spent all day Saturday at his office, working on the problem of A-1 Sports and their threat to his Issaquah store. He made a phone call to Russ Petrone, the real estate broker who’d been keeping him informed, and Russ told him A-1 had officially made an offer on the vacant lot on the corner across the street from his store.
“Sonofabitch.”
“The sellers haven’t accepted yet, but it looks like they probably will.”
“Not good news.”
“You said A-1 wants to buy your stores. I got this info without much trouble. I think they want you to know. Probably figure the threat of a competing store so close might be enough to get you to accept their offer.”
“I’m sure that’s what they’re hoping but I’m not taking the bait, which means they’ll have to go one step further.”
“You think they’ll actually build across the street?”
“I think they’ll go that far if they have to. They’ll figure if they can drive down the profits on the Issaquah store—maybe even force it to close—I’ll be inclined to accept their offer for the chain.”
“Anything you want me to do?”
“I want you to talk to the owners of that property. Keep it quiet, but see if you can find out the terms of A-1’s offer. Tell the owners we’ll up the price by twenty percent but the sale has to close in three business days. And if they go back to A-1, the deal is no longer on the table.”
For their plan to work, A-1 had to buy that particular piece of property. There was nothing else suitable in the downtown area or anywhere close and it didn’t look like there would be anytime soon. If Ben could quietly make the purchase and keep the land out of A-1’s hands, the company would be out of luck.
“You sure you can close in three days?” Russ asked.
“You make the deal. I’ll find the money.”
Russ hung up with a promise to call him back with any news and Ben made a call to Pete Rossi—the second attempt of the day.
“Sorry I didn’t get back to you,” Pete said. “My cell’s been out of range.”
“Not a problem. Damn phones don’t work half the time.”
“After the deal with Meeks, I’m guessing you want me to take another look into your daughter’s disappearance.”
“Good guess.”
“You figure if Gerald Meeks didn’t kill her, there’s a chance she might still be alive.”
“So far you’re one step ahead of me.”
“So how does the Sommers woman fit in?” Pete asked.
Ben had been careful not to tell Rossi any more than he had to, but he trusted the investigator and if he was going to go on with this, he had to play it straight. “About two weeks ago, Autumn Sommers approached me about Molly. She claimed she was having recurring dreams about her. I know it sounds crazy, but she was determined enough to go see Meeks, which couldn’t have been pleasant. And she knows things, Pete, things that weren’t in the papers.”
He told the investigator about little Robbie Hines in the yard, how the boy wasn’t mentioned in the papers, yet Autumn had described him perfectly. “If Meeks really told her he didn’t kill Molly, then I can’t ignore the possibility that this might be real.”
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