Chapter 333

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By the time I set foot inside the Downtown house again, I had been gone two and a half days. It was right after 2PM on a Thursday when I entered my home which I converted from a finance company building. I intentionally left the smarter than smart phone unanswered while I had been gone. Whatever mundane shit awaited me, I decided to let it lay till I got back. I had to be Maxine the super spy for two days. I would just be damned, if I was going to try to juggle the shit back home at the same time.

So of course Sylvia was waiting with a list of small town shit. Shit that had to be decided right that first fucking minute. I barely had time to heat a cup of Sylvia's weak ass coffee in the microwave. I fought with myself not to complain about the coffee at least. She had made the coffee, so of course she made if for her taste. It was only human nature. That was a weird thought to have the first thing back. Was it robot nature when I made coffee to my taste.

The first thing on Sylvia's list was briefing me on what had happened in the realty world. The college professors were setting some kind of record trying to get closed on the condo. Somehow they had a local bank jumping through hoops to get them the loan.

That being the case, Jennifer had been working her second paralegal like hell to get the paperwork done. Everyone wanted to close it the next day. I had no idea why the big rush, but I also didn't care. I was getting closer to transferring the last of the units to the homeowners association. I still had a chunk of the building in the meeting room on the ground floor, but the Cloak and Dagger would soon belong to the home owner's Association.

After the Professor situation, Sylvia informed me that the Hart deal had heated up just as the Farmer's people said it would. I wasn't thrilled with the idea of sinking so much money in one project, but I was committed. I was also ready to get the preacher off my ass. He couldn't justify tying mission funds up in a 'for profit venture', but he sure as hell wanted the renovation work for his construction company. I didn't know or care what happened to the money after the work was done. I usually checked in to be sure that it was being done to my own standards. The city checked for code, and I encouraged them to do so.

"So what's the deal with the Hart children?" I asked.

"I'm not sure, but I do know they want this meeting tomorrow morning badly. They called twice to set the time and place. At first they didn't want to have it at Jen's office. When I told them I couldn't set it anywhere else without your permission, they agreed. So it's just as soon as you can all agree on a time." she said quietly.

"Get with Jen and set it as soon as possible, I have a quarter million bucks tired up in escrow. We are going to get this settled and the money returned to me or working for me. Tell the kids I said that, when you call them back with the meeting time. I'm through dicking around with them." I could be tough because I knew something was going on with them. The people on the farm had as much as told me they were ready to deal. Something had changed with the negotiation, but I didn't know what it was.

"Got it boss. Is there anything else?" she asked me.

"Hell, I should be asking you that. I'm playing catchup here and dancing as fast as I can," I said with as calm a smile as I could manage.

"Detective Blevins called. He wants you to call him back," Sylvia said consulting her list. "He wouldn't say what it was about."

Of course the first thing that came to my mind was Bristol Peace floating in th river. I wondered if he had washed up, or if someone had seen him go into the river and Blevins just figured out who threw him in. Either way it didn 't seem as though it was going to be good news.

"Dial the number and hand me the phone please. My eyes are not what they used to be." It was a lie, but then I just felt liked having her do the simple thing for me. She might as well earn her money, I thought and god knows I needed to stay calm.

When Sylvia handed me the smarter than smart phone, I asked, "Hello there Detective, what can I do for you?"

"This time I can do something for you. Swing by the police property room and they will have your rusty old wheel gun ready for you to pick up. The coroner ruled it justified without ever going to an open hearing. It was a closed inquest. Jen didn't even bother to show since it was so open and shut."

"I sure as hell am glad, since I was probably out of town," I said.

"You were. I called yesterday to see if you wanted to show up. Since you were gone, I just went ahead and ordered the release of your piece."

"Cool, I'll swing by tomorrow," I agreed.

"Yeah no rush, it isn't like you have a shortage of weaponry," he said.

"I'm a collector, not a survivalist," I assured him.

"Whatever, just come get your piece before it gets melted by mistake. If that happened, Jen would never let us hear the end of it. With her at our throats, it would become a collectors item immediately," he said.

"Of course it would," I agreed. There was no harm in having everyone scared shitless of Jen. "I'll get by tomorrow. You doing okay old man?"

"I'm doing just fine. I am going to buy a fishing cabin on the river. Actually it's the one you used to live in, when you first came to town," he said.

"It was my first place after I left Jen's house. I loved that old place. It is small as hell though," I said.

"It's all I need."