"I'm sorry," I said. "Is there a point to this line of conversation?"
He shrugged, but didn't look cowed. "I'm just making small talk while we wait for Rupert. I guess you'll be moving in with your mother once this all gets squared away, right?"
"I plan to stay in the store," I told him, folding my arms over my torso.
"I'm sure we can come to some arrangement," he said. "But you'll probably have to get a mortgage. You paid cash for the place, right? Not a smart move, actually, with interest rates being this low."
I didn't like debt, but I wasn't going to tell him anything more than I had to. Obviously, he'd done his research. What else did he know about me?
"I heard you've got some permitting violations going on, too. Although with Cal Parker out of the way, I don't imagine the town will be going after you anytime soon," he added, his mouth quirking up into a suggestive smile. "Convenient, though, isn't it?"
"Could you just check on the documents?" I asked. "I have to get back to the store."
"Of course," he said. "It'll take a minute or two, since they're in the back room. In the meantime, what did you think of our offer?"
"I don't see why I should pay a second time for something when I already signed a contract and paid for it," I said.
"Again, it's just too bad you didn't get a title search," he said, shaking his head. "Trying to save a few bucks; I understand. Pennywise and pound foolish."
Before I could leap across the desk and rip off his head, thankfully, Rupert knocked lightly and appeared in the doorway holding a sheaf of paper. "I think this is what you're looking for," he said.
"Give it here," Scooter told him, and the younger man slid it onto the desk before giving me a suspicious look and disappearing back out through the door. Had he figured out I'd been sorting through the papers on his desk?
"Here's the will deeding the building to both Loretta and Agatha," Scooter said, flipping through the pages before closing them up and sliding the sheaf across the desk to me. "All signed, sealed, and delivered."
I took the papers and looked at them; as he said, the house was split evenly between the sisters, and had been signed and witnessed.
"I don't understand," I said. "If this will is valid, why is Agatha only making noise about it now? Loretta's been running the place for years."
He shrugged. "My understanding is that she was fine with her sister running the store, with the understanding that she'd get half the value of the land and building if it was sold."
"But why do this now?" I said. "Why not address this months ago, when Loretta sold it to me?" And why hadn't Loretta mentioned that her sister owned half the property? She didn't seem like the type of person who would hide something like that from me, or enter into a transaction that wasn't on the up and up.
I thought about the message from Agatha. What couldn't she find? Something related to the will?
And then a thought popped into my head. Was there another will I didn't know about? One signed after this one?
Scooter, hands still behind his head, leaned back further in his chair and put his feet on the desk, reminding me of a lion claiming his territory. "Be that as it may, as you can see, you don't have clear title to the property. And it doesn't look like anyone registered the new deed." He paused, giving me a conniving look that infuriated me. "Our offer might ease your pain."
"Thanks," I said, "but I need to talk to my attorney."
"Oh, did you hire Nicholas?" he asked, his voice laced with sarcasm. "I didn't know you two were talking."
I couldn't resist. "You mean after what you did all those years ago?"
He widened his eyes. "I don't know what you mean."
"Really," I snorted. "All those rumors you spread about me?"
He spread his hands in mock innocence, but that smirk was still there. "I'm at a total loss."
"Right," I said. "I need a copy of this."
"It's not going to change anything. Rupert!" he called.
Rupert didn't answer; he walked down the hall to look for him. "Must have gone for a coffee break. I guess you can use the copier down the hall." He waved dismissively toward the door. "I've got a meeting in five minutes. Although I'd be happy to discuss this further..." He took his feet off the desk and leaned toward me "...over dinner."
"No thank you," I bit out, repulsed, and headed for the door.
"Be sure to give that back to Rupert," he called after me. "There's a copy filed at the courthouse, but I'd hate to charge you for Rupert's time going over there to copy another one."
I didn't bother answering; I just left the office and headed to the copy room, wrinkling my nose at the smell of old coffee.
I was still riled up as I slapped the papers down on the copier and hit the "start" button. By the time the last page was copied, I'd calmed down some, but I wasn't exactly in a Zen state of mind. I turned through the pages to make sure I had them all; on the sixth page, next to the paragraph deeding the house to both Agatha and Loretta, was a tiny yellow post-it note. All it said was "DDFLD? CKW/AS. NTY?" I looked to see if I had copied the cryptic note. I had.
I was about to
