Chapter 44
The woman pulled a phone from her pocket and dialed.
James answered after a few rings. “Hello?”
"James, it's Sally next door," she said with a smile in her voice. "I've been trying to get hold of you all afternoon."
"I saw that you called,” James replied, his voice crackling through the speaker loud enough for me to hear. He sounded tired. "Our flight got delayed, and we just touched down. What’s going on?”
"Well, there's been a work crew at your house all day. I just thought you should know. Something about the sewer line. I'll let you talk to one of the workers." Sally handed the phone to me.
I took the phone and put a smile in my voice.
"Hey James, Tim Dalton, public works. We had a problem with the line and wanted to get that taken care of before you started experiencing problems. It could have backed up and flooded the entire house.
But we were able to get to it before that happened.
Have you been having any trouble with the toilets?
Any foul smells coming up through the drains? "
"You know, I called someone three months ago about that and never heard a peep. And now you guys finally show up!?"
I lifted a surprised brow. "Well, you know how the city is. Sometimes tickets get lost. We should be finishing up in a couple of hours. I’ll send the crew back out tomorrow to do a final lookover to make sure everything is in order. When will you be back in town?"
"We were supposed to be here for a week, but my wife’s mother fell. She’s in the hospital, so it looks like we’re heading back tomorrow,” he said with a defeated sigh. “It’s been one of those days.”
"Sorry to hear that.”
"Do you need to get into the house for anything?”
"No, we should be fine," I replied.
"There’s a key under the rock by the pool, and the code is 1515 to the alarm."
James was an overly trusting soul.
"Good to know. If you'd like, I can check all the internal plumbing lines before I leave to make sure there's no backup or sewer overflows. I'd hate for something like that to sit if there is a problem.”
"Thanks. I appreciate that.”
"I'll stay on top of everything and have Sally call you if necessary."
"Thank you."
"My pleasure, James. I hope your wife’s mother is okay."
I handed the phone back to Sally. She said a few words to James before hanging up.
I felt bad about putting a hole in James’s floor. I’m sure we’d figure out a way to make it up to him.
Sally looked at me and smiled. "I'm so glad you guys got to talk. I'm right next door if you need anything."
I thanked her again, and she shuffled back across the lawn to her home.
I breathed a sigh of relief, then found Juan inside. “Timeline has been bumped up. They're coming back tomorrow."
"What time?"
"I don't know. But I need that tile set, and this place cleaned up.”
He shrugged. "Okay, boss. But I'm just saying, my nephew better get a good deal."
We left them to finish up and took Henrik back to the Avventura. It probably wasn’t the best idea to leave convicted criminals alone in James’s house, but we had run out of options.
When we were a few blocks away, I turned on my phone. Missed messages flooded through, one from Klaus, one from an unknown caller. I called Klaus back right away.
He answered after the first ring. "I expect you to answer when I call."
"It's been a busy day.”
"Do you have what I requested?”
"Yes."
"Excellent. I will give you a location to meet. May I remind you that any attempt to involve other law enforcement officers will result in the untimely demise of Henrik’s granddaughter. Bring Henrik and the crystal. Otherwise, she dies. Have I made myself clear?”
"Crystal," I replied.
I don't think he was amused by the pun.
Meet me at the corner of Commerce and Terminal Ave. At 11:00 PM. No funny business.”
He ended the call, and I updated Jack.
“How do you want to handle this?”