Second Chance: November 18

The story starts here.

“It’s going to be a long day tomorrow… and the next… and the next,” Karin said.

“A lot of my customers have strong opinions about the nursing homes in the area,” Michelle said.

“Yeah, I suppose people probably do.”

“One woman says she even put it in her will that all her money goes to charity if her kids put in her a nursing home. Another woman claims that Beckman Arms is a torture chamber.” Michelle said.

“Torture chamber? Okay, put Beckman Arms at the top of my list then,” Karin said sarcastically.

“I can ask my customers for some real information though and maybe get some good recommendations.” Michelle offered.

“Yeah, that would be great,” Karin said. She stirred the last bit of ice in the bottom of her glass.

“Shall we get another round?”

“No, I need to call it a night. I’ve got a lot to do and the sooner I get working on it, the better,” Karin said.

“You’ve probably already made your to-do list…”

“Oh yeah, a huge one,” Karin said. “But, after these drinks, I should sleep really well tonight.”

Karin went home and reviewed her to-do list. It was pages long. From Virginia’s hospital bills and care needs to Mindy Vasper’s eviction; the Piermont Complex proposal and the Bennett files; the Fire Marshall’s investigation and the two vacant apartments that she couldn’t gain access to for starters. As she read through the list to make sure she hadn’t forgotten anything, thoughts of Jay kept sneaking into her mind.

“Okay, that was one drink too many,” she admonished herself when she couldn’t focus on her work any longer. But, she did sleep better that night than she had in weeks. She woke up the next morning before her alarm sounded and she felt energized and ready to face anything, even her monster sized to-do list.

Karin leaned back in her chair and dialed the number for John Kinsmore, attorney at law. She sipped her coffee and took notes as he explained the information that he had been able to retrieve from the Fire Marshall’s investigation into the fire at the First Street house.

“I’m waiting on a final report, but preliminary evidence suggests that the electric water heater in the bathroom had a short in the wiring. The sparks might have been harmless, but there was a lot of debris, maybe toilet paper or towels, pushed up against it and these items caught fire.” John explained. “There is still some question as to whether or not there was any intent on Virginia’s part, but I don’t think they are going to pursue that route.”

“I doubt she would even know how to make that happen,” Karin said solemnly. “She was just a bad housekeeper, to be honest.”

“Well, they are taking her medical records into consideration as well. Under other circumstances, it would have been a small fire, easily put out by a home fire extinguisher, but because she was apparently unconscious enough to not be woken by the alarms, that is a factor in their investigation.”

“So, because she was passed out drunk, it’s unlikely that she set the fire on purpose?” Karin asked.

“That’s the general premise,” John answered. “Unless she was suicidal…”

“No, she was a lot of things, but she wasn’t suicidal.” Karin said.

“That’s what they’re going with for now.”

“Okay, let me know as soon as you get the final word,” Karin said. “The insurance adjuster is waiting to meet me at the house as soon as we can get in, so we can start getting estimates. The policy covers loss of rent, but only for a limited number of days and right now, we’re using them up waiting to get in.”

“As soon as my office has a copy of the final report, you should be able to get in and do what you need to do,” John said.

“Alright, thanks.”

Karin had her laptop open and was searching for local nursing homes before she even finished her conversation with John Kinsmore. She was scanning websites as she reviewed the home care instructions that she’d received from the hospital. Trying to match her mother’s needs with the services offered at the local homes was proving challenging, it was hard to tell from their websites exactly what services they offered and how well they would serve her mother’s needs. She would probably have to make appointments and go interview some of them.

“Because I have all the time in the world…” Karin said to her computer.

She set aside the care papers and turned instead to the payment plan that she had signed with the hospital. She added the payments to her budget worksheet that she’d been working on for the bank. Karin had started putting together a loan application after she mailed the proposal for the Piermont Complex. If she got that contract, she was sure she’d have enough income to get a mortgage for the Bennett’s Lakeshore Drive house.

The front door bell rang. She closed the files she had open and answered the door. Troy Bennett was standing at the door.

“I’m sorry, I thought I’d already unlocked the door,” Karin said as she opened the door and flipped her closed sign to open.

“I knew you’d be here,” Troy said. “I brought over all the documents that I could find for my mother’s properties. I don’t know what’s all here or how much of it you even need, but I brought everything I could find, just in case.”

“Well, it’s probably better to have too much information rather than not enough,” Karin said, taking the files from him.

“I really appreciate you helping our family with this,” Troy said.

“Oh, you’re welcome. I appreciate you bringing me your business.” Troy stepped forward toward her and seemed to want to say something more.

“I’ll get going on these files right away,” Karin said. “I can have them done by the end of the day and then I’ll get introduction letters out to the tenants and let them know to contact me with any questions or maintenance needs.”

“Right,” Troy said. “It will be good to have that taken care of… so, I was wondering if I could take you out to dinner tonight… like, to say thank you.”

“Oh.” Karin said, taken by surprise. “Um, that’s really generous, but it’s really not necessary.” She saw in his face that her answer was not what he wanted to hear. “I have a really busy weekend, but maybe sometime later in the week.”

“Alright,” Troy said. “I’ll call you.”

“That sounds good,” Karin said. After Troy left, Karin felt uneasy about how she had handled his request. Her mind was so full of all the things going on in her life that she was completely caught off guard by it. She wished she had just said yes politely and professionally. It was not unusual for her clients to take her out to dinner, for meetings or updates on their properties, sometimes even just to be friendly, she didn’t know why she’d been nervous about saying yes to Troy. Maybe it was because he’d been anxious about asking her.

“It’s probably just stress,” she said out loud, speaking both about his anxiety and her own. She cleared a space on her desk and set down the files. The Bennetts property consisted of two five-unit buildings that sat side by side in the middle of the two hundred block of North Madison Avenue. Mrs. Bennett had kept good records on each unit and the files were generally well organized. Karin only had to take the time to transfer the information and documents to the format that she used in her office.

“Troy, I have just a couple of questions about the files you brought over,” Karin said on the phone with Troy Bennett a few hours later when she had gone over all the files.

“Okay, I’ll try to help.”

“Everything is really well organized, so it was easy to move it into my system,” Karin said. “But, I’m wondering how current all of these are. There are no applications or leases or anything dated within the last year, and I know that’s about how long your mom was in the nursing home, so I’m wondering if you have anything more recent.”

“I gave you everything that I could find.”

“Okay, where were the renters sending their rent every month?” Karin asked.

“To me,” Troy said. “made out to my mom. I just deposited the checks into her account every month.”

“Did you keep track of who paid each month?”

“No, but I kept all the print outs from the ATM, and they have copies of the checks on them.” Troy said.

“Alright, that’s a good start. Can you bring those to me?” Karin said. “Also, did anyone move out during the past year or are all the tenants the same?”

“No, no one moved out as far as I know.” Troy said. “But, I don’t live in Dunewood, so I haven’t been over there. My nephew, the one who was living at Mom’s house, he was supposed to be keeping an eye on the property as part of getting to live in the house. But, I don’t know if he really did that or not.”

Karin took a deep breath and let it back out. This contract was going to prove more complicated that she’d originally thought.

“That dinner you suggested,” Karin said. “Can you still make it tonight?”

“Yes, of course.”

“Okay, if you can bring those bank print outs and I’ll bring some questions, maybe we can try to find the answers out together.” Karin said. “I really do have a full schedule today, but there’s an Applebee’s in town and they have half-price appetizers after nine o’clock, is that too late?”

“No, it’s perfect.” Troy said.

Karin made a list of questions and put the files away. She grabbed the keys to Mindy Vasper’s apartment and put up her out on appointment sign.

She knocked on the door of Mindy’s apartment, and there was no answer. She dialed Mindy’s phone number and the mechanical voice still said that the number was disconnected. She peeked in the windows and saw that the place looked empty. She put the key in the lock and turned the knob. It was better than she’d expected.

Karin walked into the kitchen and saw a note on the counter.

“Mrs. Anderson – I’m so sorry that I couldn’t pay the rent. Here are the keys.” It wasn’t much, and it didn’t pay back any of the rent that was overdue, but the apartment was clean and she would add the letter to the file as indication that Mindy had moved out on her own and it would save her the cost of an eviction.

Karin headed back to her office. She had a handful of applications from the apartment that she’d just rented to the tenants who had to move out of the First Street house because of the fire. Those applications had already been processed and she had a few prospects who she thought might be interested in this apartment. Her to-do list was growing rather than shrinking, but business was looking up.

Find out what happens next here.