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Ford knew he had a strong iination He considered himself to be a man of some vision As far as Cilla’s "little Cape Cod" went, he couldn’t iine how anyone could define it, however loosely, as a house, and could only visualize it being mercifully razed
Stains of a suspicious and undoubtedly unpleasant nature sta roo again, otherwise Spock would’ve been honor bound to re-mark all the previously nawed on the baseboard The ceiling, also unpleasantly stained in one corner, was bumpy hat Cilla called popcorn
The kitchen was a truly ugly hodgepodge of misy counters carried the round burn marks of pans carelessly set on blue-speckled white Formica Grime, and God knehat else, lived in the corners
In hisout of that rusted sink, ar tanks and arear firing bazookas
He found it easy to let Cilla do the talking He was speechless
The second floor consisted of two bedrooms scattered with the debris of former tenants and a bathroo a hazmat suit
"As you can see, there’s work to be done!" Vicky shohite, white teeth in what could only be a pained, sorease and sweat equity, it could be a little dollhouse! Such a cute starter ho couple like yourselves"
"A couple of what?" Ford said and got the fish eye from Cilla
"Vicky, would you mind if we just looked around on our own for a few minutes? Talked about it?"
"Of course not! Take all the time you want I’ll just step outside and make some calls Don’t rush onin exclamation points?" Ford asked when Vicky was out of earshot "Is it fear? Exciteasms?"
"Cute"
"Cilla, I think that pile of whatin that corner just moved There may be a body in there Possibly an ar to ambush We should leave And never come back"
"If there was a body, it would smell a lot worse than it does in here"
"How much worse?" he ave hiain "Cockroaches may be a factor, however If the seller had any brains, he’d have cleaned this place out, ripped up this incredibly sot to be kidding The only thing we could gain froue" He kept a wary eye on the pile of rags He wasn’t entirely sure it hadn’tvalue"
"Because you don’t knohere to look Deal was, you don’t want to risk it, you don’t But let ive you the idea first There’s hardwood under this carpet I checked when I went through before"
She walked over, crouched to pull up a loose corner "Randoood shape"
"Okay, it’s got a floor"
"And a good foundation, a nice-sized lot"
"That looks like a minefield Probably booby-trapped by the atomic spiders"
"New sod," she continued, undaunted, "sos, a pretty little deck on the back Gut the bathroom"
"Wouldn’t it be more humane to bomb it?"
"New tub, new sink, a nice cerah of a discontinued style, neutral color All the carpet goes Replace the closet doors, add shelves Redo the ceilings, paint You’ve got a couple of nice kids’ rooms"
"And where would the parents sleep?" He slid his hands into his pockets rather than risk accidentally touching so "In a hotel if they have any sense"
She crooked her finger "This wallthe width of the house, will hold thethe backyard Walk-in closet, attached bath with soaking tub and separate shower Double sinks, granite countertop Maybe slate tile Have to price that out"
"What holds it up? Hopes and dreareat rooan to see it as she did Or as he thought she did
"Horrible carpet treads out, oak treads in," she said as she started down the steps "Replace skinny banister Carpet goes, ceilings redone, new trihout Gut kitchen"
"Thank the Lord"
"Half bath and laundry roo area and family room, open floor plan, breakfast bar for the casual, fah atrium doors to the nice little deck Exterior paint in a cheerful color, replace the cracked concrete ith pavers, plug in sowood tree And that’s about it"
"Oh, well, that’s hardly anything"
She laughed "It’s a lot, but it’ll be a lot Poor, sad thing Sixteen weeks It could be done in twelve, but not with juggling, so I’d say sixteen With the top offer I’d e payments for, we’ll say, five hborhood, you could see between forty and forty-five K in profit"
"Seriously?"
"Oh yeah Depending on the market when it’s done, that could be closer to sixty thousand The neighborhood’s on an upswing" She began ticking ite in, prettying things up It’s in a good school district, only about tencenter Master suites, kitchens and baths- that’s where the sales are est return on your investment"
"Okay"
"No, you have to be sure Take a little time to think about it I’ll draw up soo et the hell out while the cockroaches and spiders have their moratoriuoing to steal this place, Ford" He found the sly delight on her face infectious "It deserves to be stolen because the seller couldn’t even be bothered toto tell her, very unconvincingly, that we’ll think about it Then we’re going to walk away In a week, ten days, I’ll call her back"
"If so here for over four months, even with two price reductions? I don’t think so We’re going to go give Vicky the disappointo home, soak in your hot tub and relax"
RELAXING PROVED PROBLEMATIC because of the half-dozen reporters camped at her wall
"Not " And hardly more than she’d expected "Just a spillover from the statement They’ll h for that You go inside I’ll handle it"
"You’re going to give them interviews?"
"Not exactly A few crumbs They’ll take the crumbs and fly away There’s no reason for you to be involved in this And you’ll just give thele"
But the minute they stepped out of the car, caed across the road, shouting Cilla’s na out questions As it struck Ford as a kind of attack, he ia Vassar, WMWA-TV Can you tell us your thoughts on the altercation yesterday with James Robert Hennessy?"
"How serious are your injuries?"
"Is it true Hennessy believes you’re the reincarnation of Janet Hardy?"
"I’ve already issued a statement about the incident," Cilla said coolly "I don’t have any more to say"
"Isn’t it true that Hennessy threatened you previously? And, in fact, assaulted Steve Chensky, your ex-husband, while Chensky lived with you? Was that assault the reason for your failed reconciliation?"
"To ed with the assault on Steve, as visitingWe’ve been friends before, during and after our e There was no reconciliation "
"Is that due to your relationship with Ford Sawyer? Mr Sawyer, how do you feel about the attack on Ms McGowan?"
"There’s speculation that you and Steve fought over Cilla, and he was injured How do you answer that?"
"No couys seem to be on my property We’re pretty friendly around here, but you’re going to want to step off"
"I won’t be as friendly if any of you trespass on mine," Cilla warned
"Is it true that you carandmother?" someone shouted as she turned with Ford toward the house
"Tabloid crap," Cilla stated "I’m sorry Most of that was tabloid crap"
"No problem" Ford shut the door behind them, locked it "I’ve alanted the opportunity to say ’No coive up It won’t play more than a day or two, and side stories of alien babies being hoer in the air "I knew that was the reason for Utah How about a glass of ith that soak, while I figure out how to get ood idea The wine, yeah, and Spock, but you’ve got a lot of glass in your gyive hi it to the to find yourself alongside the alien babies, too"
"Finally, a lifelong drealanced down at his answering ht
"You should screen, Ford I really thought by issuing a short, clear statereed with me But for whatever reason, some of the les"
"Let’s do this" He lifted the phone, switched off the ringer "I’ll do the same with the others My family, my friends have my cell number if they need to reach me I’ll call Brian, see if he’ll take Spock hoht We’ll take some wine, cook up a frozen pizza and camp upstairs in the bedroom behind the curtains At last, the opportunity to expose you to aof Battlestar Galactica"
She leaned back on the counter as the tension in her shoulders dissolved Not angry, she realized Not upset Not even especially irked How had she ever ed to connect with someone so blessedly stable?
"You really kno to keep it si your entire species, it usually is siet the wine"
CILLA WOKE at five AM to the beep of the internal clock she’d set in the ht after the alar else she should have expected, she thought as she went to shower There were sonored the law in pursuit of a story So she’d spent an hour with the police and Ford across the road
And she had a lock set on her back door bearing the scratches of a botched jimmy attempt
She dressed, left a note for Ford The radio car remained in her drive, where it had been posted after the atteht of a trio of deer at her pond But no reporters caotten lucky, she thought, and that was that Using Ford’s car, she drove into town She was back by six-thirty, and carried a box of doughnuts and two large coffees down her drive
The cop behind the wheel rolled down his
"I know it’s a cliche," she said, "but"
"Hey That was nice of you, Miss McGowan It’s been quiet"
"And a long night for both of you It looks like the invaders have retired the field I’ by seven"
"It’s a nice spot you’ve got here" The second cop pulled a glazed with sprinkles out of the box "Heck of a bathroo to update ours"
"If you decide to, giveoff shift pretty soon Do you want us to call in and request another car?"
"I think we’ll be fine now Thanks for looking out for me"
Inside, she set up to finish her run of baseboard By eight, the hive of activity buzzed Grouting, drywallher attention to the third bedroom, Cilla checked her closet measurements As she removed the door, Matt stepped in
"Cilla, I think you’d better take a look outside"
"What? Is there a probleuess you need to look, decide that for yourself"
She propped the door against the wall, hustled after him One look out the frontof the
Six reporters had been a nuisance, and not unexpected Sixty was a disaster
"They just started showing up, kind of all at once," Matt told her "Kinda like there was a signal Brian calledquestions at his crew Jesus, there’s TV ca"