“You and Brandon need to be careful when you shoot the breeze at the Jaybird. Juni is always listening, and so is Ryan. Juni is the biggest gossip in Shenandoah Falls, and when it comes to Courtney, Ryan is definitely overprotective.”
“Overprotective how? Are they together?”
Arwen shrugged. “You need to ask Courtney that question.”
“You don’t know?”
She shook her head. “I don’t think they’re together. But sometimes I think Courtney might be willing to settle for Ryan or something. They’re friends. Now, can we change the subject, please?”
“Okay, but you’re the one who asked about the date.” He smiled.
She nodded. “Point taken. But we need to focus. Leslie is going to be here in ten minutes, and we have nothing useful to tell her.”
That was the indisputable truth.
The landlord, facing fines he couldn’t afford to pay, had sold Dogwood Estates to GB Ventures LLC, an Arlington, Virginia, company that had been building single-family housing developments all over the county. The tenants would probably receive eviction notices before the summer was out. Everything LL&K had done for the tenants had come to absolutely nothing.
Worse than nothing. Instead of getting the complex cleaned up, the tenants would be losing their homes.
“You know,” Matt said, “that old guy, Sid, was right. Maybe we shouldn’t have gone to the county and urged them to rattle the landlord’s cage. It backfired on those people.”
“You may be right. But if we’d done nothing, those people would continue to live in housing that’s not safe.”
“I know. But here’s the thing. Which is worse? Living in a low-rent apartment in need of repair or being evicted and unable to find alternative living arrangements? I feel like we ought to help those people find new homes.”
“You know, Matt, the first rule of doing pro bono work is not to get emotionally involved. Trust me on this. These cases can break your heart.”
“What if we sued the county?”
Arwen’s frown appeared right on schedule. “On what grounds?”
He shrugged, winging it. “I don’t know. Unconstitutional taking of property?”
She snorted a laugh. “You’re insane. How did the county unconstitutionally take anyone’s property?”
He leaned back in his chair and stroked his chin for a moment. “It’s a big stretch, but maybe we could argue that by imposing fines on Scott Anderson that he couldn’t possibly pay, the county essentially took his land away. Will the new owner have to pay the fines?”
Arwen blinked. “I don’t know. I assume GB Ventures won’t have to pay any fines since they’ll be tearing down the apartments. But that’s just a guess.”
“Can you find out?”
Arwen nodded. “Okay, I’ll take a look, but I think you’re crazy.” She gave him a big, genuine smile. “But it’s a good kind of insanity.”
Chapter Six
Courtney’s phone rang early on Monday morning, pulling her out of a deep sleep. She rose on one elbow and checked the caller ID. It was Lisa Brigs, Dr. Lamborn’s nurse practitioner and one of Courtney’s work colleagues back in the day when she’d been a nurse. She accepted the call.
“Hey. What’s up?”
“Sid Miller’s in the hospital,” Lisa said. “He went to the emergency room with chest pains last night. It looks like he needs bypass surgery, but he’s being stubborn. I thought maybe you could visit him, help change his mind.”
Damn him. Courtney regarded Sid like family. It hurt that he hadn’t called her. “I’m on it. And Lisa, thanks for calling.”
Half an hour later, Courtney marched into Sid’s hospital room, ready to read him the riot act, only to find him lying in his hospital bed with his eyes closed, looking frail and slightly gray. Her heart twisted in her chest, and she swallowed the ball of emotion that clogged her throat. She couldn’t lose Sid, not after she’d lost Mom and Dad. Not after she and Sid had lost Barbara last year, following a long, expensive battle with cancer.
“When were you going to tell me about these chest pains?” she asked in a hushed voice as she gripped the bed’s railing.
Sid cracked one bright blue eye. “Go away.” His eyelid shut.
“No. And what’s this I hear about you telling Dr. Lamborn that you don’t want the bypass operation?”
Sid said nothing, but Courtney could tell he wasn’t asleep. She pulled up the chair and settled into it. “I’ve got all day to wait. I don’t work on Mondays.”
“What’s the point?” Sid rolled his head toward Courtney and opened his eyes.
“What do you mean, what’s the point?”
“I mean that I’m ready to go.”
Courtney’s heart slammed against her ribs. “No. You’re still young. You have a lot of life left. I won’t let you give up.”
“Courtney, girl, I love your grit,” he said on a long, tired breath. “But I ain’t got much to look forward to. Medicare will pay eighty percent for this operation, but where am I gonna get the rest of the money? Besides, Barbara’s gone. Your mom and dad are gone. The hardware store is gone. And pretty soon the rat hole apartment building I’m living in will be sold right from under my ass. Where will I go then?”
“Sid, we’ll find the money for this operation. And we’ll find someplace for you to live. As for the rest of your life, haven’t I told you dozens of times that I could get you a part-time job working for Dusty McNeil’s guide service? He’s about to open Shenandoah River Guides, and he needs guys like you who know the fishing in the Shenandoah and Potomac watersheds. Wouldn’t you love to have a job that got you out on the river as a guide?”
“I won’t take no charity.”
Courtney tried not to roll her eyes in frustration. She and Sid had been through this many times before. Sid’s interest in life had disappeared with Barbara’s death, and it was pointless to argue him out of his depression and grief.
So she changed the subject. “Arwen told me
