Page 34 of Broken Grump

“Yes.”

“Fine. As I was saying, I went into Errol’s office this morning after calling him to let him know we were ready to sign the paperwork.”

I pause for her reaction to that, as her permission wasn’t exactly explicit. Instead, all she said was “Fine,” demanded we communicate only through the attorney, and then stomped away.

When she nods assumingly, I feel more at ease.

“But as soon as I sat down with him, he started acting shifty. Even more so than usual.”

Her eyebrow raises. “Okay?”

“So, I worried about what I thought was the worst—that he’d sold the property to other owners and didn’t honor the extra time I asked for.”

Steven steps closer and wipes his brow with a handkerchief he retrieved from his back pocket. “Did he?”

“No. But he did have a change of heart.”

“Meaning?” I can tell by her tone that her patience is wearing thin.

“His son-in-law, Randall O’Brien, got involved in his company’s financial problems and has now been given control, via power of attorney, over all of his assets.”

“Okay, so now we work with this Randall fella. Nothing can be worse than that old coot himself.”

I stick my forefinger in the air and wiggle it. “Not so fast.”

Steven opens his mouth again, but then snaps it shut.

“Well, did you arrange a meeting with the son-in-law? We need to get a feeling for where his head is at before we jump to any conclusions,” Addie offers.

Oh, sweet summer child.I wish it was that simple.

“After being dismissed without another word from Errol’s office, I did a little digging on my phone while still parked in their lot.”

“And? What did you find?” I’ve always had a flare for the dramatic build-up, but I should have remembered from when we were kids that Addie was not a fan.

“Randall is a devout Christian, and he only works with others who share his beliefs.”

Steven thuds his hands against the wooden desk. “You’ve got to be kidding me. What is this? The Dark Ages?”

Apparently.

“I’ve looked through all of his past dealings, and every single partner he’s ever taken on has either been a member of the same church as him or at least a documented man of God, as it were.”

“So, what are we going to do?” Addie asks.

“Well. You’re Catholic, are you not?”

She blows an elongated raspberry into the air.

But when I hold her gaze, she stops and says, “What? Oh, my God. You’re serious?”

“Salvador was always going on and on about his Catholic beliefs. I just assumed—”

“I mean, sure.” She stands up straight now. “I’ve been to mass about a billion times in my life. Except that was all before. Like when I was a kid. As an adult, I haven’t been to church since Luna’s baptism.”

“You went to Catholic school, no?”

With a sigh, she admits, “Yes. But again, as a child.”

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