The Restoration of Celia Fairchild - Marie Bostwick Page 0,39

He sniffed again. The tone of his voice told me he was very pleased with himself.

“There’s a lady who cleans my office every Monday morning, Velma. I asked her to stick around for a couple of hours to answer the phone. When Dan called back, she said, ‘Holcomb, Holcomb, Hanley, Witherspoon, and White. May I help you? Mr. Holcomb is on a call with the governor, but let me see if he’s about to wrap up. Please hold.’ Velma left him there a good three minutes; gave him time to think.

“Dan did a pretty good job making sure you’d lose if you brought a legal challenge, but he’s no dummy. Even if you lost eventually, he knew that paying you a year’s salary would be cheaper than going to court. That’s why he offered it to you in the first place. All I did was remind him of that and let him make his own assumptions about your legal team. Piece of cake.”

I was stunned. Trey Holcomb turned out to have a sneaky streak. And a sense of humor. Who’d have guessed?

Almost from the first minute, I’d pegged Trey as a Crusader, a particular kind of guy I’d often encountered and sometimes dated back in New York. Crusaders usually worked for nonprofits, were into social justice and radical recycling. Often they were vegan. It was impossible not to admire Crusaders but equally impossible to really like them. They’re so tuned in to all the terrible things happening in the world that joking seems to be against their religion.

Look, I worry about the world too, all the time. I have low-flow showerheads in my bathrooms. I only drink fair trade coffee. I planted pots with lavender and echinacea and put them on the balcony because I’m worried about the future of pollinators. I care. I do.

But being outraged every minute of every day is exhausting. I admire Crusaders but being around them makes me feel guilty. Trey was definitely a Crusader, no doubt about that. But he’s a funny Crusader, and I’ve always given out bonus points for humor. The trick Trey played on Dan, along with his delivery, earned him three points. He was a long way from hilarious, but I appreciated the attempt. Plus, he got me the money. I threw in seven more points for that.

“Thanks, Trey. And forgive me for doubting you. But it looks like it might all have been for nothing; I can’t find a contractor.”

After explaining the situation and making me endure his questions and suggestions regarding my failed attempts, Trey informed me that he had an idea.

“But it might not be a good one.”

“Well, it has to be better than nothing. That’s all I’ve got at the moment.”

“I don’t know, Celia. I’m not sure I’d be doing you any favors here.”

“Would you quit being so mysterious? Just give me the name. I’m desperate. If I can’t find somebody to take on this job in the next few days, I’m finished.”

“Lorne Holcomb.

“Relative of yours?”

“My little brother. He used to work in construction.”

“Used to? What happened?”

I don’t know a whole lot about the construction business, but I know it’s not uncommon for contractors to overextend themselves financially during a housing boom, only to go under when the boom suddenly turns to bust. If Trey’s brother had gone through a bankruptcy, he’d be no different than any number of other people in the construction industry, decent guys with a good work ethic and bad timing. It can happen to anybody.

But this was not that.

“Lorne was a subcontractor for a home builder. He got caught substituting lower-grade materials on a job, charging the company for premium material, and pocketing the money. By the time he got caught, he’d overcharged them by almost a hundred and sixty thousand dollars. My brother did thirty-two months for fraud and drug use. He was released four months ago and hasn’t been able to find work since.”

“Oh. Wow. Well . . .”

A cheat and an addict? I was desperate to find a contractor. But was I that desperate? If there was one thing I had learned from my marriage, it’s that acts of desperation generally result in regrets. But the problem with being desperate is that . . . well, you’re desperate. When you’ve got to do something, you usually do. Even if it’s the wrong something.

If somebody had written to ask for my advice on what to do in this situation, I’d have told them to walk away and search for