“I’ll make you a deal,” Lara said.
He was listening. “Yeah?”
“I’ll give you your asking price…”
He smiled. “So far so good.”
“And I’ll give you a down payment of three million in cash.”
He shook his head. “Can’t do it. I’ve got to have six million in cash up front.”
“You’ll have it.”
“Yeah? Where’s the other three coming from?”
“From you.”
“What?”
“You’re going to give me a second mortgage for three million.”
“You want to borrow money from me to buy my building?”
It was the same thing Sean MacAllister had asked her in Glace Bay.
“Look at it this way,” Lara said. “You’re really borrowing the money from yourself. You’ll own the building until I pay it off. There’s no way you can lose.”
He thought about it and grinned. “Lady, you just bought yourself a hotel.”
Howard Keller’s office in the bank was a cubicle with his name on the door. When Lara walked in, he looked more rumpled than ever.
“Back so soon?”
“You told me to come and see you when I found a hotel. I found one.”
Keller leaned back in his chair. “Tell me about it.”
“I found an old hotel called the Congressional. It’s on Delaware. It’s a few blocks from Michigan Avenue. It’s rundown and seedy, and I want to buy it and turn it into the best hotel in Chicago.”
“Tell me the deal.”
Lara told him.
Keller sat there, thinking. “Let’s run it past Bob Vance.”
Bob Vance listened and made some notes. “It might be possible,” he said, “but…” He looked at Lara. “Have you ever run a hotel before, Miss Cameron?”
Lara thought about all the years of running the boarding-house in Glace Bay, making the beds, scrubbing the floors and doing the laundry and the dishes, trying to please the different personalities and keep peace.
“I ran a boardinghouse full of miners and lumbermen. A hotel will be a cinch.”
Howard Keller said, “I’d like to take a look at the property, Bob.”
Lara’s enthusiasm was irresistible. Howard Keller watched Lara’s face as they walked through the seedy hotel rooms, and he saw them through her eyes.
“This will be a beautiful suite with a sauna,” Lara said excitedly. “The fireplace will be here, and the grand piano in that corner.” She began to pace back and forth. “When affluent travelers come to Chicago, they stay at the best hotels, but they’re all the same—cold rooms without any character. If we can offer them something like this, even though it may cost a little more, there’s no doubt about which they’ll choose. This will really be a home away from home.”
“I’m impressed,” Howard Keller said.
Lara turned to him eagerly. “Do you think the bank will loan me the money?”
“Let’s find out.”
Thirty minutes later Howard Keller was in a conference with Vance.
“What do you think about it?” Vance asked.
“I think the lady’s on to something. I like her idea about a boutique hotel.”
“So do I. The only problem is that she’s so young and inexperienced. It’s a gamble.” They spent the next half hour discussing costs and projected earnings.
“I think we should go ahead with it,” Keller finally said. “We can’t lose.” He grinned. “If worse comes to worst, you and I can move into the hotel.”
Howard Keller telephoned Lara at the Stevens Hotel. “The bank has just approved your loan.”
Lara let out a shriek. “Do you mean it? That’s wonderful! Oh, thank you, thank you!”
“We have a few things to talk about,” Howard Keller said. “Are you free for dinner this evening?”
“Yes.”
“Fine. I’ll pick you up at seven-thirty.”
They had dinner at the Imperial House. Lara was so excited that she barely touched her food.
“I can’t tell you how thrilled I am,” she said. “It’s going to be the most beautiful hotel in Chicago.”
“Easy,” Keller warned, “there’s a long way to go.” He hesitated. “May I be frank with you, Miss Cameron?”
“Lara.”
“Lara. You’re a dark horse. You have no track record.”
“In Glace Bay…”
“This isn’t Glace Bay. To mix metaphors, it’s a different ball park.”
“Then why is the bank doing this?” Lara asked.