“Nelson, get down off that couch!”
The corgi yelped, and all four of his short little legs kicked into overdrive as he dove to the floor and scrambled for cover.
Ben sat up, dazed and bleary-eyed.
“Benjamin, you know that dog is not allowed on the furniture!”
“Right . . . guess I fell asleep.”
“Well, get up and plump those cushions, and help me get this room presentable. And get Nelson’s toys put away too. And then take your things up to your room.”
His mom was bustling around, gathering up books and newspapers, and wiping dust off the end tables with a cloth.
“I’ve got a client coming here for a meeting in five minutes—so dinner might be a little late. Did you get a snack? Maybe we’ll order some Chinese. Come on now, get off the couch and help me out, move it!”
R & R was definitely over.
Ben did all he’d been ordered to and then trudged up to his room. He sat down at his laptop and checked his e-mail—nothing. He was hoping to hear what Jill had dug up about Wallace V. Robleton, but she probably hadn’t even started searching yet.
He closed the computer and almost lay down on his bed—he still felt groggy. But then the doorbell rang, and now he was too hungry to nap anyway. Time for that snack.
He walked quietly down to the first floor, and at the bottom of the stairs he turned right and went to the kitchen.
The visitor was a man with a strong, deep voice.
“Well, we’ve heard so much about your work here in Edgeport—it’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Ben smiled. His mom was a great real estate agent—she worked really hard at it, and she loved helping people.
He tried to sneak to the refrigerator—all he really wanted was a cold glass of milk. Chinese food in a little while . . . that sounded so good.
His mom noticed him through the doorway, and so did the visitor.
“And is this young man your son? Of course he is—I can see it in his face!”
“Ben,” his mom said, “come and meet Mr. Birch.”
The man stood up as Ben came into the room. Ben held out his hand, gave a good strong grip, and looked the man in the eye as they shook, just like his dad had taught him to. “Pleased to meet you.”
The man held on to his hand. “Pleased to meet you too, Ben. And I’m glad to say that I’m here on a very happy mission—I have been authorized to make your mom a very rich woman. Would you like that?”
“Yes sir, Ben, you’re mom is going to be a very rich woman!”
Ben pulled his hand away, confused.
“Why don’t you tell Ben what we’ve been talking about, Bonnie?”
Ben didn’t like the way he used his mom’s first name like that. It was too familiar. But his mom seemed flattered.
“Well, it’s a little complicated, but Mr. Birch represents a company that has been buying up properties both north and south of Edgeport harbor for the past year, and they have plans for some very nice, very tasteful low-rise condominiums.”
The man winked at Ben. “Strictly classy places—with big price tags! And tell him how many units we plan to lay on, Bonnie.”
“Between four and five hundred new units over the next three years, and they’ve asked me to be the exclusive listing broker for all of them! Isn’t that wonderful?”
“Um, yeah . . . that’s great,” said Ben.
He knew a little about his mom’s business and started running the math in his head. As the listing broker, she would probably get about 3 percent of every sale . . . and if there were four hundred units, and if each one sold for, say, two hundred thousand dollars . . . then this offer was worth . . . close to three million dollars, maybe more!
So, yeah, it was a very big deal.
Mr. Birch cleared his throat. “Of course, this all depends on that new theme park, Tall Ships Ahoy! We’ve been buying property that’s far enough away so the park’ll just be a pleasant blur of pretty lights on the waters of the bay. And my company doesn’t do anything halfway, no siree. These new properties are going to be a giant boost to the local economy—not to mention what this is going to do for you, Bonnie. And for you too, Ben.”
The man held Ben’s eye just a moment too long.
And Ben knew. He knew it!
But he asked the question anyway.
“What’s the name of your company, Mr. Birch?”
The man smiled broadly and looked Ben dead in the eyes.
“Glennley Properties, son. A great company!”
Ben narrowed his eyes, but he didn’t blink or look away. It wasn’t so ‘great,’ what Glennley did for the area around the Shiloh Civil War Battlefield, with those rolling meadows turned into strip malls and fast food joints—that’s what your ‘great’ company does best!
Ben didn’t say that out loud, but he thought it, and he felt like this man could see him thinking it.
But this guy was tough. He didn’t blink either.
Ben said, “It’s going to be really exciting to see how all this turns out, isn’t it?”
The man kept smiling. “Yes, it is, son. Yes, it is.”
“Well, it was good to meet you Mr. Lyman—oops, I mean, Mr. Birch!”
The man’s smile wavered and his eyes widened. And then he blinked.
Ben turned and went to the kitchen and got himself that milk.
The conversation in the family room went on, but Ben tuned it out and carried the glass back up to his room. It was quiet up there, and he needed to think.
This was nasty stuff. They’d come to his mom with promises of real money, big money. Because they were after him.
It was like what Lyman had said to Jill that day in the library, telling her how her dad had bought all that stock in Glennley Group—to get her to stop trying to protect the school.
It hadn’t worked on Jill, and it wasn’t going to work on him.
This was just more evidence, proof that Glennley had to be stopped. They’d sent this Mr. Birch to tell lies to his mom, pretending she’d been picked over all the other real estate agents in Edgeport because she was so talented. And when she found out their real reason for choosing her, it was going to hurt her feelings. She’d deal with it, of course.
But it was still a rotten thing to do.
Ben realized his jaw was hurting from gritting his teeth so hard.
He relaxed and made himself take a long drink of milk . . . . Much better.
But if Lyman and the rest of the Glennley goon squad thought something like this was gonna slow him down, they were in for a big surprise.