Three Bedrooms, One Corpse - By Charlaine Harris Page 0,36
paper?” I hadn’t seen it.
“Soon after he arrived, at least six weeks ago.”
“Can you send me a copy, Sally?”
“Sure. I’ll track it down when I go to the office tomorrow.”
We computed tips and gathered our purses. My shoulder blades itched, and I looked behind me. Martin, surrounded by his employees, was sitting at one of the larger round tables, watching me, smiling a little.
He looked hungry.
I floated out to my car.
Chapter Eight
I HAD AGREED to meet Eileen at the office, and it was close enough to the time for me to head that way. There were several cars parked outside; Sunday was often a busy day at Select Realty.
The first person I saw was Idella, who said “Hi, Roe!” as brightly as if I hadn’t seen her boo-hooing in the women’s room at a restaurant not forty-five minutes before.
“Hello, Idella,” I said obligingly.
“I just got an offer on your house on Honor. Mrs. Kaye is offering three thousand less than your asking price, plus she wants the microwave and the appliances to stay.”
We went to Idella’s little office, decorated exclusively with pictures of her two children, together and separate, the boy about ten and very heavyset, the girl perhaps seven and thin, with lank blond hair. I sat in one of her client chairs and considered for a moment.
“Tell her—her offer needs to be up by a thousand, and she can have everything but the washer and dryer.” Mine came with the townhouse, and I’d need a set when I moved.
“What about the freezer in the carport toolshed?” Idella asked. “It’s not spelled out here whether she is including that under appliances or not.”
“I don’t really care that much about the freezer. If she wants it, she can have it.”
“Okay. I’ll take your counteroffer over to her aunt’s house right now.”
Idella was obviously determined not to refer to the scene at Beef ‘N More. Of course, I wanted to know what it was about, but in all decency I would have to wait until she felt like confiding in me.
“I’m really pleased about this offer,” I told her, and she smiled.
“It was an easy sell, the right person at the right time,” she said dismissively. “She needs a small decent house in good shape, you have a small decent house in good shape; the deadend street location and the price are right.”
The phone rang while Idella gathered papers. She picked up with one hand while her other kept busy. “Idella Yates speaking,” she said pleasantly. The first words of her caller changed Idella’s demeanor dramatically. Her free hand stilled, she sat up straighter, the smile vanished from her face. “I’ll have to talk later,” she said swiftly. “Yes, I have to see you .. . well .. .” She closed her eyes in thought. “Okay,” she said finally. She hung up and sat very still for a moment. The cheer, the bustle, had seeped right out of her. I didn’t know whether to say anything or not, so I settled for looking concerned, as I certainly was.
Idella decided to stonewall. “I think I’ve got everything here,” she said in a dreadful simulation of her previous cheerful efficiency.
“If you need help, you know you can count on me and my mother,” I told her, and left her office for Eileen’s.
Just as Eileen got up to go, she received an unexpected call from an out-of-town client who’d decided to make an offer on a house he’d seen the week before. The house was listed with Today’s Homes, but the client had been referred to Eileen personally, so she had shown it along with a lot of Select Realty listings. It took Eileen some time to hammer out the client’s offer, assure the client that she’d call Today’s Homes that very second, then hang up and immediately lift the phone to dial. I had fished my book out of my purse several minutes before and was reading contentedly.
“Franklin? Eileen. Listen, that Mr. and Mrs. McCann I showed the Nordstrom house to last week, they just called .. . Yep, they want to make an offer ... I know, I know, but here it is . . .” As Eileen relayed the offer to Franklin, I became immersed in my book. I was almost through with the Catherine Aird.
Finally Eileen was ready to set out. I tot’d her the good news about the probable sale of my own house as we got into her car.
“Does Idella seem okay to you?” I asked cautiously.