Disarmed by his sincerity I said, “Just a couple of minutes, but you’re here now and that’s all that matters.”
“How may I help you today?” he responded.
“I wanted to do some research on a property and find out who were the previous owners.”
“That’s pretty easy, come on over here and have a seat,” he said.
I followed him over to a wooden desk with a computer workstation on it and sat down on the side opposite of it from him.
“What’s the address of the property?” he asked.
“It’s 403 Old Masonic Road.”
Looking at me he said, “Ah, I can see you’re inquiring about my neighbor, or my former neighbor, should I say.”
“Really?” I asked.
“That’s right, I live next door at 401, or should I say I live with my parents next door at that address.”
“I live at 403.””
“That’s great, are you the new neighbors?”
“That’s right, me and my mom.”
“Well welcome to the neighborhood, I’m Cole,” he said as we shook hands.
“Dana,” I said.
“Great to meet you Dana.”
“I’ve not seen anyone over at your property since we moved in. I wasn’t sure if anyone even lived there.”
“We had been away for the last week and we just got home from the trip last night.”
“That would explain it,” I said. “I also met the neighbors on the other side of me a short while ago.”
“I bet you were eating at the café and met Neil or Annabelle.”
“That’s right, both. Boy, you can’t keep anything a secret in a small town.”
“Not around here you can’t. If somebody drops a napkin on the north side of town everyone knows about it on the south side of town before it even hits the ground.”
We both laughed at his comment.
“Do you work here full time?” I asked.
“No, I’m in my last year in college. I work here part-time.”
“That’s cool.” I said.
“What about you? What brings you to town?”
“My mom took a job here and I came with her.”
“Cool. What does your mom do?” he asked.
“She’s ER Director at Four Points Regional Medical Center.”
“A doctor?”
I nodded and said, “Hmmm. Everyone always seems to be amazed when someone’s a doctor it seems.”
“Yeah, I guess so. You know, I’ve always thought being a doctor would be kind of cool, probably why I’m on the premed track at school.”
“Wow, so you’re probably getting ready to take your MCAT and start applying to medical schools.”
“Pretty soon. So, what about you Dana? Do you work? Going to school?”
“Well, I just got out of the Army after four years, helped my mom move here, and I’m thinking about going to school.”
“Gonna attend college here locally?”
“I’m thinking about it, if I can get in anywhere. At this point I’ve not applied to any school as everything happened so fast. Two weeks before I got off active duty mom told me she was moving and all I could do was finish up, get home, and help her move.”
“Did you take any classes in the Army?” he asked.
Nodding I said, “I did, I’ve probably got close to 60 hours.”
“Then you’re a transfer student, and that’ll help a lot no matter where you decide to apply.”
“I hope so.”
As we sat there, we started to stare at one another, saying nothing, and I couldn’t even explain why. Finally breaking our gaze I asked, “So Cole, do you think you can help me finding out about the previous owners?”
Looking at his computer screen he said, “I can. The person that was living there was Dawn Mills who lived there about five years. She bought the place from her mother, a Loretta Ray who lived there for forty years according to the deed.”
Turning toward me, he said, “Now, here’s what’s not in the computer. Seems like I recall that Ms. Ray left after her husband passed away five years ago, and moved to Phoenix where she lived until last year when she moved back to the local area. Last I heard was that she was living in Center Point, which is not too far away from here.”
“I’m sure you don’t have an address? For Ms. Mills or Ms. Ray?” I asked.
Shaking his head, he said, “No, but I know how you can find her. Head on over to the Murray Law Firm, it’s on the square near Peggy’s Café. Dad’s got a title company that also closes real estate deals, and he just happened to close that one. I bet he has Dawn’s contact information and I’m sure she has her mother’s phone number and address.”
“You are so smart,” I said, “You definitely know what’s going on around here.”
Leaning forward he said, “I think you and I are going to be good friends.”
With a perplexed look on my face I asked, “Why do you say that?”
“Because you think I’m smart.”
We both chuckled at his comment.
“Just tell him I sent you and that you’re our new neighbor. If he gives you any trouble just text me and I’ll take care of the rest,” and with that he took a business card, turned it over, and wrote a phone number on the back of it and slid it across the desk to me.
Standing up I said, “Cole you are the greatest, and I don’t know how to thank you.”
“Not to worry, I’m just doing my job.”
Shaking hands with him I said, “Well, I guess I owe you a favor. If you ever need anything let me know.”
“I’ll see you around neighbor,” he said.
Chapter 8
The Murray Law Firm had a sign in the windows indicating they would return at 9:00 a.m. in the morning which clearly meant I was finished with my research for the day, so it was obviously time to head home. I took my phone out and just as I was getting ready to fire up the Suber App to order a ride home I heard a female voice, “Dana,” and as I turned around there was Annabelle walking down the street toward me.
As she walked up to me,
