A Flicker of Doubt - Tim Myers [29]
“This is business,” I said. “I just read Gary Cragg’s letter, and I’ve got to stop Heather and Sanora from moving out”
After I explained the details of the leases with her, she asked, “Well, then why are you standing here? Go speak with them before they both do something you’ll regret”
Eve wasn’t a big fan of Sanora’s, but she and Heather got along fine. Still, she knew as well as I did that River’s Edge just barely hung on with full occupancy. Losing two major tenants could be enough to drive me into foreclosure if I couldn’t make that monthly mortgage payment
It was time to see if I could convince them both to stay without resorting to blackmail or threats, though if I had to, I wouldn’t hold back.
Not if it meant keeping River’s Edge.
Chapter 8
I wanted to talk to Cragg before I approached either woman, so I hustled up the stairs hoping he’d been screening his calls. He was the only attorney I’d ever heard of who didn’t have a secretary/receptionist working the front Knowing how cheap Cragg was, though, it didn’t surprise me.
He was in his office sitting behind his desk, wading through a stack of papers.
“I just called you,” I said.
“I chose to ignore it much as you’ve been ignoring my requests for a meeting lately.”
“In case you hadn’t heard, I’ve kind of been busy, finding old friends dead and things like that.” The two of us had gotten off on the wrong foot from the first day we’d met and our relationship had soured even further since then. If there was one tenant bolting from River’s Edge, I wouldn’t have shed many tears for Cragg’s departure.
His perennially dour expression softened for a moment. “I was sorry to hear about your friend.”
“Thanks,” I grunted, not really caring for the man’s stab at sympathy. “About this letter,” I said, waving it in the air.
“I’m familiar with its contents, since I wrote it myself. Harrison, I’m afraid your great-aunt should never have trusted such an incompetent lawyer to draft those leases.”
“I’m sure she had her reasons,” I said. There was no use discussing it with him. “The question is what are we going to do about it now?”
“I’m afraid there’s nothing that can be done. You’re going to have to go to each tenant and have every last one of them sign new lease agreements.” He slid a stack of papers off one corner of his desk and handed them to me. “You’ll see that I’ve already taken the liberty to sign mine.”
I looked at the document and saw that he hadn’t decreased his own rent, something I’d been expecting. “I see you’ve got your current rent listed here.”
Cragg nodded “In exchange for you keeping the rent stabilized for two years at today’s level, I will also handle a modicum of legal duties for you, free of charge. Harrison, it’s important that you resist the temptation to raise rents throughout the complex, even though legally you have as much right to demand an increase as your tenants do to refuse and leave.”
I swear, that thought never even crossed my mind. “I just want things to stay the way they are.” I paused, then added, “Honestly though, I’m surprised by what a good deal Belle gave you.” I had no idea what the going rate for office space was in the town of Micah’s Ridge, but then again, we weren’t exactly in the hotbed of the business or legal district.
“Let’s just say I want to stay for more reasons than that and leave it.”
I knew it wasn’t my charming personality that was keeping Gary Cragg at River’s Edge, but then I always suspected he had a crush on Sanora. Could it be the lawyer had that big a soft spot for her? His next words left no doubt in my mind. “Our agreement is contingent on you resigning the complete roster of first-floor tenants. Do we understand each other?”
“Oh, yes, there’s ho doubt about it.” So if I lost Sanora or Heather, I’d lose Cragg as well. If I had to hire another attorney to do what he was willing to do free of charge, it might be enough to push me from the black into the red. “I’ll do what I can.”
“See to it” he said, dismissing me as he dug into his paperwork.
I went back to my apartment for a quick lunch.