An Uncollected Death Read online

moving sale, especially not if you’re doing it on your own. What I have in mind is using an estate liquidator. They literally do everything, from set up to clean up. You won’t have to do much work other than just picking out what you want to keep and setting it aside. Diane tells me you need to downsize, and estate liquidation is a very efficient way to do it. I could get Warren Brothers Estate and Auction out here to start setting up as soon as next week and have the sale the week after. The house will be emptied out, and you’ll have some cash to tide you over until it sells.”

  “Wow!” Charlotte thought about all the foreclosure signs she’d seen. The competition was indeed stiff. The faster she could sell this house, the more likely she would be able to sell it at all. “How much do they charge?”

  “They would only take ten percent of the sales. You pay nothing up front. They take care of the advertising, all the paperwork and taxes, and it’s also a good way to get a lot of people going through this house, too. You’ve got some nice stuff here, like the sectional, the rugs and the piano, unless of course you were planning to keep them.”

  Charlotte’s thoughts bounced between excitement at raising cash within a couple of weeks and not having to set up a moving sale herself, and dismay at the idea of no longer owning any of her stuff. Lola went through a folder and pulled out a spreadsheet with a list of names in the first column and services offered across the top, along with commission percentage and contact information.

  “Here’s the list we use at Bysell Realty, all the estate liquidation services in the area. As you can see, most of them charge a higher commission, or they specialize in business or farm auctions. Any of them can handle your sale, but Warren Brothers charges the least commission.”

  Charlotte noted that Warren Brothers didn’t offer cleanup after the sale or delivery of unsold items to charities, as did Stanton Estate Services, the next one on the list. But Stanton charged thirty percent commission. That was a lot higher.

  “Warren Brothers, that’s the same people with the pawn shop, as in Bosley Warren?”

  “Yes it is. He’s got a high profile right now, and that alone will help draw in people for a sale. Let me give them a call right now and see if they can come out and give you more information and a time frame.”

  “Hey, sure, thanks, if that’s no problem.” Charlotte was curious, both about Bosley Warren and about how the estate sale would work out. But mostly she was fascinated by the process of business networking, first with Diane calling Lola, and then now with Lola calling Bosley Warren. Was it a small-town thing, a Chamber of Commerce or other small-business thing? As a writer who worked mostly online from her home office, Charlotte’s range of influence had been her name in the column under the magazine mast head, but nothing more. The last time she’d needed to network locally, it was to access the Lake Parkerton babysitter referral list. Ernie next door had reliable referrals for everything else, like plumbers.

  Lola walked around while making the call, and went out onto the deck. Her arms moved while she talked, as if she was describing the house and the lake view. Charlotte heard her laugh briefly before ending the call and coming back into the kitchen.

  “Bosley Warren himself will be here in about forty-five minutes.  As soon as I said Lake Parkerton and estate sale, he rearranged his day. The real estate market might be struggling, but estate sales are where it’s at.”

  Charlotte laughed, remembering the way Lola shouted “Yes!” when Diane mentioned Lake Parkerton. “Yeah, it’s a good time for turkey buzzards.” Lola seemed not to hear as she brought up a listing form on her computer. Was Lola offended by the remark? “Thanks again for making the call and getting him over here so quickly.”

  “No problem. It looks like you’ve taken action already,” said Lola, pointing at the boxes with the figurines and other clutter. “I’m impressed.”

  “I started tackling everything quite suddenly. Had an epiphany of sorts. I think I know what kind of lifestyle I really want for myself and I’m ready to make the changes. Now I just need to find a place to move to.”

  While they dealt with the listing paperwork, Lola told her about the more remarkable houses she’d sold and the difference in prices that a couple of years made, as well as the differences in the impact the economy had from town to town.

  “Do you want to stay here in Lake Parkerton, or move away, do you know?”

  Charlotte thought a moment. “Mostly I just want to get away from Lake Parkerton, to go someplace where there’s not so much upheaval, and of course much less expensive, but still a pleasant quality of life, if you know what I mean.”

  “I think I do. What you’ll want is an established neighborhood, but an affordable one. Some place like Elm Grove, actually, with that nice historic downtown.”

  “I used to live there before my divorce, and thought I’d never go back, to be honest.”

  “I understand. But it’s evolved a bit in the last ten years. It’s a good walking and biking town, there’s lots of entertainment and restaurants and theater, and of course events at the university if you wanted. There’s some quirkier neighborhoods, too. And the property taxes aren’t anywhere near what they are here!”

  Lola’s phone rang and she excused herself, needing to take the call, and once again walked around and orchestrated her statements with her arms. When she finished, she said she had another showing back in Elm Grove, so they wrapped things up for the day, with Charlotte agreeing to let her know how things went with Bosley Warren. Charlotte liked Lola more than she expected to, but nonetheless was relieved when the real estate agent’s effervescent presence was gone and things were nice and quiet again. She rubbed the back of her neck and checked the time. Fifteen minutes until Bosley Warren arrived. She went to her office to space out and play solitaire on the computer, let her mind relax and wander.

  Could she move back to Elm Grove? Could she see herself living well in a place that had so many old memories, many of which weren’t very good? It would be a practical location. Her doctors were there, her hair salon, and she knew where to find goods and services. There were good grocery stores, her car mechanic—just about everything she needed was there, as was Helene, and Diane. Being able to walk along tree-lined neighborhoods would help make up for losing this wonderful view of the lake. Ellis would love it on visits home, as she still had a lot of friends there from weekends with Jack.

  She got online and did a search for apartments in Elm Grove, which revealed that the average rent in the big complexes was higher than what Diane recommended in the budget. Then she searched for the kind that weren’t part of complexes or run by management companies. There weren’t many, or they were temporary sublets, or they were duplexes that were both too much space and too much money. Several were renters looking for roommates to share the cost. Charlotte preferred to have as much control over her space as she could, so a roomie was out.

  Then she spotted a terse listing dated the week before, “Studio, downtown, second floor, utilities included.” And a high rent. There was something about it, though. She didn’t know if she was projecting her hopes, or if her intuition was giving her a nudge, but she picked up her phone and called the number, which rang for a bit, and then suddenly a man’s voice answered, “The Good Stuff. Larry speaking.”

  The Good Stuff? The gift shop in Elm Grove? “Hi. I saw an ad for an apartment with this number, and wondered if it was still available.”

  Larry let out a snort. “Oh, it’s still available. Why? You wanna take a look?”

  “Well, can you tell me more about it?”

  “It’s a studio above the store, Harvey Street entrance, long flight of stairs, lotta windows, bathroom, efficiency kitchen, one closet, utilities included.”

  “When can I see it?”

  “Anytime you like, just come to the store and ask for me. Larry.”

  “I’m surprised it is still available.”

  “You won’t be when you see it. It’s a dump.”

  Charlotte laughe
d in surprise. “You don’t sound like you are trying too hard to get it rented out.”

  “Eh, well, I am and I’m not. The previous tenants made a mess of things and I haven’t had time to get it cleaned up. And I’m warning you I’m gonna be picky about the next renter.”

  “What did they do to it?”

  “They lived like pigs!  A couple of law students, looked real clean-cut and serious when I rented it to them, but then they’d have these screaming rows when I got customers here, and had all sorts of strange-looking people coming and going and making the customers nervous. Then a few weeks ago they got busted for dealing coke, cops all over the place, making me and the shop look bad, you know? I don’t need the grief. You another law student?”

  “Oh, wow. No, Larry, I’m old enough to be a law student’s mom, and I don’t deal drugs. Just looking for a little apartment with an Internet connection and reasonably comfortable.”

  There was a pause. “You’ll wanna come see it, then. It needs some fixing up, but I’ll work with ya.”

  “I’ll stop by tomorrow, if that’s okay?”

  “Yeah, I’ll be here all day. Hope you won’t be discouraged, but it’s a cute place when it’s fixed up.”

   

  It felt so strange to look around at her house and her things and to be thinking about them as if they were already history,