hundred percent over the original asking price, and you got them to knock the price down? How?“
“I agreed to take the house as is,“ he said.
“As is?“ My jaw dropped. For some reason, I kept seeing tiles raining down from the roof, although there were probably other areas of the house equally in need of complete replacement. Like the plumbing and wiring. And possibly the supporting beams.
“Yes. Oh, and we give them ten percent of anything we make selling the contents.“
“Selling the contents? 'As is' includes taking the contents?“
“Yes – apparently they didn't want to take the trouble of having them appraised and sold.“
“Michael, were you listening when I told you what the place was like? How run-down it was? How completely packed with clutter?“
“Your dad says the family will all pitch in to help fix it up.“
Yes, I was sure they would, but I'd have a hard time thinking of any relatives I'd trust to hammer a nail in straight, much less do the kind of work Mrs. Sprocket's house would require.
“And who knows?“ Michael continued. “Maybe we'll find some valuable antiques in the clutter. Apparently, your mother knows all kinds of appraisers and antiques dealers.“
Yes, she did, though her experience with them was almost entirely connected with buying hideously expensive objects, not selling household junk.
“She says she'll come up and help.“
Come up and see if she could abscond with anything that struck her fancy, more likely. Never mind; she could have every antimacassar in the house as long as she took them away. And helped clear out the rest.
“You don't seem happy,“ Michael observed.
“I'm overwhelmed,“ I said. “It's going to be a lot of work.“
“It will still take weeks and weeks to clean up all the red tape,“ he said. “Time for us to rest up in California.“
Yes, and possibly time for me to find someone we could hire to do some of the worst of the renovations and junk removal. If we could still afford to hire anyone after buying the damned thing.
“Okay,“ I said. “I'll make it as quick as I can at Mutant Wizards, and we'll go by the house on our way to the airport.“
Actually, I wanted to talk to Rob – I felt bad about just leaving him without formally resigning.
Of course, the first person I ran into was Doc.
“Great news!“ he exclaimed when he saw me. “I've found George a place to live. It's a raptor sanctuary – they have special facilities for injured or elderly birds. He can live out his life with dignity in much more natural surroundings.“
“That's great,“ I said. “You can take him anytime.“
“Small problem,“ Doc said, looking sheepish. “He doesn't seem to like me.“
Yes, George definitely didn't like Doc. He shrieked whenever Doc tried to go near him. I couldn't blame George. I think I'd dislike anyone who tried to throw me out of a second-story window, and for that matter, George had no way of knowing that Doc wasn't responsible for the short, involuntary flight that had propelled him into Doc's arms the night before. Doc looked crushed; he obviously wasn't used to rejection by nonhumans.
“Feed him a mouse,“ I advised. “He always warms to anyone who feeds him.“
I explained where to find the mice and the microwave, and Doc loped ofFy looking hopeful.
Meanwhile, I did a turn through the office, saying good-bye and good luck to various people. Rob wasn't there, though. In fact, a lot of people were missing, probably inspired by the cooler weather to play hooky.
I left a note for Rob and headed back to the reception area.
Doc had returned with George's dinner. I could see that George was already feeling friendlier toward the vet. He started doing the hunching act when he saw his dinner.
I left them to it. Jack and Luis were arriving in the reception room, visibly exuberant about something.
“Morning,“ Jack said while Luis went over to the window.
“Yes, that's him,“ Luis said. “He'll be up in a few minutes.“
“Who?“ I asked.
Luis and Jack exchanged a grin.
“So, do you want to know what's in store for Roger?“ Jack said.
“Something mildly unpleasant, I hope,“ I said.
“What do you have against this Roger guy?“ Michael asked.
“Wait and see,“ I said.
“More than mildly unpleasant, if you ask me,“ Jack said. “And I doubt if the legal authorities will allow us to avail ourselves of Roger's talents for much longer.“
“I assume you've got something on him for the porn operation,“ I said. “Since he had nothing to do with the murder.“
“Since Ted was blackmailing him, too, it's not completely unrelated to the murder,“ Jack said. “But yes, it's about the porn site.“
“It would have taken us half the time to figure out what he was up to if we'd been working together,“ Luis grumbled.
“Less than half,“ Jack said. “Not only did we each have to do all the same steps to figure out what Roger was up to, we also had to eliminate each other as suspects when we figured out someone else was trying to hack the same site.“
“Sorry, but when I asked, I hadn't exactly eliminated either of you as suspects. In the murder.“
“True,“ Jack said. “Okay… Roger has definitely been running a number of porn sites.“
“Can we have him arrested?“
“Not for the sites, no,“ Jack said. “Pornography isn't actually illegal, you know.“
“Unless it's child pornography,“ Luis put in.
“Yes, if we'd found any child pornography, we could have the FBI all over him,“ Jack agreed.
“But apparently even Roger has some standards,“ Luis said.
“Or maybe just a well-developed sense of self-preservation,“ Michael suggested.
“Any chance he's just hidden the illegal stuff better and you'd find it if you kept looking?“ I asked.
“We've looked,“ Jack said.
“Brother, have we looked,“ Luis said, rolling his eyes.
“Oh, come on,“ I said. “It wasn't that unpleasant, was it?“
They exchanged a glance.
“Oddly enough, it was,“ Jack said.
“After the first few thousand pictures… ,“ Luis said, and shrugged.
“Do you feel a strange compulsion to go watch one of those period movies where everyone gets all hot and bothered when the heroine unbuttons her glove?“ Michael asked.
“Yeah,“ Jack said, laughing. “Right now, that's about my speed.“
“Maybe I should try that,“ Luis said. “I couldn't even get into Disney cartoons last night. Cinderella's got this whole foot fetish thing going, and the Little Mermaid's costume shows way too much skin.“
“Are you telling me that Roger's site is so perverse you're both considering vows of celibacy and there's nothing we can do about it?“
“Not the pornography,“ Jack said. “But he is using hardware, bandwidth, and IP addresses that belong to Mutant Wizards.“
“That's illegal, right?“
“Very illegal,“ Jack said. “He's history as soon as Chief Burke shows up to arrest him, which should be – “
“Right about now,“ I said as the office door opened to reveal the chief, followed by several uniformed officers.
“Glad to see you, Chief,“ Jack said, holding out his hand.
“A lot more glad than you were yesterday, I expect,“ the chief said, shaking die offered hand. “So where's this evidence you want to show me?“
“Right this way,“ Jack said, leading the chief out of the reception area.
