Her story jived with what I'd seen on her phone – lots of messages going out and none coming back in.
The way it looked, she'd been had.
I wasn't sure what pissed me off more – that she'd fallen for an obvious scam, or that I'd ended up with swindled property. As far as the house itself, although I hadn't handled the transaction personally, I'd paid a fair price – hell, more than fair, considering its sorry condition.
And now, like a dumb-ass, I was angry on Arden's behalf.
I wanted to find that cousin of hers and beat the money out of him. It wasn't about the cash. Hell, if I wanted, I could give Arden that on my own.
It was the principle.
The guy had cheated his own cousin.And then there was Arden's mom.She sounded like a real piece of work – not as bad as mine, but bad enough.
"So about your cousin," I said, "did he ever get back to you?"
"Yeah, once." Arden rolled her eyes. "After I leave him like a hundred messages. We talked for barely ten minutes. And the whole time, he's acting all funny, like he's scared or something – which of course, heshouldbe, considering that I'll be wanting my money back."
"You mean for the payments."
"Right. And the taxes." She blew out a long, trembling breath. "And the so-called repairs, including some that hesupposedlymade just last month."
What the fuck?
I shook my head. "So let me get this straight. You kept on writing him checks?"
"Well, yeah," she said. "I didn't want to lose the house –orsee it fall apart. The way Jason talked, it was in terrible shape, a lot worse than I ever realized."
No kidding.Another few months, and the house would've been beyond repair. Forget the plumbing and the electricity. It was the roof that was the real issue. Once you have water pouring into any structure, it's only a matter of time before everything goes to pot.
My blood was boiling now as I considered all the ways she'd been cheated.
I told Arden, "But he didn't fix a damn thing."
"Well…we don't know that for sure." She bit her lip. "I mean, he might've madesomerepairs."
"Trust me. He didn't. And you should've checked."
She frowned. "Yeah. I know. And you don't need to keep telling me that, alright?"
I'd say it a dozen more times if that's what it took. "You sure about that?"
"Of course I'm sure. And besides, what if Icouldn’tcheck?"
It was no excuse.I had dozens of properties all over the country, and I kept a close eye on all of them. I replied, "Then you should've had someone else do it."
"Oh yeah?" she scoffed. "Like who?"
"Hell if I know."
"Exactly!" she said. "And hell if I knew either. And let's say Ididknow someone who was willing to do it,andwho knew at least a little something about construction, what was I supposed to do? Have them show up on Jason's doorstep and demand to see the repairs?"
"Sure, why not?"
"Because he's my cousin. Don’t you think that would've been kind of rude?"
"Compared to what?" I said. "Taking your money and doing fuck-all with it?"
Now she looked ready to cry, and I felt like a prick for pushing the issue. But this was Arden Weathers. And her story was filled with holes.
