Chapter 3 #2
The next morning, he was making notes on the conversations that he’d had with her and was glad that he could look things up on the computer. Having the application that would do background checks was the first thing he did. Janice Manchester was right there for him to see all that she was about.
The first thing that he noticed was that she’d cashed a fifty-thousand-dollar policy on her husband when he had died nineteen years ago.
That was quite a bit of money back then, and she’d invested well.
The second bit of income that she had that wasn’t her monthly checks was another insurance policy from her son, David Manchester.
It was much more than the one from her husband and was worth just over two million dollars.
Saying that she gave her daughter-in-law half was a lie.
On top of that, she owned the house that Lisa was renting, and it looked like she’d just raised her rent.
There was something fishy going on with the elderly woman, and he was going to see what he could find out by sending a faerie to her home and see what was going on.
He told himself it was just to watch over the woman, but it was more than that.
He no longer trusted her at her word, and she’d never even spoken to him.
The rent thing bothered him the most. Why would she be charging her rent at all?
The more he looked into her life, the stranger things got.
Like she had a wealth of money that was just sitting in the bank.
Why wasn’t she helping out with her grandson more?
She had to know that Lisa was struggling with two jobs that barely made a dent in her rent now that it had been raised again.
Then there were the insurance policies that she was paying for, not to mention the insurance on them in the event that they needed a doctor.
Each time he found something, he’d be amazed that she wasn’t helping out with Lisa more.
Or, at the very least, not charge her rent each month on the house she was renting.
It was like she was making it so that she failed.
When that thought popped into his head, he knew that was exactly what it was.
She was making her have to come to her for help and was holding out on her for some reason.
That thought was centered in his mind when he found that there were two more policies taken out on Lisa and Davy for millions of dollars. Using his considerable magic, he called for help with Lady Earth to see what she might know about the elderly woman.
“I know nothing more than you have there before you. I will look deeper into her lands. She doesn’t plant any flowers around her home, much like the others have surrounding her.
But I never thought that she could be doing it for selfish reasons.
The other people around her have begged her to help out by keeping her yard maintained, but she just won’t do it.
It has been a sore spot in their lives when they try to sell their homes.
With hers looking so poorly, their houses aren’t worth as much as they could get from them.
” He asked her how she would know that. “I have my reasons for watching over the place. Much violence had gone on there before the husband finally passed away. He was an abused spouse. We have been keeping an eye on the house for many decades, and the faeries know better than to be caught there, too. Yes, much violence has been at that address. You said that your mate is related to her by marriage? She would do well not to trust the woman. She’s also been known to hurt herself on purpose so that your mate must see to her needs.
It hasn’t happened as much as it did in the past, but it does happen sometimes. ”
“You’ve given me a great deal of information that I wouldn’t have gotten from the web.
Thank you so much.” She said she was very welcome to be able to help him.
“I’ll have to keep an eye on her myself.
I think she’s making it so that my mate will have to go to her soon for help with her money.
She won’t want to, but she’ll have no choice. ”
“Then you should bring her to your home before it gets to that. Show her what a beautiful dragon she has in you, and make sure that she can see her own. It will be such a great gift to me to see the two of you flying in the sky again.” He asked if she’d seen them all lately.
“Yes, I come to the flying when I can. With so much time on my hands now, I feel like I can do lots of things that I never did before. Seeing my dragons fly is one of the best treasures that I have. I so love to see you all flying.”
He’d have to look for her the next time they were all flying.
And invite her to join them. He was sure she could fly, too, and that would be a rare treat for them as well.
Making notes on the things that he wanted to tell Lisa, he was armed with enough information that would keep her safe from the old woman.
~*~
When Brenin came by with the file an hour ago, she didn’t have time to look it over.
He did tell her that her rent was going to go up, and not ten minutes after he left, she got the certified mail that told her that it was going to be raised to two hundred dollars a month.
That was more than she’d been expecting it to raise.
Sitting down with the file now that she had time, she was having a hard time adjusting to the idea that Janice was the one who owned her home and was the person she made her checks out to each month.
Then to raise it so much was unheard of. Why was she doing this to her?
Brenin returned with dinner and some photos of his home.
He asked her to go see it with him, but not tonight.
She had to grade papers and still get ready for working a double shift tomorrow.
He seemed to understand, but that didn’t negate the fact that Janice was trying to ruin her.
She asked him what he thought was going on.
“She’s trying to make you beholden to her is all I can think about.
You told me once that she tried to get you two to move in with her.
She’s just making it so you have to now.
And with the rent going up, it looks to me like she’s getting desperate for you to do just that.
” She said that she could take another job, but that would cut into her time with her son.
“I believe she wants that too. To make sure that she’s there to babysit your son.
Again, for you to be beholden to her. She doesn’t need the money.
She has a great deal of that on her own.
Not as much as we all do, but she didn’t need you to continue paying rent to her after her son died. ”
“She’s lied to me about so much, I don’t know what to believe from her anymore.
I mean, she said that the policy was only for ten grand, and I can see a copy of it right here that says differently.
Why would she do that to us? It’s not like we’ve done anything to her.
” He said he didn’t know what was in her mind, but was glad he’d been able to find it all.
“I am as well. I just don’t know what I’m supposed to do with this information. ”
“I know one solution to your problem. And I’m not rushing you into anything other than to feel better about helping you.
You could either move into my house with me, no strings attached, or I can pay your rent for you.
It wouldn’t be that big of a hardship on me to make that work for you.
” In all honesty, she didn’t know how she was going to make that work in the first place.
Even getting a third job was going to be difficult with having Davy.
He would be at the sitters’ more than he would be at home.
“Anything you make at a third job will be eaten away in putting Davy in daycare of some kind. I could watch over him, too, if you didn’t mind.
He’s going to be my son someday, and this would be a way that we could get to know one another. ”
“Don’t get ahead of yourself just yet.” He smiled and said he was sorry.
“Again, no charming me out of things. I have a lot on my mind right now. How could she do this to us? There isn’t any reason at all that I can think of other than what you said about us being beholden to her.
Did I tell you that she’s been trying to get us to move in with her?
She’s been hinting about it a great deal of late.
I just don’t know what to do about this from her. ”
She didn’t either. It was as if she were being pulled apart about what she should be doing.
Getting a third job wasn’t feasible. Not that it would do her much good.
Every cent of it would have to go to paying for a sitter for him because there was no way she was going to ask Janice to do it for her.
That would be a disaster just waiting to happen.
Davy would hate her, and she’d be stuck in the middle again.
“I can’t make it work in my head about the rent going up.
She’s trying to ruin us by jacking it up to this much so that I can’t afford it and go to her either for a loan to get by with or to move in with her.
Neither one of those is something that I can live with.
Not now, especially.” She looked at Brenin.
“If we move in with you, and that’s a big if, if we move in with you, there will be rules that we all have to follow.
I will stay with you in a separate bedroom.
I don’t know where that might lead down the road, but for now, I must insist on that being the number one rule.
The second one is that Davy might have to stay with you, but there are going to be rules for that, too.
He can’t go to you for something that I might not want him to do. ”