Beth and Brittany spent hours trying to put the house back in order. Exhausted, the three went to bed shortly before dawn.
Brittany did not go to school the next day. Victoria refused to see the doctor and Beth told her that if it got any worse she would take her without her permission. Her temper was short and getting shorter. Beth and Brittany buried Butch in a corner of the property where they could place a marker and Victoria could see it from the house.
"Mother, we have got to find a way to make this stop. It has turned violent now and I'm scared for you. It is obvious that you are a target. You are right in the middle of this, whether you like it or not. I don't like it any more than you do, but it's not going to go away on its own. We have got to do something."
"I'm just as mad as you are, dear. I can't believe Butch is gone. Not like that. I've had the stuffing taken out of me after last night. I don't know how much more I can take I'm ready for a fight. What do you think our next move should be?"
"First of all we have to decide if you would consider selling the house. Now wait and hear me out before you say anything. The house is too big. The repairs are beyond you. You have become a slave to keeping it up and you have your age against you. Brittany will be out of school in one year. Then who knows what she will do. Mike is a grown man and needs to stand on his own feet. If you sold this house, you have options, and options are good. We can look into some of them. Whatever you do, you don't have to do it overnight. You just have to be open to the thought."
"Before this last week, I wouldn't have given it a second thought, but I am beginning to wonder if it might be best."
"Okay, that's a start. Now we have two entities wanting to buy your house at a very lucrative price. I have a feeling that price could go higher if there was a bidding war. Jamison wants it for two reasons, to stop this concern from the west coast from building its' complex and for developing it for himself. I think we need to talk to these other people and see what they have to say. What do you think?" Beth smiled at her mother.
"Let's make a call and see what we can stir up. I would love to put a spike in Jamison's coffin." Victoria was beginning to come back from her encounter with the bad guys.
The group that represented the investors had an agent downtown. An appointment was set up for the following day. The women felt they still had cleaning to do and inventory to take for insurance purposes.
Victoria and Beth had decided that this would be a fact-finding trip only. Any decision would require much deliberation. The conference with the agent proved to be enlightening. Victoria had consulted her real estate friend, Sheila Vickers to get an appraisal on her property and house. Without a full investigation, Sheila gave her a fair guess of its value, based on the market and the surrounding properties. When they arrived at the agents' office, they were armed and ready. They told the agent what they expected. Beth suggested they go in high, knowing that the company would come down and they would have to meet somewhere in-between. That's exactly what they did.
Victoria spoke up. "There are two exceptions that must be met before any deal will be signed. First, any house that is part of the new development, the residence would not have to move for one year. The second is that any remaining neighbors who lived on that street that are not a part of the complex but inconvenienced because of the complex be considered for compensation. "
"These conditions will be reviewed and your asking price will be brought before the investors. I don't foresee any problems, but I really don't think there will be a problem. We will call you as soon as we get the okay."
"Mother, you know we will never be able to connect Jamison to what has happened here. He has many influential political and financial connections. If he hired someone to do this, he will get away with it. We will have to fight him the only way we can, through his pocketbook."
The neighborhood expressed their concern over the break-in and the way they were treated. They even thought it was strange that the burglars knew they were alone that night. Mike was usually home in the evenings, especially at that time.
Through inventory, Victoria decided that nothing of extreme value was taken, but very nice pieces were broken. The burglars were not professional. Several expensive oriental vases her husband brought home almost fifty years ago while on a mission overseas were broken. Victoria kept her valuable jewelry in the bank vault waiting her granddaughter to inherit.
For the next several days while they waited for a reply to their offer, the two looked at villas foe sale within the county. At the end of the second day when Beth thought she'd seen them all, Victoria got excited about one. Come to find out one of a long time friend lived there. They were building a new section to be complete the following year.
By the time they returned home, Victoria was ready to pack her bags and move in. Then the call came in from the agent. The investors agreed to her demands and accepted her price without a blink. It was time for a celebration, or was it. Victoria wanted to be sure, before she signed anything that everything was in order and there were no hidden problems waiting for them. The family had a conference. They talked for hours. After all questions were answered, Victoria agreed to accept the deal. It looked like Beth would get the matter settled before she had to return to Atlanta. The only thing was left was Jamison and until the papers were signed, she didn't want a word leaking to him about their plans.
The signing was scheduled for Friday and Beth had to leave for Atlanta on Monday. After the papers she believed a celebration would be in order. Beth wanted to be the one to break the news to Jamison. They watched for him and when they saw Jamison arrive home from the dealership, Beth, Victoria and Brittany walked down towards his house.
After the usual casual greetings, Beth made her announcement: "Herbert, we wanted to be the first to tell you that mother signed a contract with Mr. Steiner of the West Coast Land Developers for the sale of her property. They have given her a nice package that she can live comfortably on and given us the time we've asked for to move out."
Before Beth could finish her sentence, Herbert's face turned white and he appeared to be faint. "Please excuse us; I think Herbert needs to lie down." His wife escorted him into the house
Word around the neighborhood was that he was in hiding and took a well-needed vacation but no one, including his dealership had seen him out of his house in weeks.
About the author:
She is recently retired but still active artist. She dabbled in painting, photography and graphic design. She has been writing poetry and short stories since her late twenties. Most of her poetry survived, but her short stories kept evolving. Through study and reading, she now is able to spend the time to improve her craft and share it with an audience. Her stories are about ordinary people having extra ordinary occurrences in their lives. Hopefully, these stories will please the reader as much as they pleased her to write them.
How A Prank Turned Into a Crime
Now You've Done it
Pirates Demise
Shame on You!
The Cat's Dowry
The Last Straw
The Statistics of Winning
The Sum of Who I am
Two for the Price of One
Where Rubber Meets The Road
You Can Run, But You Can't Hide
A Flash In the Pan
Connect with Yvonne online:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/yvonne.remington
Blog: https://yvonnemremington.blogspot.com
email:
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