Chapter 6 - A Change in Management
The anger I had felt earlier returned.
But this time it wasn’t pointed at Sarah.
It wasn’t even pointed at myself.
It was aimed at something larger and harder to name.
The distance between security and disaster.
How thin it had been when I was a child.
How invisible it had become once I had enough money not to think about it.
I stood.
Sarah tensed slightly.
“I need to make a call.”
Her expression turned guarded.
“To your attorney?”
“To my office.”
I stepped into the hallway.
My assistant, Daniel, answered on the second ring.
“Mr. Hale?”
“Pull the file on 4B.”
A pause.
“Bennett?”
“Yes.”
“I have it.”
“Stop the eviction.”
Another pause.
“Permanently?”
“For now.”
“Accounting has already classified it delinquent.”
“I’m aware.”
“They’ll need a reason.”
“Tell them the owner requested a temporary hold.”
“You are the owner.”
“Yes, Daniel. I occasionally remember.”
He ignored the sarcasm.
“For how long?”
I looked back through the doorway.
Lily was helping Sarah fold a blanket.
“Thirty days.”
“All right.”
“And send me maintenance reports for this entire building.”
“Recent?”
“Five years.”
“That may take—”
“Send whatever you have today.”
He sighed softly.
“I’ll start.”
“One more thing.”
“Yes?”
“What do we spend annually on exterior landscaping at the Lancaster property?”
“That’s specific.”
“Do you know?”
“Around eighty thousand, I think.”
I looked at the peeling paint beside Apartment 4B.
“Find out exactly.”
I ended the call.
When I walked back inside, Sarah was watching me.
“Thirty days,” I said.
She nodded.
“Thank you.”
“It’s not charity.”
“I didn’t say it was.”
“You were thinking it.”
“I was thinking you have the expression of a man trying very hard to prove something to himself.”
I stared at her.
“My mother did know your mother, didn’t she?”
Sarah smiled.
“Very well.”
May you like
I should have left.
Instead, I stayed another hour.
