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“He also informed me that he told you to paint the town red tonight or something to that effect, on the company dime, of course.”
“Yeah, he did,” said an amused Gibson.
“I looked you up before I called. You’re a single mom with two little kids, right?”
Now Gibson understood the chuckle.
“That’s right. And just as I was telling Zeb to lock down those accounts my son threw up on me.”
“Well, I’ve got three under the age of five at home, so I can definitely relate. And I knew you weren’t going to be painting anything red unless it’s a room in your house.”
Gibson laughed. “Spoken like a true mom. Where are you operating from?”
“Albany. I was told it was ProEye’s headquarters about ten years ago, before they really took off and went global.”
“That’s right. I’ve been with them for about two years. It’s a good firm.”
“And it lets people work remotely, which is very nice.”
“Yes it is. So, what can I do for you, Ms. Robinson?”
“Please, make it Arlene. Here’s the thing, and it’s a little different but I was told to call and run it past you.”
“Okay,” said Gibson expectantly.
“There’s an old mansion near Smithfield, Virginia, on the James River, that went into foreclosure. That’s why they thought of you, because you’re in the area.”
“Thought of me for what?”
“They want you to go there and take an inventory of the home’s contents. The file says that there’s a house key under a statue of a cat near the front entrance, if you can believe that.”
“Thisisa little unusual. I usually do my sleuthing on the internet.”
“I know. That’s most of what ProEye does, as you know. But this is what I was told. And they’d like you to go out today if possible. You can talk to Zeb if you want, but I know he’s in a meeting now. And they really wanted to get you out there fast. It sounded to me like there might be a nice field bonus in there for you, too.”
Gibson was thinking that doing a little field work would be a welcome change from staring at a computer screen for the next few hours. And bonuses were always nice. She would have to call her parents and hope they could come over. She had their calendar and she brought it up on her screen.Okay, they have no doctor appointments today. That’s a miracle.
“I think I can make that work. What can you tell me about the property and ProEye’s interest?”
“I’ve got the info up on my screen. The mansion was built in the 1920s by a man named Mason Rutherford. He was a robber baron who made his money in railroad, timber, and mining. He owned a mansion in Colorado, a five-story town house in New York, and this place in Virginia. It’s on land where a British Lord built his home; it was later burned down during the Revolutionary War.” She added in a joking manner, “So there might be a ghost or two around.”
“Just what I always wanted to be—a ghost hunter.”
“Rutherford died in 1940 and his wife, Laura, who was much younger than he was, lived there until 1998. She was a hundred when she passed away. And the place had fallen into disrepair. Must have cost a fortune to keep up.”
“And the current owner?” asked Gibson, who was wondering what she was going to wear on this field trip.
“Ah, that’s the notorious Rutger Novak. He bought the place about seven years ago and spent an enormous amount of money undertaking an extensive renovation.”
“Rutger Novak? I definitely know that name.”
“Right. He and ProEye have a history, and not a good one. Forgive me if I’m telling you things you already know, but Novak is German. He was a big international businessman thirty years back, though always on the shady side. Arms dealer, Middle East strongman backer. He worked both sides on pretty much every deal. He had some setbacks over the years, and it looked like he would go quietly into the night with the bucks he had left. But he apparently made some bad decisions that sucked him dry and then he started to borrow heavily, and it turned out the assets pledged as collateral were mostly phony. ProEye chased him years ago on behalf of a whole coterie of clients, and they ended up with egg on their faces and not a dollar to show for their efforts.”
Gibson said, “That part I know very well. It was before my time, but the firm has never forgotten it. It’s part of the company lore. They even tell it to you during orientation as a warning sign against complacency and not going the extra mile.”
“Well, time apparently caught up to Novak. Everything has now gone belly-up in the last couple of months.”
“Is he around or did he hit the road like last time?”
