Nina Wright - Whiskey Mattimoe 01 - Whiskey on the Rocks by Nina Wright

Author:Nina Wright [Wright, Nina]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mystery: Cozy - Real Estate Broker - Michigan
ISBN: 9780738707495
Publisher: Midnight Ink
Published: 2005-09-30T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seventeen

The charge was preposterous. I’d never made a contract with Rico Anuncio.

Laura Bush’s doppelganger disagreed. “He claims that he contracted with Mattimoe Realty to locate a property for purchase, and you have failed to represent his best interests. He says that you have repeatedly refused to follow instructions.”

I asked Mrs. VanDam to let me read Rico’s claim for myself. He alleged that we were “deliberately withholding suitable properties, including those listed by other realtors and those for sale by owner.”

“Piffle!” I fumed, wondering even as I said it where I’d heard such a wimpy expletive. Probably from Laura Bush.

“Piffle what?” Odette was in my office doorway. She had struck her usual irreverent pose, arms crossed over her chest, hip and head cocked.

I introduced her to Jane VanDam and then presented Rico’s complaint.

Odette sniffed. “What can Rico expect? He is most uncooperative.”

Apparently, we needed to talk. I invited Mrs. VanDam to sample some coffee and pastry in our conference room. She went willingly. I wheeled on Odette. She was checking her scarlet fingernails from her perch on the edge of my desk.

“You signed a buyer’s agreement with Rico? What were you thinking?”

“Handsome commission. What does anyone think about in this business?”

“I should have been informed!”

Odette shrugged. “Tina processed the paperwork. You should have got a copy.”

Tina again. As if on cue, our wayward office manager was at my door, darlings in tow. I don’t like children in the workplace, especially my workplace.

“You told me to bring them,” Tina said, reading my mood.

“Yes, well—can you put them somewhere?”

She gave them each a juice box and dispatched them, loudly sucking, to another room. As I read the phone log and registered letters, I could hear Tina sniffling and Odette filing her nails.

“What I don’t understand,” I began, “is why you’ve both kept me out of the loop about my own business.”

Odette replied, “We’ve tried to keep you in the loop, but you don’t hear us since Leo died.”

“Are you saying that I’ve been negligent?”

“I’m saying you’ve been distracted and disorganized and a real pain in the ass. Right, Tina?”

“Well, I don’t think I’d put it—”

“Has Whiskey been a pain in the ass or not?” Odette demanded.

“She’s been a pain in the ass,” Tina sighed.

Everyone should have a pain—or be one—now and then. If only to appreciate the pain-free times when they roll around again. That’s what I told Odette and Tina, but they merely stared at me. So I suggested we review the complaints.

Rico was a disgruntled buyer who felt we were holding out on him.

The Reitbauers claimed that I had failed to secure their home as per the terms of our property management contract. I expected as much from Mrs. R.

Martha Glenn’s complaint concerned a damaged waterline, which she said had ruined her entire backroom stock. But Tina insisted that we had not received a single phone call or letter from anyone at Town & Gown, and Martha had never mentioned a problem to me.

I vowed to personally contact all three clients and find a way to make things right.

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