Page 77 of Rest In Pink

He took out his phone and accessed an app and a projector came alive and displayed the same map, this time blank, just showing the blue river and county lines and fitting the entire wall. “Lot lines,” Ken said, and hit his phone screen, and a spiderweb of very thin lines filled in all the white space. “And this is the new development, just down the road from your place. Vermillion Inc.”

A red swath of land from the river in and across Route 52. “Three hundred and sixty acres. The original plan. Three hundred individual lots for homes and the rest for a golf course, a club house, parks, shopping center, and other community amenities. That’s the land that was bought outright and has been mostly cleared. But since that original plan was filed.” He tapped the phone again. Red-lined areas expanded along the river and inland.Vermillion Inc. has made offers to buy up land around it. And north of town.” More red lines appeared between the town and Cincinnati. Which meant Vermillion would bracket Burney and own a number of places in the town itself.

“Cash is doing this?” I asked, referring to his brother.

“Cash is fronting it.”

“So, it’s affiliated with what Cash is doing with the development?”

“Put it the other way. Vermillion is doing the development. Cash works for Vermillion. It’s much bigger than anything he could put together.”

“You shaded those newer areas with red lines,” I said. “What’s that mean?”

“Red lined areas are where offers have been made but are contingent on the ferry being approved. Things with the development hit a snag last year for some reason and everything was pulled back. It’s taking Vermillion some time to start up again. With the ferry, we’re a bedroom community for Cincy. Without it? Another small town with a traffic-jam commute. Cash made fair offers based on what Burney is now. If the ferry goes in, that land will triple and he’ll make a killing. He’s hedging his bets. He doesn’t have to buy unless the ferry goes in, but if the ferry goes in . . .”

“He’s scammed the property owners with the offers already made,” I said, and then remembered Cash was Ken’s brother. “Sorry.”

Ken shook his head. “One of the property owners, Jerry Weiss, called me.”

“The guy who owns the Shady Rest?”

Ken nodded. “Owned. He sold. Asked me how much I was involved in the Vermillion stuff. I said not at all. He said Cash is going around reminding everybody that he’s my brother, not mentioning that I told him I wouldn’t have anything to do with this.”

“Shit.”

“And he said he’s told people he’s made an offer on the garage to Will and Patsy.”

“He did. They said no.”

“That, he’s not telling them.” Ken’s face was grim. “He’s using the family name to cheat people. It’s only a matter of time until he starts telling them Mom will sell.”

“Your mom might want to sell, get out from under the mortgages.”

Ken’s head snapped around toward me. “What mortgages? She owns the Red Box free and clear.”

“No, Kitty is underwater,” I said.

“What?”

I’d made the step, I had to follow it up. “Word is Kitty has two mortgages on the Red Box.”

Ken’s face darkened. “The hell she does. She paid that off with the money from our dad’s insurance. Who told you that?”

I thought about saying,It’s just a rumor, but Ken deserved better. “Your mom told Liz and Molly that she has two mortgages.”

Ken sat down at the computer and typed furiously on the keyboard. Whatever came up didn’t please him as he slammed a fist on the desk top. “FuckingCash. It has to be him and his damn development. Mom can’t say no to him. She knows he’s a mess, but he’s her boy.” He sounded savage, not like anything I’d heard from him before.

I was surprised. “She mortgaged the Red Box for Cash?”

Ken closed his eyes and took several deep breaths. He slowly turned to face me and I was impressed with his self-control. “She mortgaged it twice, and she didn’t need the money. The only reason she would do that is for Cash. The money he got from Lavender’s estate wasn’t enough. Mom, his inheritance from Lavender, and probably some other people, are where he’s getting the money to start the development going again.” A muscle twitched on the side of his face. Self-control only went so far.

Not wanting to get into what a conniving waste his brother was, I went back to my original goal, the Shady Rest. “Did Cash buy the Shady Rest on contingency?”

He looked up and shook his head, and then tapped the phone so that several bright green properties were outlined. “He didn’t buy it. A new player is counteroffering without the ferry contingency, and it’s already grabbed several properties out from under Vermillion. Jerry sold to them after he talked to me two days ago. They got the burned-out museum, too, same way, outright buy, no contingencies. The empty storefronts. One or two houses from people who wanted to get out. All fair prices, cash buys.” He turned off the display and led me to the front office where we both sat down.

He did not look happy.

“Who’s doing the counter-offers?”

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