“What a truly inspiring idea. Certainly makes my job easier. Do you know the name of the place?” Pemberton’s smile was broadening.
“Wicken’s Hunt.”
Pemberton’s smile quickly faded.
“Oh.” He licked his lips, made a clicking sound with his tongue against his teeth. “Wicken’s Hunt,” he repeated, looking depressed.
“What’s the matter? Did it burn down or something?”
“No, no. It’s a beautiful place, wonderfully restored.” Pemberton sighed deeply. “Unfortunately it’s no longer on the market.”
“You sure?” Conklin sounded skeptical.
“I’m certain. I was the selling agent.”
“Damn, how long ago?”
“About two years, although the people have only been in it for several months. There was a lot of renovation work to do.”
Conklin looked at him slyly, eyebrows cocked. “Think they might want to sell?”
Pemberton’s mind raced through the possibilities. Flipping a property like that within the relatively short span of two years? What a wonderful impact on his wallet.
“Anything’s possible. I’ve actually gotten to know them—well, one of them anyway—fairly well. Just had breakfast with him, in fact.”
“So it’s a couple then, old like me, I guess. Wicken’s Hunt isn’t exactly a starter home from what my father told me.”
“Actually, they’re not a couple. And he’s older, but the property doesn’t belong to him. It belongs to her.”
Conklin leaned forward. “To her?”
Pemberton looked around for a moment, got up and fully shut the door to his conference room, and then sat back down.
“You understand that I’m telling you this in confidence.”
“Absolutely. I didn’t survive all those years on Wall Street without understanding confidences.”
“While the land records show a corporation as the title holder, the real owner of Wicken’s Hunt is a young woman. Catherine Savage. Obviously incredibly wealthy. Quite frankly, I’m not certain what the source of that wealth is, nor is it my business to ask. She lived abroad for years. Has a little girl about ten. Charlie Thomas—the older man—he and I have had some nice little discussions. They’ve been very generous with several local charities. She doesn’t come out in public very much, but that’s understandable.”
“Sure is. If I moved here, you might not see me for weeks on end.”
“Exactly. They seem to be real good people, though. They seem very happy here. Very happy.”
Conklin sat back and it was his turn to sigh. “Well, I guess they won’t be looking to move any time soon. Damn shame too.” He eyed Pemberton intently. “Real damn shame, since I make it my practice to pay a finder’s fee on top of any real estate commission you might collect from the seller.”
Pemberton perked up noticeably. “Is that right?”
“Now, there aren’t any ethical considerations that would prevent you from accepting such an inducement, are there?”
“None that I can think of,” Pemberton said quickly. “So, how much would that inducement come to?”
“Twenty percent of the purchase price.” Harry Conklin drummed his fingers on the tabletop and watched Pemberton’s face turn different colors.
If Pemberton hadn’t been sitting down, he would’ve toppled to the floor. “That’s very generous,” he finally managed to say.
“If I want something done, I find the best way to accomplish my goal is to provide decent incentives to those in a position to help me achieve that goal. But from the looks of things here, I don’t think it’s likely. Maybe I’ll try North Carolina, I hear good things about it.” Conklin started to get up.
“Wait a minute. Please wait just a minute.”
Conklin hesitated and then slowly resumed his seat.
“Actually, your timing may be perfect.”
“Why’s that?”
Pemberton leaned even closer to him. “There have been recent developments, very recent developments, that might give us an opening to approach them about selling.”
“If they just moved in, seem happy here, what kind of developments are we talking about? The place isn’t haunted, is it?”
“No, nothing like that. As I said, I had a breakfast meeting with Charlie. He was concerned about a person who had come to visit them. Asking for money.”
“So? That happens to me all the time. You think that’ll make them pack up and leave?”
“Well, I wouldn’t have thought so at first either, but the more I thought about it, the more unusual it sounded. I mean, you’re right, the rich get approached all the time, so why should this man upset them so? But he obviously did.”