Chapter 3

Now it was time to get started on phase two of my plan. I set up a meeting with the president of the development company. I had an offer to present to him. I had discovered that the reason his company wanted my land was because he owned an even larger tract of land adjacent to mine. The state had, through the right of eminent domain, taken a small but very important piece of that land for a highway extension. Now the only way to access his property was to go through mine.

I think he was shocked when I made him my offer. What I wanted in exchange for the property was the following; one, his company would pay for the subdivision of the property into two parcels; two, his company would knock down the old house and build a new house; three, I would be able to join the home owners association and have use of all the facilities just like all the other members; four, I could choose the floor plan for the house from any of those being proposed for his project; and five, the company would have to pay me one dollar for the parcel of his choosing.

"Is that all you want?"

"That's it."

We stood and shook hands. I think, in his mind, I had just saved him a hell of a lot of money. We went back to his private office and had a drink while he showed me the all of the house plans he had available. The one I chose was for a 2,400 square foot house. It had an open floor plan; the living room dining room and kitchen were all combined into one spacious room centrally located. Off to one side was the master bedroom suite which included a large bedroom, a huge bathroom, with a sunken spa tub and a large separate shower. On the other side of the bathroom was a large walk-in closet. The other side of the house consisted of a large guest bathroom, a bathroom with a private entrance from the bedroom and an entrance from the hall, and a large den, with a small office on the side. There was an oversized two car garage at the front of the house. You entered the house what looked like a bell tower, into an open air courtyard which was totally surrounded by the rest of the house. The whole floor plan was laid out in an almost perfect square approximately fifty feet by forty eight feet.

It would take about a year to get everything accomplished. In the mean time I went back to New Jersey to sell my place, pack my possessions and have everything moved to a storage facility in Phoenix. I stayed with my brother and his family for the last couple of months before the house was completed. I told them all about what I planned to do with the rest of my life. He and I discussed how we were going to get the girls off the streets. I wanted to do it one at a time. I felt that would give me the highest rate of success. I knew I would lose some along the way.

Two months later I moved my things out of storage, bought some additional furniture, had the house professionally decorated, and finally moved in. I had one final thing to do. The day I moved out of my brother's house, I handed him a large envelope. I told him not to open it for twenty four hours. My cell started ringing fifteen minutes after I left.

"I knew you couldn't do it."

"We can't accept this?"

"Too late it's already done. Think of it as prepaid compensation for everything I'm going to ask you to do in the future." With that I hung up. In the envelope was the deed to his house and the paid off mortgage; and trust documents setting up an education fund for his kids with two hundred thousand dollars.

I felt confident this was going to work.