Twenty

An ancient baby blue Roadtrek Popular blocked off three-quarters of their driveway. Giulia walked its circuit. “If you painted it green and added giant vinyl flowers, you’d have your own Mystery Machine.”

Bart patted its rear bumper. “I know, right? I considered the Scooby-Doo color scheme for half a second, but fun and cool equals conspicuous. Nobody gives my anonymous, well-used home a second glance.”

Giulia said as Bart opened the back door, “Have you heard about Sister Matilda?”

“She’s why I’m here. But first you must enter my personal castle.”

Boxes of pharmaceutical supplies crowded milk crates piled with cans of nuts and soup that lined the castle’s back entrance. A small, square sink on the left with cupboards above and below faced a narrow drop desk with an antiquated laptop on the right. Shelves above the desk groaned under a Bible, a Franciscan Omnibus, what looked like a complete collection of Agatha Christie paperbacks, cookbooks, and spiral bound car repair manuals. Homemade flowered curtains covered all the windows. An artist’s easel and a fishing tackle box of painting supplies sat in the passenger seat up front.

“Bed? Toilet? Shower?” Giulia said.

Bart opened a door next to the desk and pointed out the concealed bed. “Nothing like those five by nine paper-thin cells they stuffed us in at the Motherhouse, is it?”

“It’s better than any Tiny House I’ve been in. This is a home.”

Bart squeezed Giulia with more gentleness this time. “I was hoping you’d see it like I do. Kathryn likes to make sure I remember I’m still part of the Community, so I bunk at the convent one week a month. She’s a good Superior, so I never tell her how much that week makes me love tooling around in Crankenstein even more.”

Giulia’s fingers made a locking motion on her lips. “I’ll never tell.”

“You’re the best nun I’ve ever known.”

“Ex-nun.” She rested a hand on her belly.

“Good point. Shove one of those crates over and sit your pregnant self down. There’s pencils and paper in the desk. I put word out that I needed dirt on Eagle Developers and boy did my people come through. Would you like the good stuff or the bad to start?”

“The good. I’d like to balance what I’ve learned so far.”

Bart perched on the edge of the sink. “There’s more good than bad, to be honest, which I should, being a Franciscan and all. They’re one of the biggest local employers and they walk the tightrope of hiring both union and non-union employees.”

“On the same projects?”

“Ha ha ha, are you kidding? The Scoop would be all over the fistfights like a rash and they’d finally eclipse the real news. No, Eagle keeps both sides far apart, and I mean far. This week, for example. The hotel renovations on the north side are union, but the landscaping projects on the west and south sides aren’t.” She watched the pencil fly. “Want me to slow down?”

Giulia made a face at her. “If I had a dollar for every time someone asked me that, the baby’s college fund would be well on its way. Thank you, no. I can keep up.”

“I should’ve figured. Okay. Eagle also won some award three years running for hiring and promoting women. Eagle’s right-hand man is a woman and she’s the power behind winning the award. My street folks get a lot of under the counter work from them and they always listen for bits of information that could lead to more work.”

Giulia shook out her fingers. “This isn’t fitting in with what your fellow Sisters have been telling me.”

Another laugh. “You’ve been getting the Sister Olive Special Broadcast. If she was younger, I’d swear Eagle himself ditched her at the altar twenty years ago to marry his now ex-trophy wife.”

Giulia joined in the laugh. “If I were ever to turn to the dark side, I’d try to work the topic of jilted brides into my next conversation with Sister Olive.”

“Only if I can be there to listen.” Bart slid off the sink to straighten one of the curtains. “Now for the bad. He undercuts buyout prices when he can. You might call that good business.”

“Considering he targets poor older neighborhoods, I’d call it borderline evil.”

“As would the people dishing the dirt for me. One of them took an Eagle offer and snorted every cent of the payment. He’s better now because he can’t afford any more coke.”

Giulia looked around the RV’s interior. “Where exactly do you keep the baseball bat?”

Bart pointed to the side door. “It’s ready to grab before I touch the deadbolt. But we aren’t talking about me. We’re playing Good Developer-Bad Developer. There are rumors he pays at-risk kids to hassle holdouts.”

“Sister Olive has more than hinted they’re at the center of a harassment campaign.” She started a second piece of paper.

“You won’t hear me arguing. My people tell me our place has set a record for the longest holdout and the rumor is Eagle is stepping up his game. You know they buy out entire blocks of mortgages at a time?”

Giulia nodded. “He chooses places banks are eager to unload, as long as the area is close to a positive feature to draw in new residents. In your case, the park fountain.”

“Bingo. We have no leverage. We’re three months behind on the mortgage. Eagle did us a favor without realizing it.”

“By taking over your mortgage before the bank foreclosed?” Giulia looked over at her. “I’m quite sure he did realize it.”

Frank stuck his head in the open door. “Carlo’s planning to kidnap the lizard, Pasquale’s kicking my butt in Halo, and Cecilia is trying to convince her mother to raid your dresser for nail polish and have a girls’ night in. Help.”