Measure Twice Murder Once Page 3

  “Did you ever confront her?”

  “Not then. Only after my son went over there.”

  “Tell me about your son’s experience.”

  “My son is a successful attorney here in town these days. Married with children. This was back when he was in his late teens. The summer before he went to college. Eighteen years old and ready to sow his wild oats after his steady girl of the last two years broke things off before she went to a school up north.”

  “Eighteen, single and male. An explosive combination.”

  “Like I said, I’d only had my suspicions about the place before then. He’d heard me gossiping with the next-door neighbor. I never would’ve known except I couldn’t sleep one night and was in the kitchen getting some warm milk when he snuck into the house through the back door.”

  “And he admitted where he’d been?” What self-respecting eighteen-year-old boy-man tells his mother he’s been across the street paying for sex? I remembered a similar incident with Val. Well, I caught her sneaking into the house in the early morning hours, not that she’d been at a cathouse. She made up a crazy story about her girlfriend’s car running out of gas and their needing to call another friend to come get them. I knew she was lying, but I couldn’t break her story—me, the great homicide detective. The fact Gloria had gotten the admission from her son impressed me.

  “Not at first,” she said. “I had to threaten to cut back on the spending money I’d promised him for college.” She made a face. “I’m not proud of my actions, but sometimes a mother, especially a single one, has to take certain steps she may not be proud of later.”

  “What did he tell you?”

  “He’d heard about it from his pal, Harry Ackroyd, who I guess had already been there. Harry Ackroyd, would you believe it? He’s now principal at Washington Elementary School here in town, so thankfully the experience didn’t deter either boy from going on to good careers. Anyway, Jonas said he only planned to go there once, to ‘take care of his needs,’ so he said. The woman, who was actually a girl about his age, took good care of him. He dipped into his discretionary college money to return a second time and then a third. He would’ve continued to pay for her services the rest of the summer except for my having caught him.”

  Right now I was glad I’d only had one child and a daughter. Val had certainly caused my blood pressure to rise more than once, but to the best of my knowledge, she’d never gone to a prostitute. Or been one herself.

  I thanked Gloria for sharing what she knew with me and hurried back to my car. I spent the next two days feeding the measurements into my computer program back at our office and roughing out a few layouts.

  The headquarters for Nailed It is located in what used to be a one-story mom-and-pop grocery store. Val and I got it for a song and carved out two offices, a showroom of sorts and a warehouse. It’s located about five minutes from the duplex we bought together. Having a separate office allows us to keep our work and personal lives separate when necessary. Having a duplex keeps us close to each other but gives us each our own space.

  Meanwhile, Val did a more thorough walk-through with Ernie. At the end of the first of the days she was there, she returned to the office with a question. “Mom? Did you happen to run into an older guy when you were at the house on Coral yesterday?”

  “No. I told you about the woman who came to the door and wanted a look around. The one I suspected was a former resident of the house. I also met the neighbor across the street, Gloria Porter. But no man, younger or older. Why do you ask?”

  “An old guy about eighty knocked on the door this afternoon claiming to be the neighbor next door. Said his name was Samuel Narotti. He didn’t want to come in, like that one woman you mentioned, but he did ask if we knew the nature of the place we’d purchased.”

  It hadn’t occurred to me to mention Gloria’s suggestion about how to handle the neighbors with Val. “How did you reply?”

  She set down her notebook computer and flopped into an office chair. I was already seated at my desk across the room. “I attempted to act dumb and pump him for information, but he was too cool for me. He said there was no way our reputable company had entered into a purchase agreement with Janine Foster without knowing the history of the house. Then tried to stare me down.”

  “Tell me you didn’t let an octogenarian get the better of you.”

  “I’m not sure. I didn’t want to admit that we’d bought the place without knowing what had once gone on there, but I also didn’t want to feed the gossip pool with speculation about how we plan to use that information to sell the rehabbed place.”

  “Both good points. What did you tell him?”

  “I used my old fallback when unable to answer directly, flirt. I fluttered my lashes and acted like we shared a secret. Then I complimented him on being so astute and apologized for not being able to say more because we hadn’t properly formulated our marketing plan.”

  Not bad for having to think on her feet. “I take it he bought your explanation?”

  “For now, but he said he’d be checking in on our progress. He’s fascinated with home reno, but since he’s getting on in age, observation is about all he can handle.”

  “He sounds harmless enough,” I replied.

  “Perhaps, but I’m concerned about his level of interest and the amount of time he appears to have on his hands. Who knows what trouble he can get into?”

  I told her then what Gloria Porter had suggested, about being up front as much as possible with the neighbors. “I don’t know what to tell you about this man, if he comes back again.”

  “Not if, Mom, when. In the meantime, we have to come to terms with the house’s history before someone else decides how to handle it.”

  “As large as it is, I’m inclined to develop it as a family home, but if we do, the less said about its past, the better.”

  “I don’t disagree,” she said, “but that approach will be a lot more difficult to pull off than playing up its spotted history.” She bit her lip. “I never should’ve jumped at the chance to buy it.”

  “Water under the bridge. I couldn’t glean much from my read of the abstract as to how many years the prostitution went on. Did you get anything?”

  “Not specifically, although starting about two years ago, only one Janine Foster is listed as the occupant.” She pulled on an ear. “Maybe we should track down this Foster woman and learn from her what actually happened?”

  “I’m as curious as you,” I said, “but would that really help? The transaction is over and done with. We should move on from here.”

  “That being the case, where are you with the plans? We need to start demo as soon as possible, now that Ernie has completed his check of the structure. Once we decide what we’re doing, I can order construction materials.”

  The next few weeks went by in a blur. I hung around for the demo, although with my back, I couldn’t participate. But I wanted to make sure the right walls went down. Since I couldn’t do much of the heavy work, I’d stop by briefly to deliver lunch and refreshments. I happened to be there when Val’s friend Amanda Casey showed up. Where Val is dark-haired, tall and lean, Amanda is a petite strawberry blonde with curves. Friends since high school, they drifted apart during Val’s marriage because Larry discouraged her from having her own friends. Miraculously, Amanda reappeared after the divorce, which couldn’t have happened at a better time to help Val emerge from her funk.

  Amanda is also a real estate agent. She usually handles our home purchases. She’d just learned about this one. “I don’t understand why you didn’t call me about this place,” she was telling Val when I walked in. I turned to leave, flee, but I was too late.

  “Mom, explain to Amanda why this purchase couldn’t wait,” Val said, a plea in her voice.

  Great. She was leaving it to me to defend the decision I’d also questioned. “Did she tell you what she/we paid for it?” I corrected myself at the last second. Technically, I hadn’t had a thing to do with buying this house, but since we were a partnership and Amanda appeared to be upset with my daughter, the two of us needed to stick together.

  “It was quite the buy, Amanda,” Val told her friend. “Under normal circumstances, we would’ve come to you. But this one wasn’t normal. It was going on the market within hours and was sure to go for double what I could get with a private sale.”

  Amanda cocked her head. “And that didn’t give you pause? Why would the agent or whoever you dealt with be willing to part with it for half the potential profit?”

  “I, uh, offered cash for the full sale.”

  That was news to me. Val hadn’t mentioned that “minor” detail.

  Amanda shook her head. Probably in disbelief. I would’ve joined her except I was still attempting to be the supportive partner. “How many times have I warned you never to do that, no matter how sweet the deal appears to be?”

  Val’s chin jutted out. “I haven’t forgotten what you’ve advised time and again. And I would’ve involved you in the deal if things hadn’t been moving so fast. Paying cash was the only way I could get the place.”

  “Who was this agent?”

  Val glanced away, not my direction, either. She knew I must be standing there in a state of shock.

  “Was the deal a secret also?” Amanda was pressing her. I couldn’t blame her. It wasn’t because she’d been cut out of the deal so much as she was genuinely worried about Val’s sanity.

  “No, not that,” Val replied. “I didn’t want to make you any angrier. It was Scott Hardwick.”

  “Scott Hardwick!” Amanda’s risen voice attracted the attention of the framing crew.

  Val motioned for them to go back to work. “I heard from an old acquaintance that the owner was about to put the house o
n the market. They suggested it would be a hot property once on sale, but if I could get in with my own offer before that time, I might be able to pick it up for a song. Hardwick was already on board as the agent. I had to go through him.”

  “No, you didn’t have to talk to him directly,” Amanda said. “You must’ve known I’d take care of it for you. And for you, I would’ve dropped my fee.”

  “I’m sorry, Amanda. I should’ve contacted you, even though I only had a few seconds to act. Can’t we leave it at that?”

  Amanda sighed like a parent who has realized there isn’t much for them to do than forgive their disobedient child and move on. “Please don’t do it again.”

  Val grabbed her hand. “You know I won’t. How many times have I put off Larry’s wife, Wanda, when she’s insisted I use her real estate services?”

  Amanda didn’t answer. Instead, she surveyed the room. “You seem to be making good progress. Looks like it will be very nice when you’re finished. I hope you’ll let me handle that sale?”

  “Of course,” Val rushed to say. Then she threw a glance at me. Fortunately, over the years, I’ve learned to read some of her expressions. She was asking me to let Amanda in on our dilemma. Suddenly, Mama got to make the big decisions.

  “Amanda?” I said in my best coaxing voice. “Since we want you to do the sale, we need your input now about how to handle one of the unique features of this house.”

  She turned to me, her professional sunny demeanor taking over from the surly one a minute before. “Of course, Ro. How can I help?”

  “It seems we have acquired a property that has a bit of a past. It’s bound to come out at some point during rehab or at least once it’s on the market, because some of the neighbors already know.”

  Amanda offered an inquisitive expression. I’d definitely piqued her interest. Val gave me a high sign to proceed, so I told Amanda what the house had once been, headline style, going into as few details as possible. Our visitor didn’t say anything at first. Her facial expression seemed frozen from before I’d shared our little secret.

  “No wonder you got it so cheap,” she said at last. But there was no “I told you so” follow-up.

  Her silence was almost worse than what would have been a legitimate outburst.

  My patience outlasted Val’s. “Well?” Val asked. “How do we deal with our unique situation?”

  I could see the recrimination in Amanda’s eyes. She wasn’t exactly insulted to have finally been consulted, but she wasn’t happy about it either. She was torn. Still, we were her friends and clients, and in the end, those points won out. “In other words, my challenge is to find a way you can use the fact that prostitution was happening here to your advantage, is that right?”

  Val acted like that was the most brilliant thing Amanda had ever said. “Exactly. If there’s a way to pull that off, you’re the one to come up with it.”

  “Perhaps, although nothing comes to mind immediately. Let me think about it a day or so.” She addressed Val directly. “That is, you don’t have something else on your plate that you’ll be acting on in the meantime?”

  “No, Amanda, we’re tied up with this rehab for the next several weeks.”

  Amanda left, somewhat mollified. “That went well, don’t you think?” Val asked, actually serious.

  “As long as you don’t end-run her again,” I replied. I didn’t think my daughter realized how close she’d come to losing a good friend.

  Back at the office later that afternoon, I received a surprise visit from my old partner, Hercules Morgan. About twenty pounds overweight, which didn’t go so well with his five-nine frame, his sandy buzz cut now going gray, Herc was edging toward retirement, although I doubted he’d ever call it quits. He liked being in law enforcement. To this day, he felt responsible for surviving the accident better than I did. At times, I figured that was why he kept turning up in my life to check on me. But truth be told, he was uncomfortable with his new partner, Aloysius Buford, Al for short. Al was more of a stickler for the rules than Herc. Almost prissy about it. Herc had grown accustomed to my more laissez-faire approach to solving crimes.

  “What’s new?” he asked, settling into a visitor chair without an invitation.

  He must’ve known about our most recent purchase. “Who’ve you been talking to?”

  “Ran into Ryder at the grocery store last night.” Ryder Tompkins was the friend of the family who gave Val her start in construction and taught her the ropes. He’d been working on our projects since we began Nailed It.

  “And I’ll bet he couldn’t wait to bring you up to speed on our new project.” Val and I loved Ryder, but he was a bit of a gossip.

  “My only question is, what in hell were you thinking?” The way he was staring at me told me he was only partly kidding. The other part was dead serious.

  “This is all your fault, when you think about it.”

  He leaned forward, his eyebrows raised. “My fault?”

  “If I recall, when Val started retreating into her shell after our asbestos fiasco, you were the one who asked how much longer we planned to stay in business.”

  “Yeah, so?”

  “She took that to mean it was time for her to start pushing the envelope again. Thank you, Herc.”

  He came out of the chair. “Nowhere in my advice did I suggest the two of you take on a former bordello.”

  “Isn’t that term applied more in New Orleans and Las Vegas?”

  “Don’t make light of it, Ro. You’ve bitten off a chunk of something you may not be able to consume.”

  “What do you know about this place that I don’t?”

  “It apparently didn’t start out as a house of prostitution.” He repeated pretty much the same story I’d gotten from Gloria Porter. “The economy was screwy at the same time the mother and daughter lost their jobs. After several months of no work, their savings running out and finding it difficult to live on welfare, they went into business for themselves. Small-time at first. Just a few trusted customers. Then word got around about their new enterprise and they found they couldn’t keep up.”

  “Let me guess. That’s when one or both of them decided to expand. They turned their little family abode into the best little whorehouse in Shasta.”

  “The vice squad was alerted to the place on more than one occasion, but each time they showed up to investigate, they found nothing amiss. It’s likely someone tipped them off, but that was never proven,” he said.

  So he’d done some checking on our purchase. “What else did you learn?”

  “They’ve been out of business about two years. The daughter actually fell in love with one of her johns, married him and left town. The daughter must’ve been the brains of the business, because the other ladies of the house left after her. Word has it that Mom actually attempted to keep the business going on her own, but in recent years she hasn’t exactly been in shape to attract many clients, even the older ones.”

  “So she decided to sell the house and pack it in,” I finished for him.

  “Not yet. She’d made a small fortune by then. She didn’t need to support herself any longer. But she’d grown accustomed to a full house. Alone, she grew bored, in need of company.”

  “Is that why she decided to move to a condo complex? So she’d have someone to play bridge with?”

  “I’m surprised you didn’t ask her that yourself.”

  “Neither Val nor I have talked to her directly. Val dealt only with the agent, and that was only for the brief window of time he gave her before he planned to put the place on the market.”

  Herc furrowed his brows, one of the tells for when he wasn’t following the facts of a case. “Neither of you knew what this place used to be before you bought it?”

  I shook my head. “You’d think that expensive lesson we learned about due diligence with the asbestos problem would’ve stuck with us long enough for our next purchase. But in Val’s defense, the asking price was too good to walk away from, and she only had minutes to make up her mind.”

  “You got a good deal?”

  “Yes, of course. We may not come across to you as the sharpest pencils in the box, but we know enough to cash in on a bargain. And once we figured out for ourselves what we’d bought, we decided not to test fate by asking Foster why she didn’t reveal that fact before the sale.”