Chapter 326

Jen hadn't proved to be such a hot shot salesman after all. Both of the drugstore sales, she had been so proud of, when I got home, fell through. It was the reason they stood empty mocking me until the professors bought one for a Christmas present to themselves. I hadn't had much trouble reselling that unit since it had cleared escrow only two weeks before Kate carried them to the unit.

The fancier one with the better views and the bigger price tag would hit the market again in the middle of January. I was looking forward to that one being gone as well. The whole Drugstore Condo thing put me back in the mood to deal in Real Estate. I decided when Sylvia finally arrived I would indeed get back to it.

I was all introspective while I waited for Sylvia. I was surprised to learn how much of our personality is nothing more than memory. The new me was a poster girl for the theory that we are the sum total of our past experiences. In my case it was the memory of those experiences that lived on. I thought that I was doing just fine. Since no one else seemed to know that I wasn't just like them, I must have been doing okay.

I wasn't all that worried about the Bristol Peace issue. First of all I expected him to be found any time. Then I expected there to be an investigation. I expected Blevins to question me, so I was prepared for anything. I did take the time to cover my digital trail, and that made me feel some better.

Peter was my new digital guru. I had him install a system into my computer that was the equivalent of a burn bag. Nothing went onto the hard drive of the computer. Everything got saved on a thumb drive written with Linux. My complete operating system ran from a CD. Then it called all the saved information from the thumb drive into the ram to manipulate it.

If the cops came with a warrant, I could swallow the thumb drive. Were there fragments of information in the ram? Possibly, but nothing useful Peter assured me. I was convinced that he was good at what he did, so I trusted him.

I also didn't automatically save any of the images from the back door camera. I knew from my fishing cabin days, that those things could be a problem. If they were left laying around, they could easily come back to haunt me. If I wanted anything to last longer than the twenty minute loop built in loop, I had to save it by hand. I had saved very little. I did save the picture of the kid who broke in as he came through the rear door. But I let Peace expire while I took care of him and of course the camera was off while I put him into the truck so there was no video of it.

Once Sylvia arrived I put her to work on the books while I got on the phone to the people representing the Heartland Mills property. "Man how long is it going to take you guys to make a simple decision?" I asked. "I am ready to move ahead or move on to something else."

I knew that I would likely do the Heartland project, and just help with the Bank project. I kind of liked the idea of a mill village again, but I knew the place needed the hostel for students more. I also knew that Archer was interested in running the hostel. He might not be quite as interested now that his man Peace was about to go AWOL on him.

Sylvia came to me since she was answering the smarter than smart phone for me. I was using the burn phone to touch base with people. "The A1 people are on the phone. They want to talk to you, I think they are ready to deal." she said.

"Cool lets see what we can do. It might be our Christmas present to ourselves." I suggested. I pushed the button on the phone then said, "This is Maxine Stone."

"Ms Stone, I represent the board of A1 Financial Services," he said.

"Fancy name for a business only slightly more legal than loan sharking," I said.

"Be that as it may, you have an offer in on our property in Aster," he said.

"I think that it is a lot more the bank's property. Your people seem to be holding it hostage, more than anything else. I think the bank is ready to go to court." I said it just to correct the record.

"I understand you are willing to pay my client to sign a release of equity?" he stated.

"I am willing to pay a percentage of the equity to get a release of the loan, so that I can deal with the bank. But I am not willing to get fucked without dinner first." I said it being a lot tougher than he expected. I could tell he was shocked.

"Well your last offer is unacceptable," he said.

"Actually, you finally have something correct. That was my last offer. I appreciate you calling, since I am ready to move on. I suppose that ends this negotiation and the call." I clicked the phone to off.

"Well kiddo we are no longer in the running for the A1 property. Get a list of the property to be auctioned after the first of the year," I ordered Sylvia.

"I had a feeling you were going to get tired of dealing with those assholes, so I already did." she informed me.

Sylvia slipped me a list of three properties. "I see you weeded it down a little. What were your qualifiers?"

"Under 1200 sq feet and on one story. I did not disqualify anything on it's present use. The one circled in red is my idea of thinking outside the box. You always tell me to see the end game not the present use of things."

"Sylvia it's a fucking car wash," I said.

"Not one of those tunnel things, its a four bay brick and block Do It Yourself Car wash," she informed me. "I will bet you my next weeks pay that it is going to go cheap. There is no equipment, so it's just a shell. The owner filed bankruptcy, so obviously the locations isn't great," she informed me.

"Let's go for a ride and see it then," I suggested. We took the truck since it seemed the most appropriate thing. The car wash was one block off main street. The building was larger than I would have expected even if it was more or less unfinished.