Joel Goldman - Shakedown

I didn’t know what to say. I had misjudged both Wendy and Joy. That was nothing to be proud of. I’d spent the last two months feeling isolated and alone when I could have avoided both.

I took another deep breath. “Thank you.”

Joy smiled, picking up the dog. “You’re welcome. Where’d you get this cute little cockapoo?”

“Cocka what?”

“You bought a dog and you don’t even know what breed she is? Honestly, how do you get through the day? She’s a cockapoo-half cocker spaniel and half poodle. What did you think she was?”

“A mutt that was orphaned after everyone she lived with was murdered Monday night.”

She set Ruby on the?oor. The dog sat at her feet.

“Oh, my. That was your case, wasn’t it?”

“The operative word is was . I was at the scene when Troy Clark caught me in one of my shakedowns. He went to Ben Yates before I had a chance to explain to Yates that I wasn’t crazy or dying and could still do my job while I got this shaking thing figured out. The next thing I know, Yates put me on medical leave and gave my squad to Troy.”

She pushed her lips out in a pout. “Quit acting like Troy tattled on you. He probably told you to see a doctor and you refused. Am I right?”

I shrugged. “More or less.”

“Well then, you didn’t leave him any choice. So how did you end up with the dog?”

“I found her hiding under a bed in the house where the murders took place. I went back there tonight looking for her.”

“Men,” she said with a wry grin, “are incapable of being alone.”

“Living alone wasn’t my choice.”

The familiar weariness rippled across her face. “You were living alone for years without knowing it, Jack. We both were. I just made it official.”

The old battle lines reappeared. The veins in her neck popped to the surface. The muscles in my shoulders tightened and my gut began to quiver.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that,” I told her.

“Well, at least you’re sorry. That’s something.”

“Thanks again for going to all the trouble with the doctor appointments.”

Joy tucked her purse under her arm. “I did it for Wendy. As long as we have a daughter, we’re still a family. But eventually you’ll have to learn to take care of yourself. I won’t be around forever to look after you.”

The dog and I followed her to the front door. Ruby whimpered until Joy bent low, cupping the dog’s face in her hands.

“You want to know something funny?” she asked, nuzzling the dog.

“Sure.”

“One of the people in my AA group had one of these dogs. She was moving to an apartment that didn’t allow pets and asked me if I wanted hers. I don’t know what made me say yes, but I did. Her name is Roxy. She’s white with a dirty-blond streak down her back, not apricot like Ruby. Otherwise, they could be sisters. We never had a dog while we were together. What are the odds we’d each end up with a dog, let alone the same breed?”

“I wouldn’t bet on us.”

“Then you’d lose,” she said, giving Ruby a final pat on the head.

She was halfway down the walk when she turned around. I was still holding the door open, watching her go.

“Do one thing for me,” she said.

“Sure. What’s that?”

“Whatever happens with you and Kate, don’t force Wendy to be part of it.”

It wasn’t a cheap shot, but I felt it below the belt. I retreated to the kitchen, Ruby at my side. The message light was?ashing on the telephone. I pushed the button and listened as my lawyer told me that the final hearing on our divorce was scheduled for a week from today.

“At least I was right about one thing,” I said to the dog. “I wouldn’t bet on us.”

Ruby slept alongside my futon, waking me while it was still dark. I fumbled with the light, assuming she wanted to go out. I was wrong. She’d already gone. Inside. A lot. I cleaned up after her, wondering if I’d made a bad decision to take in a dog that wasn’t housebroken and that I’d have to leave alone most of the day.

I played back the local newscasts I had recorded and scanned the newspaper for additional information on the investigation into the drug house murders. It was all a rehash of the first reports. The Bureau had cut off the?ow of information, reducing its public comments to the standard blather about an ongoing investigation and appeals for anyone with knowledge of the crimes to call the TIPS hotline.

Sifting through the mail, I saw a?ier for a place called Pete amp; Mac’s, which described itself as a pet resort that offered day care for dogs. They had a facility on Eighty-seventh Street in Lenexa that opened at seven. By seven-fifteen, I’d signed Ruby up for a week of day care and obedience training, grooming included. She went with her pet attendant, tail wagging, without a backward glance at me, proving that she was charmingly indiscriminate with her affections.

One of the staff helped load my car with a kennel for Ruby to sleep in and enough food, treats, and toys to last a lifetime. I left, realizing that my dog now had a higher standard of living than I did.

I stopped at a restaurant that offered free Wi-Fi access. Using my laptop, I logged on to the website for the County Treasurer’s office and searched for records of property owned by Jill Rice, Thomas Rice, or both. It only took a few keystrokes to find the records on the house Colby Hudson was buying.

The house was titled to Jill Rice. Last year, the county appraised it at $850,000. The property taxes were $12,427. I couldn’t figure out how Colby could afford the taxes, let alone the purchase price, no matter how much Jill Rice discounted it for the pleasure of pissing off her ex-husband.

There was no mortgage on the house. The only lien was in Thomas Rice’s name. While the details of the lien were not explained, there was a link to the Register of Deeds office. I clicked on the link and a page appeared explaining that Mr. Rice’s lien was pursuant to a Property Settlement Agreement, the terms of which could be found at yet another link. I followed the electronic trail, landing at the website of the Clerk of the District Court, where I was able to find and read the agreement. I was pleased at how easy it was to find until I realized that the terms of my own divorce would join the public record in less than a week’s time.

Thomas Rice had a lien for half the net proceeds from the sale of the house. It was the same deal that Joy and I had made. The legalese was painfully familiar. The sale had to be conducted in a commercially reasonable manner, including advance notice to Thomas Rice, and the house had to be sold for fair market value.

Colby wasn’t just buying a house. He was buying a lawsuit if the price was too far below market. It was possible that he didn’t know the terms of the Rices’ agreement. I could tell him and deal with the fallout from explaining how I knew. Or, I could keep my mouth shut until I knew just how bad a deal he was making. That was the right call, perhaps the only one I had made so far.

Since the agreement required that Thomas Rice be given notice of the sale before it occurred, I decided to talk with him before I spoke with his ex-wife. He would have less reason to hold back information and he might be more willing to keep our conversation private.

I looked at my watch. It was eight-thirty. I could be in Leavenworth, Kansas, in less than an hour. I knew from past trips that visiting hours were from eight in the morning to three in the afternoon every day except Wednesday and Thursday. Inmates were given twenty-four visitor points per month. Each hour of visits cost one point. Each inmate had an approved visitor list. If you weren’t on it, it didn’t matter what day of the week it was or how many points the inmate had left for that month.