1 Chapter 1
1
“Just like that?” John stared at Wylie in disbelief.
Wylie nodded. Sweeping his arm around to encompass the agency’s office, he replied, “I know right now you think I’m an A-one bastard, and maybe I am, but I’m burned out. Seven years of doing what? Catching straying spouses? Doing background checks? Stopping shysters trying to defraud an insurance company? Serving subpoenas?”
“We find runaway kids, too,” John added hopefully.
“Yeah, and some of them had a good reason to run but we were paid to drag them back home and not interfere.” Wylie shook his head in disgust. “In the rare cases where we did step in, family services found in favor of the damned parents, which sucks. Nope, this is it, John. I’ll sell you my half of the agency for, hell, name your price.”
“A dollar.”
Wylie snorted. “As if. I think it’s worth—” He stroked his short beard for a moment and then wrote down a figure, handing the paper to John.
“Ten percent less and I guess you have a deal.”
Wylie resisted grinning. He’d bid high, figuring John would want to halve the amount. “You got it.” He made a call to their lawyer to have him draw up the necessary papers and a payment plan that wouldn’t drain John’s bank account in one fell swoop, setting up a meeting for the following Monday.
“What are you going to do now that you’re…retiring?” John asked snidely after Wylie hung up.
“Move into the house Gramps left me for starters.”
“You’ll hate it and be back in a month.” John nodded emphatically. “Then we can see about expanding the agency, maybe hire a couple of new people.”
“Get that idea out of your head right now. I meant it when I said I’m burned out.” He pointed a finger at John. “You’re good at what you do but you could do better and build up business with Mary’s help, ifyou put your heart into it.”
“Thanks for the back-handed compliment,” John replied, his expression turning sour. “And it wasn’t all on me. We were partners.”
“I knowthat, and in the beginning we had big dreams and busted our asses to make it work, but there was too much competition from the big agencies. Our only saving grace was that we were cheaper, so we were able to keep our heads above water…barely.”
“Without you I’ll go under,” John said morosely. “Even if Mary is willing to step in until I find someone else, they won’t be as good as you.”
“Would closing the agency be so bad? You could join one of the big outfits and still be doing what you love without the stress of running your own business.”
“I…guess. But damn it, Wylie.”
“Think about it.”
“I will. You’ll keep in touch?”
“Of course, if for no other reason than to cry on your shoulder when I find out I’ll have to spend the next year fixing up Gramps’ house to make it livable.”
John finally smiled. “It would serve you right.”
* * * *
The first thing Wylie did when he got home that evening was to call a moving company and set it up for them to come by Monday afternoon to pick up everything he’d be taking with him to his new house. It was in the small town of Earlston where his grandfather had lived all his life—before his death three months previously.
With that taken care of, he went down to talk to the building manager, to let her know what was going on.
As they were friends, too, all Mrs. James said once she got over her surprise was, “We’ll miss you, Wylie.”
“Thanks. I know I should have given more warning, but I didn’t really make up my mind for certain until today.”
She laughed. “Now you’re hell-bent-for-leather to get out of here before you change it?”
Smiling, he replied, “Maybe? No, not really.”
They chatted a bit about his plans, which he admitted were vague, other than undoubtedly having to do work on what had been his grandfather’s house. “It’s been standing vacant for the last three months.”
“Then dusting will be you, to say the least,” she replied.
“I hope that’s the extent of it, other than getting rid of some of the stuff he managed to accumulate that I don’t want. I guess I’m going to find out.”
* * * *
For the rest of the week, Wylie finished up the jobs he’d been working on and helped John set up a schedule for dealing with the ones coming up in the following weeks, now that he wouldn’t be there to handle them.
