At Wits' End - Kenzie Reed Page 0,111

nods vigorously.

“Good idea!” Vito says with warm approval in his voice.

Then we settle back and wait. Our real estate attorney, David Somerville, keeps glancing at his watch.

Liam Ferguson, AKA Lukas Goleb, is nowhere in sight, and neither is anyone from his office, and the signing is supposed to take place in five minutes.

Murray has refused to say whether or not he’s heard from Mr. Ferguson, but it’s clear that he hasn’t.

“How’s Heather?” I call out to him. He shoots me a look of pure hatred. We all know that without this deal, Heather’s going to be out of town so fast her heels will leave scorch marks.

“So, not well, then?” I arch an eyebrow.

Chief Shaughnessy sighs. “Sienna, don’t stir up trouble, please.”

“No, sir. Not me, sir.” I widen my eyes, all innocence, and glance up at the wall clock.

Fernanda looks at Murray and starts muttering and making hand gestures.

“Make her stop that!” Murray complains to Chief Shaughnessy.

“Make her stop what?”

“She’s hexing me!”

The chief glances at his watch and sighs again, then looks back up at Murray. “That’s not a violation of any law, I’m afraid.”

The minutes tick by. When nine fifteen comes and goes, Donovan’s father stands up. The rest of us follow suit.

“Wait!” Murray protests. He turns to his attorney, sweat trickling down the sides of his face. “This isn’t fair. They have to be liable for this. They drove him off with their badgering and false accusations.”

One of his lawyers clears his throat. “Let’s move this to my office, and we can discuss what your next steps will be.”

When Murray walks out, his whole body is slumped, as if his skeleton has turned to Jell-O. His attorneys follow him, looking glum.

Chief Shaughnessy throws a sharp look in our direction. “No more assaults. No more vandalism. You’re out on bail – for now. You were released on bail because you agreed to behave yourselves. We will be pursuing the case against Murray, and you will leave it in our hands. Am I clear?’

“Crystal.” Donovan nods at him.

The chief shakes his head. “I’m going to stand here and wait five minutes with you to give them time to leave.”

Montgomery clears his throat. “Now what?” he says to our closing attorney.

Mr. Somerville frowns. “I’m going to make some calls and continue trying to reach them. I’d say we need to wait until the end of the day before we’re one hundred percent certain that the deal is off. Let’s convene this evening at my office, around six p.m.”

We sit there in silence, the long minutes stretching out. Then we exit the building and head out to the parking lot.

“See you at Le Gourmand?” Donovan says.

We booked a private room there ages ago, before we knew things might go south.

As we drive, I turn to Donovan. “Do you know what happened?”

He smiles, his eyes glinting in triumph. “I suspect I do. Yesterday, at my direction, my attorney left word with Liam Ferguson’s secretary that we knew his real identity and that we also knew what was going on with the Sunny Acres subdivision, and we were going to be all over them like flies on honey during every step of the construction here. We’d know about every single nail they hammered in. We’d know if they tried to cut a single corner. My attorney also told them we’d be notifying the state and making sure that they were subject to frequent inspections. Add in what’s happening with the subdivision in Idaho, where they’re sure to be facing a slew of criminal charges and lawsuits, and I suspect he and his cohorts are going to fold up shop and flee the country, if they haven’t already.”

I nod to myself. “It had to be done,” I say.

“Well, don’t get too downhearted. I have some ideas, but I wanted to announce them to everybody at once, if that’s okay with you.”

When we reach Le Gourmand, I take a moment before we go in, and make a call to Carrie. “The deal fell through,” I tell her. “We’ll give you all the details later today, but I just wanted you to know. Your reporter instincts were still good. You were right all along.”

“I knew I was. And I’m glad the deal’s not happening, because Liam Ferguson is shady AF, but I’m sorry if it hurt you financially,” she says. “I’ll be giving the story over to one of the other reporters, of course. You were also right all along, I can’t ethically report on anything involving