AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Yes. Why?” Arthur muttered.
“And wasn’t he in the garage when he fell?” Rowena’s voice took on a note of excitement.
“Yes, Rowena. Everyone knows he was in the garage when he fell. What’s your point?” He sounded rather weary.
“My point is, if he was in the garage, then maybe he shoved it somewhere in the pile of junk that was in there.” Rowena pulled out the printed copy from the sale. “Dang.”
“What is it now?” Arthur was exhausted and annoyed.
“There was another tab at the bottom of the file. I didn’t pay any attention to it because all the salvaged items were listed. So I didn’t print out the second page.”
“Again, I ask, what’s your point?”
“My point is that I am going back to the house and track down the guy who bought the contents of the garage.” Rowena had a sudden burst of energy. “Come on!” She held out her hand and hoisted Arthur to his feet. He looked around at the mammoth pile of destroyed antiques. If he had had the energy, he would have cried. Not because of the sentiment. It was because of the money. Indeed, it was almost certainly the most expensive pile of firewood in all of New England, perhaps all of America.
“Now that we’ve ruined all of this, what do you propose we do with it?” Arthur didn’t have the energy to think.
“Let’s not worry about that right now. We rent on a month-to-month basis. This stuff can sit here until we find the guy who bought the contents of the garage.”
“And where do you propose we put said contents if or when we locate them?” Arthur was picking flecks of paint off his pants.
“Seriously, Arthur. I wouldn’t be so concerned about those pants right now,” Rowena complained.
He looked at her blankly. “I suppose you’re right.”
“Arthur, do not fade on me now. I think we may be at the end of this wild-goose chase soon. Let’s go!” She was just a few decibels from shouting.
Rowena locked the unit and broke every traffic violation on the books, hurtling past stop signs, clipping corners, driving over people’s lawns. The “yee-haw” wild ride broke Arthur’s spell. He started to shriek. “Rowena! Watch out! What are you doing? Are you out of your mind? Slow down! Rowena! Stop!” The final turn into the enormous driveway was coming up. Arthur buried his head in his hands as she careened past the stone lions at the gate. She missed them by millimeters. If the car had had one more coat of paint on it, it would have been scraped off by the statues. Arthur was relieved the gates were open, or they would be a tangled mess of wrought iron, sawdust, and metal.
The car came to a screeching halt. Rowena jumped out of the driver’s side while Arthur sat for a moment to regain his composure. He was convinced Rowena was going to kill him. One way or another.
Rowena ran into Arthur’s study and fired up the computer. She pulled up the file. There it was. The second tab.SALVAGE. There was only one name. Nelson Architectural Salvage Company. It was located in Reston, Virginia. She looked at the clock. It was past eleven. She dialed the number and planned to leave a message. A husky voice answered the phone. “Yeah?”
“Uh, hello. Is this Nelson Architectural Salvage Company?” Rowena was sure she had dialed the wrong number.
“This is George Nelson. What can I do ya fer?”
Rowena heard noise in the background. He could have been in a bar. There was honky-tonk music and voices. Men’s voices. “Georgie! Yer up!”
“Hang on . . .” he said to Rowena. “Gimme a minute,” he said to the guy in the background.
He turned his attention back to Rowena. “Yeah. This is Nelson.”
“Hello, Mr. Nelson. I’m sorry to bother you at such a late hour. I assumed I would get an answering machine.”
“You can lose cust’mers if you ain’t available all the time.” His accent was thick.
“I suppose you’re right. I’ll be brief. My name is Rowena Millstone. I believe you purchased the contents of our garage several weeks ago.”
“You the place up there in Boston?”
“Yes, that’s us. Anyway, I was wondering if you still had any of the items? Unbeknownst to me, my husband wanted to have some of those things refurbished. Family mementos and such. He is in such a state of depression, and I feel terrible that I allowed this to happen.” Rowena was lying through her teeth, hoping she’d get the answer she was looking for.
“Uh-huh. Sorry about your troubles, ma’am, but I’m sorry to tell ya I sold them off in one big heap.”
“Would it be possible for you let me know to whom you sold them?”
“Yeah, I suppose I could, but not tonight.” He turned his head away from the phone and shouted to his friends, “Hold yer horses, be right there.”
