V. Dunlap - Crime and Punishment

Bridget closed the door as the last person left and locked it soundly. It was finally over.

It had been a ridiculously long day, even for an open house. As a real estate agent, she completed more than her share of open houses, but none of them had been liked this. Most of them were for average homes in nice suburban neighborhoods not a gigantic mansion. Just a week earlier, her boss had handed Bridget her first high end property to sell — but there was a catch. She was only managing it for a week while he was on vacation. The asking price was $3.9 million dollars. That meant that if she could sell this house quickly, her part of the commission would be more than her entire income for the last two years!

She had been working tirelessly this week to get that sale. She had done showings, called every agent she knew that could be interested, scheduled a two day open house — everything she could think of. But today was the last day she had and her boss was returning tomorrow. She checked her phone for the fifth time in as many minutes. There was one couple that had come to the open house and seemed very interested. If they made an offer on the home today, she would be set!

But for now, she just had to wait. She started cleaning up and shutting down the house. It really was a beautiful place she thought as she looked around it again. It was hard to believe that her client, Dillon Fritz, had enough money to just buy and sell properties like this as investments. The house was more luxurious than the best hotel she had ever stayed at. The kitchen was granite and stainless steel, the living room was bigger than her entire apartment and the backyard was amazing. She went outside and looked around again. The backyard was an entire living area on its own. It was more luxurious than anything she had ever seen. Instead of a barbeque, it had an area that was decked out like a kitchen — everything from a running sink, under counter refrigerators and the most wonderful grill she had ever seen. While most people had a chair or two outside, this yard had three separate lounging areas, complete with tables, chairs and lounges. She threw herself into one of the soft cushioned chairs and just melted into it.

She just laid there for a little while, enjoying the warm sun and looked longingly at the in-ground pool. It was large and inviting, with a running waterfall, and a loose, flowing shape. She wished she could just jump in and relax for a bit in a pool like that.

When the phone rang, she was so surprised she nearly dropped it. She caught it mid-bounce and answered it trying to sound calm and collected.

“Hey Bridget?” the voice on the other side said.

“Melissa?”

“Yeah, it’s me. My clients decided that they did want to bid on the house. I’ll be sending you an offer letter for 3.5. I think it’s a fair price.”

Bridget was ecstatic. Even though the offer was $400,000 less than the asking price, she knew enough about her client, to know that he would make a deal. He had gotten the property in a foreclosure and her boss said he would be willing to go as low as $3.3 to make the sale happen, just to make sure it wasn’t sitting vacant too much longer. Not to say that he wasn’t going to make money — rumor was he had invested less than two in this property. Just the same, she might be able to get more.

“Well, send it over. But that is $400,000 less than our asking price — I don’t know that our client will accept the offer.”

Melissa just laughed casually, “And so it begins. We can negotiate later this week. Anyway, have a good night. I’m sending the offer to your email as we speak. You should have it” and she paused “now.”

Bridget’s phone dinged as she received the email. She was so excited she couldn’t believe it.

“Got it! Good night, Melissa.”

“Night Bridget!”

She hung up the phone and twirled around with happiness. She had done it. She had sold the place! She threw herself into back into the lounge chair and relaxed for the first time in a week. She laid in the warm sun, enjoying the feeling of it on her arms and legs. The house would be sold in the next few weeks and her commission check would pay off all her bills and leave her money for the next few months. Plus, if all went well, this sale could lead to other high end properties.

Bridget was more excited that she had ever remembered being. The last few years had been rough on her. It seemed like everything in her life had been slowing down. First the real estate market tanked and then even her love life had slowed down. But now, now, she had the deal in her hand and was ecstatic. She kicked off her shoes and decided to take a bit of a break in this beautiful yard. She leaned back in the chair and looked longingly at the pool. What she really needed was a swim. Her eyes darted around the yard it was so large that the nearest house couldn’t see in to the pool. She walked to the water and dunked her toe in. It was beautiful, warm enough to be enjoyable and cool enough to be relaxing. She hiked up her skirt and sat gingerly on the edge letting her feet dangle into the warm water.

She wondered what it would be like to take a swim in the opulent pool, and just relax for a change. She considered, it but hesitated. It wasn’t her house after all, and a real estate agent wasn’t supposed to be hopping in other people’s pools. On the other hand, the open house was over, there was no one else coming by and the house had been vacant for months. The odds of anyone catching here was so low as to be irrelevant.

Finally, she made up her mind. She stripped off her clothes and carefully placed them on a nearby chair. For a moment she considered leaving on her underwear as a makeshift bathing suit, but then decided against it… having dry clothes would be better.

Feeling a bit naughty, she walked toward the pool and down the steps. Soon the water was up to her waist and it was as wonderful as she thought. She dove the rest of the way and rolled onto her back to float lightly on the water. She listened to the waterfall in the distance and closed her eyes enjoying the sound. It was really the perfect day.

It had been a terrible day. Dillon had been working all day on a rehab and was running into nothing but problems. First, his general manager called in sick, then one of his properties had an unexpected roof issue, then he lost a deal on a foreclosure he wanted to pick up. To make the day complete, there had been an open house at another one of his houses and with his general manager out, it meant he was stuck swinging by to make sure the house was properly closed down after the event.

When he walked into the house, it didn’t look trashed the way he’d seen some after an open house. As he looked around, he realized some things looked even better than they had before! Someone had made the effort to rearrange and the effect was dramatic. There were even fresh flowers in the kitchen.

He checked his watch and realized that even on a Sunday night, the drive home in the early evening traffic would be horrible. He looked over at the pool behind the house and considered his options. It didn’t take him long to decide that a swim was a better idea than a long hot drive.

He stripped down in the kitchen, tossing his clothes casually on the table. Then he ran to the bathroom, grabbed a towel and headed out to the pool. The first thing he noticed was the pile of clothes on the chaise. He walked over, picked up a lacy bra and looked around for its owner. Sure enough, he found a woman floating in the middle of the pool, completely naked.

Her hair had fanned out in the pool, the edges curling in little ringlets all around her. Her eyes were closed and her lips were pursed in a small, indulgent smile. And aside from some very red lipstick she was wearing nothing else. He watched her full breasts dip and rise in the water, the dark pink nipples just cresting the water for a moment before going back under. His eyes traveled down her length, across her flat stomach and the tiny patch of hair between her legs. Her feet and hands were moving from time to time to balance herself and he thought she looked like an angel floating in the sky.