that front forty for much, so if we do get approached by the land development company, that might be a way to go.

"Like we discussed, we can split the profit sixty-forty, with you with the sixty, of course. And I assure you again, and my women will back me," he slipped and said, "We're not in this to make money. We primarily want you to get back to where you were, and maybe a little ahead," he grinned.

Evie and Dave looked at each other and Dave nodded. "Uh, Boss," Evie said, getting his attention. "Cory has two big jobs that will finish in a few weeks. The, uh, planning on the mountain isn't nearly to the stage to need them yet — maybe not until the winter is over for all that work in the open. Why let a land development company make all the money?

"Our company has built many upscale homes, and those rolling hillsides with all those trees would be great for high-end homes. Carla would probably wind up with a lot more working capital in the end. The downside, of course, is she won't have a large lump sum payment for working capital like she would if she sold the property to be developed."

"And she needs just that," Wainwright broke in. "But that can be easily rectified..."

"Yes," Jeff said. "My accountant said that we needed to incorporate the property — the farm — better tax wise, and better insurance rates. Real Insurance. And something about a holding company to manage everything including the sale, or as Evie suggested, the building and sales of the upscale homes — big lots — big money. Right Evie?"

"This area is building so fast," Dave broke in, "that the homes will be sold before we can get them built. We need to build a model home with all the options built in, then let the prospective owners choose what they want from that, or build to their specifications."

"We need to advertise," Wainwright said. "All the way to Denver and Boulder. Billboard size, and extend that into local radio and TV when the model is complete." Turning to Carla, he continued, "I've got professional people in charge of that sort of thing. We can get them involved with no charge to the corporation."