“I still think it’s going a little far, killing someone over a house.”
“Oh, and there are acceptable reasons for killing someone?”
“You know what I mean,” he said with a laugh. “It seems a little weak for a motive.”
“Wait till you’ve been doing that a few more months,” I said, pointing my thumb at the real estate section.
“Maybe you have a point,” he said as his eyes scanned the same sparse pickings I’d already rejected. “What’s wrong?” he said, glancing up to find me frowning as I looked at him.
“Nothing,” I said. “Or rather… could you do something for me?”
“Just name it,” he said. He folded the paper, shoved it under his arm, and leaned over the reception desk.
I fished out my notebook again and gave him the same information I’d given Luis, with the same instructions - including, of course, orders not to tell anyone, even Luis.
“What’s this all about, anyway?” he asked. “Where did you get these addresses?”
“Tell me what you can find out first,” I said. “Then I’ll tell you the whole story.”
He looked at me for a moment, then nodded and left.
Back to the house hunt. I looked up the telephone number of the lawyer who was handling Mrs. Sprocket’s estate. I got the man on the line before I realized I hadn’t figured out what to say, and something about the lawyer’s precise yet oratorical tones made me suspect he’d enjoy playing cat and mouse with me before refusing to give me any useful information.
“I’m calling… I assume you’ve heard about Ted Corrigan’s death?”
“Yes, and I’m afraid we will not be looking to engage another caretaker for the house,” the lawyer said. Sounding rather bored, as if he bothered to talk to me only for the fun of practicing his elocution.
“Caretaker?”
“Isn’t that why you called?” the lawyer said. “To apply for the caretaker’s job?”
“Actually, no,” I said. “But you’ve already answered the question I was going to ask.”
“And what, pray tell, was your question?” he asked. Oh, dear. Now he sounded suspicious.
“I’m with Mutant Wizards, the firm he worked for,” I said, improvising. “We were going to see if there was something we could do - to help out the family, you know. Make a month’s rent or mortgage payment, if we could find out where to send it.”
“Not needed,” the lawyer said. “But you could help me out. Do you have any information on his next of kin? I need to know where to send his final paycheck. Not that the miserable beggar really earned it, that I can see, but still, one doesn’t like to speak ill of the dead, does one?”
“I can have our Personnel department call you with that information,” I said. “If we don’t have it, I assume we’ll find a way to get it ourselves, for much the same reason.”
“I’d appreciate it,” he said, sounding genuinely grateful, so I decided to push my luck.
“Just out of curiosity,” I said. “Why aren’t you hiring a new caretaker? The house could certainly use it. Is someone moving in?”
“No, but it’s going on the market,” he said. “The Realtor will be getting it ready to show and handling maintenance till it’s sold.”
“Big job,” I said. “Getting it ready, that is; in this market, the maintenance probably won’t be needed for long.”
“It could be needed indefinitely if the heirs don’t scale down their expectations,” he said.
“Why, what are they asking?”
My jaw dropped when he named the price. I think I gasped.
“Breathtaking, isn’t it,” he said. “Totally unrealistic, even in this market.”
“Is it on a large piece of land?” I asked.
“Not enough for that price,” he said. “Couple of acres.”
“With a working diamond mine in the backyard, perhaps?”
He chuckled.
So much for buying the house, as I’d tell Michael the next time we talked. I thanked the lawyer for his time, signed off, and then called to ask Darlene in Personnel to send him the information he needed. Offhand, I couldn’t think of anything else I might need from him, but you never knew; so it seemed useful to keep on his good side.
So few people passed through the reception area for the next hour that I began to wonder if they’d all fled down the fire escape. I finally grew so curious that I put the switchboard in night mode and went back to see what was going on.