Page 16 of This Time Around
“It’s just going to be the three of us,” Maegan said, answering my unspoken question. “Twenty minutes?”
“I don’t know, Maegan, I probably should go home and shower first. I worked up a sweat and probably stink.”
“Twenty minutes, Andy.” Maegan disconnected the call before I could say anything else.
I packed up my tools, turned off the lights, locked the apartments, and headed to Maegan’s house. She and Elijah lived next to one another, but I figured it was only a matter of time before Elijah gave up the pretense of wanting to spend his nights anywhere besides her house.
“Hey there, handsome,” Maegan said, when I jogged up the porch. “You’re just in time. Elijah brought home some greasy pizza that will cure all that ails us.”
“What do you want to drink, Andy?” Elijah asked as he bent over to look inside the refrigerator. “Or should I call you handsome too?”
“I answer to pretty much anything these days,” I replied drily. “I’ll just have a soda or water.”
“We have beer,” Maegan offered.
“Nah, I’ll pass. Thanks though.”
Elijah handed me a Coke and opened a beer for him and Maegan. “I guess you want to know why we invited you over.”
“Maegan assured me it wasn’t for sex,” I teased.
“Freckles, you need to work on your invitation skills if people think that a dinner invite equates a threesome,” Elijah said affectionately. “Go ahead and tell the man your idea.”
Maegan took a deep breath, held it, and released it slowly. Hell, she was making me a nervous wreck. “You’re going to think I’m crazy. He does.” She pointed to Elijah.
“Not crazy, just um…” Elijah’s voice trailed off as he searched for an adjective that wouldn’t send him straight to the dog house. Speaking of dogs, Maegan’s Frenchie, Lulu, plopped herself beneath my chair, hoping I would drop a pepperoni.
“Crazy,” Maegan whispered. “I want to buy the Bliss House.”
I felt my eyebrows rise toward my hairline. “The one the town founder went missing from in 1851? The same house that is reported to be haunted?”
“The same one where Nancy Drew here and The Hardy Boys tripped over a dead body in the cellar,” Elijah said wryly.
“We didn’t trip over him,” Maegan countered, rolling her eyes. “We saw the blood and ran upstairs to call the cops. You solved the homicide, and now the house is up for sale.”
Earlier in the year, Maegan, Milo, and Memphis were granted permission by Thom Renzo to look around his deceased parents’ home to see if they wanted to buy anything before the house and contents were put in an auction. Maegan always joked that the best stuff was hidden in the dirtiest places—attics, basements, and cellars. I don’t think Thom Renzo’s dead body was on her list of “best stuff,” but that’s exactly what was down there waiting for them to find. That night led to a series of events that made it seem like Maegan was in the killers’ crosshairs, but no one was prepared for the truth Elijah uncovered when he solved the case.
“You’re serious about buying the home?” I asked her.
“I am. I’ve always loved that house even though everyone else thought it looked like a haunted house fromScooby Doo.Something just felt right when I walked through the front door.”
“And you want me to inspect it for potential problems?”
“Would you?”
“Sure,” I said.
“While you’re there,” Maegan said, causing both Elijah and me to groan. “Can you give me an estimate on how much it would cost to modernize the big systems and renovate the home to its former glory?”
“I absolutely can do that. I’ll need to get an HVAC guy, electrician, and plumber lined up too. I know the basics of those skills, but you want someone more knowledgeable than me looking at the mechanicals. I can make some calls. What kind of timeframe are we looking at here?”
“For an inspection and estimate?” Maegan clarified.
“Yeah. You couldn’t start repairs until you owned the home anyway. What do I tell the guys?”
Maegan grimaced. “The lawyer for the estate is giving me ten days to get a conditional approval for the loan, which I can’t do until the house is inspected.”
I pulled my phone out of my pocket and started to dial.