Chapter 2

Andi exhaled, “Yeah, dad told me. Let’s see if we think we can handle it first. The grounds I think we can do. The house itself is going to be harder. It’s a landmarked building.”

“This is the type of RFP you put out when you’ve just moved in,” Fizzy was running a practiced eye through the specs, “It’s like they want a whole new house. Makes no sense.”

Andi shrugged, “Dunno. But look at the budget they’re starting with.”

Fizzy flipped to the end and whistled. He looked at Andi, “Something with this much money tied to it is either too good to be true… or too true to be good. Nobody puts this much money on the table without getting bids first. Is your dad already committed?”

“Not yet, but he asked me to look into it. I agree with you though, something’s off. I’m going to do more digging tonight.”

Fizzy nodded, “Okay. Can I take this home to look at?”

“Go nuts,” Andi turned to her computer, “Tell me if there’s anything in there that you don’t like.”

Chapter Two — The Beast in the Castle

The Super Duty pickup made a wide turn off Route 47. Andi gunned the motor as they started climbing the incline up towards Harrier Ridge.

“Did you get the exterior specs from Jeff?” Steve was flipping through their proposal.

Andi nodded, “Yeah – I included it in the final version I sent over. Dad, are you sure about this? I hate to say it, but Lyle’s onto something. There’s like a Bermuda Triangle feeling about the Zedeckers.”

Steve pulled off his reading glasses, “You start thinking about the paranormal, and everything starts looking strange.”

Moments later, the two Zhaos were staring at the Zedecker mansion, mouths open. The estate looked like it had been overrun by nature for decades. Vines of ivy covered the massive building’s façade. The foliage was bending over with weight.

“No way this happened in a year,” Steve shook his head.

Andi looked at her dad, “We can still back out.”

“Nah,” Steve grinned, “Now I really want to figure out what’s going on. Come on, it’s trick-or-treating time. The letter said we should go in through the East door… which I think is that way…”

Father and daughter crunched their way across the gravel. The East door opened as they approached, and a man in an expensive suit appeared, “Mr. Zhao?”

“Yes,” Steve extended a hand.

“Frank Whitaker, I’m one of the attorneys for Madame Zedecker,” Frank shook Steve’s hand, “Come on in… and you are…?”

“This is Andi, my daughter. She’s one of our architects.”

“Nice to meet you,” Frank led them down a dimly lit corridor, “This way, please.”

Frank made a couple more turns and then twisted the knob of a massive oak door, “Right in here.”

The three of them walked into a huge room with vaulted ceilings. There was an older gentleman waiting for them. Andi correctly assumed he was also lawyer.

The white-haired man stood up, buttoned his jacket, and walked over to the Zhaos, hand extended. “Lewis Tremont. Managing Partner at Tremont, Lawson, and Foley. Thank you for coming today.”

“Have a seat,” Frank indicated to two empty chairs at the table.

“We’re grateful to have received your proposal. Candidly, you were the only ones who submitted one. We are therefore fortunate in being guaranteed a relatively expedient selection process.” Lewis Tremont did not sound like he felt fortunate, “My colleague and I have reviewed your proposal, and we have received approval from Madam Zedecker to award you the project. We would like to fully execute the contract today.”

This could have been done over email, mused Andi. She could almost hear the ding of a cash register as Tremont racked up his billable hours.

Lewis Tremont stood and gestured towards the window, “We wanted you to come so you could see for yourself the scope of the project.”

The Zhaos followed him and looked out the large bank of windows. The wild and unkempt view of the estate grounds matched the gloominess of the sky.

Tremont sighed with resignation, “We, er, have had difficulty with turnover when it comes to maintenance of the estate, and since you’re signing the contract today, we wanted to make sure you knew what you were getting into.”

“Why the urgency with the contract?” Steve asked.

“Ah,” Lewis Tremont’s face took on a little color, “Mr. Zedecker’s disappearance is approaching its one-year anniversary. The preponderance of evidence points towards an untimely death, and there are certain matters related to his estate that—”

A door on the other side of the room opened and Tremont jumped with surprise.

A motorized wheelchair whirred into the room. In it sat a small woman, whose body was bent over awkwardly. An impossibly large pair of sunglasses rested on her nose, sunglasses so large that they looked like they was struggling to stay on the woman’s face.

The gnarled hand on the joystick skillfully manipulated the wheelchair to the table.

“Lewis,” a surprisingly strong and vibrant voice emanated from the broken body, “Have we come to an agreement?”

“Er, not quite,” Tremont admitted as he rushed back to the table, “We were just about to go over the contract.”

A subtle sigh from the billionairess, “I mis-timed my entrance.”

Andi chuckled as she returned to her seat. It earned her a small smile from the lady of the manor.

“You find me amusing?” Madame Zedecker twisted the joystick so her wheelchair swiveled to face Andi.

Andi felt the disapproving glare from her father, “Uh, no, Ma’am. I thought your comment about your mis-timed entrance amusing… because it was well-timed… um, comedically, I mean…”

Another small smile and an almost imperceptible nod, “And you are…?”

Andi felt the old woman’s eyes laser in. The oversized sunglasses masked a great deal, but Andi could feel Madame Zedecker scrutinizing her.

Andi steadied her sightline on where she thought Madame Zedecker’s eyes would be and held them there, “I’m Andi Zhao, ma’am.”

Madame Zedecker’s heart started beating faster. Andi was looking directly at her. It had been a long time since that happened. Most people looked away; she couldn’t blame them, her mangled body was hard to look at. Andi’s gaze – gentle and harmless as it was – sent a ripple of delight through her heart. Doesn’t hurt that Andi is just my type… She quickly deflected, “Lewis, let’s get these signed. I’d prefer not to be sitting around all day.”

Andi tilted her head at Zedecker’s dry humor; she could have sworn she felt a wink coming at her from behind the giant sunglasses. As hideously deformed as the woman was, there was a youthfulness emanating from her. Andi could feel it.

Lewis Tremont stiffened his back, his professional demeanor returning, “Yes, indeed. Mr. Zhao, are you ready to review this for execution?”

Steve sat forward, “Yes, I believe so.”

All eyes turned to Madame Zedecker again. An arthritic finger pointed at Andi, “She reviews, she signs. Her project. Lewis, we’ve discussed this possibility.”

Andi shot a quick look at her father. They were both surprised.

“Andi isn’t an authorized signatory for Phoenix. Not yet, anyway.” Steve started to feel uneasy. He didn’t like clients using white-shoe lawyers to bully him into unconventional terms.

Lewis Tremont cleared his throat, “Er, we would be willing to accept Ms. Zhao’s signature if you act as witness, Mr. Zhao. Would that be satisfactory?”

Andi shrugged. Steve stood up, “Would you mind if we discussed this with counsel? We can commit to giving you an answer in the morning.”

Andi noticed the lawyers were all holding their breath. That’s not a good sign.

Madame Zedecker gave the slightest hint of a nod.

“That’ll be acceptable. We’ll email the new page with the amended signature blocks to you shortly,” Lewis Tremont capped his pen, “and also a rider noting Andi as signatory.” He nodded at Frank Whitaker, who stood up and indicated to the door, “I’ll walk you both out.”

Steve shook hands with Lewis and offered to shake Madame Zedecker’s hand, but she waved him off, “No later than 9am tomorrow, Mr. Zhao.”

Her hand returned to the joystick, and with a whir of the motor, she spun around and sped out of the room and into the waiting elevator. Her fingers tapped impatiently on the armrests as she ascended. The wheelchair zipped out of the elevator upon arrival on the second floor and didn’t come to a stop until it reached her room.

“You weren’t gone very long…?”

Zedecker turned toward the voice and raised an eyebrow, “Lewis is very efficient.”

“Yes, he is,” Kei Shang said as he held up a steaming teacup, “Here, drink this, it’s part of the deal.”

She grimaced before shakily bringing the cup to her lips. The bitter liquid went down with a scowl. The image of Andi Zhao flashed up in her mind’s eye. The scowl turned into a smile.

Kei Shang didn’t like seeing the smile.

He followed the wheelchair’s pivot towards the window, which looked down to the front motor court. Kei looked down to where the Zhaos were walking to their truck.

“Ah,” Shang said icily, “You think you’ve found a candidate…”

“Perhaps I have,” came the quiet answer.

Shang’s eyes narrowed, “Remember the rules, my dear. He must stay on his own accord and declare his love without any prompting by you.” He cocked his head with mock curiosity, “No one’s come anywhere close — what makes you think this one will stay? Which one? The son?”

Andi chose that moment to look back up at the mansion. Her eyes found Madame Zedecker immediately. Andi noticed the tall Asian man behind the debilitated woman. Her caregiver, most likely, she thought as she lifted a hand in greeting and smiled.

“Ooooh, you have made a connection,” Shang said sarcastically, “But is he the one?”

Zedecker lowered her sunglasses and pierced Shang with a glare, “Not a ‘he’. A ‘she’.”

If Kei Shang was surprised, he didn’t show it, “Same rules. Tick tock, your year is almost over.”

The woman ignored the last sentence; time meant very little, with the past ten months flying by perilously fast. But yet, she now allowed herself to feel a tiny sliver of hope.

Outside, on the west side of the mansion, a dozen vines of ivy retreated into nothingness.

Chapter Three – The Contract

“Dad?” Andi watched the speedometer with concern, “How about slowing down to, er, you know, within some reasonable proximity to the speed limit?”

“Call Chad,” Steve barked into his phone. He took his foot off the accelerator slightly.

“Hey – you’re on speaker, I’m in the car with Andi. We just finished up at the Zedecker place.”

Chad whistled, “Weird, right?”

“Yeah, the house is weird, the lawyers are weird, and the old lady is definitely weird. No ghosts though. Normal temps all through the house and my phone held its signal the entire time. I checked it pretty regularly.”

Chad whistled again, “Does that mean you signed?”

“Not yet – the Zedecker lady wanted Andi to sign. I’m going to have my lawyer go through the new riders they casually added on today as a result.”

“I can’t believe you’re going to do this.”

“I might not — Zedecker’s lawyers were hiding something. Madame Zedecker’s hiding something. I don’t know what yet.”

“Ok – let me know what you decide. I’ll get ready to poach your clients when you’re neck deep in Zedecker voodoo!”

“Asshole!” Steve retorted jokingly.

“Takes one to know one… Hey, we’re still on for Sunday night, right?” Chad hosted a weekly poker night at his place.

“Wouldn’t miss it. Get ready to lose your shirt, big guy,” Steve turned onto the on-ramp for the highway, “I gotta go.”

Andi looked at her dad, “Want me to call DP?”

Steve nodded. Andi fished out her phone and dialed David Pomeroy.

“Y’ello!” David picked up on the first ring.

“Hey DP, it’s Andi,” she grabbed the contract from the dashboard, “We’re just coming back from the Zedecker Estate.”

“No,” Andi replied, “They had weird ask… so there’s a new rider.”

“What’s Lewis Tremont up to now?” Pomeroy’s curiosity was piqued, “Who’d he have as his associate? Some kid fresh from law school?”

Andi shrugged, “Some guy named Frank Whitaker. He’s older though.”

“Whitaker’s his junior on this?” the lawyer sounded surprised, “Tremont doesn’t need that much back up! I’m surprised.”

“What do you mean?” Andi asked.

“Whitaker’s up for partner this year. He doesn’t need to be taking dictation from Tremont.”

The Zhaos looked at each other and shrugged.

“Eh, who cares,” Pomeroy continued, “If Zedecker wants to pay for it, who cares… Okay – I’ll take a look. Are you guys headed back to the office? I can swing by later.”

“No – we’re headed home,” Steve said, “Traffic isn’t cooperating and I’m not sitting in this any more than necessary.”

“Gotcha. What’s the weird ask?”

“Oh, um, they asked me to sign the docs,” Andi replied, “I’ll forward the rider once I get it. Do you think you can review it by end of day? We promised Tremont an answer tomorrow morning first thing.”

“You bet. I’ll buzz you when I’m done.” David Pomeroy hung up.

Steve slowed down as they hit traffic, “If DP says it’s all legit, are you comfortable signing?”

Andi shrugged, “I guess. Chad was right though — based on what we saw, this is going to take months. We might even be short-handed.”

Andi’s phone pinged. “Looks like the new rider,” she opened up the document, “I’ll send it straight to DP. You want to go over the budget again? I think we’re going to need Jeff’s team for longer than we thought.”

“We’re sitting in traffic,” Steve drummed at the steering wheel, “Might as well do something with the time.”

“Why do you think they want me to sign?” Andi pulled out a pen and started to mark up the budget, “What could be the reason?”

Steve was silent for a bit.

“Maybe they can use it as a way to cancel the RFP?” Andi offered.

Steve scratched his head, “No idea, but it can’t be good. But it’s a risk to them, too. They’re accepting your signature as an un-authorized signatory. It gives a lot of wiggle room for us to say it’s not binding.”

“Did you know that Joan Zedecker has basically gone through almost a dozen RFPs in the past year? Interior decorators, art curators, engineers, landscapers, chefs, restoration experts… you name it, it’s been RFP’ed for contract.”

“And the house still looks like an abandoned disaster,” Steve raised an eyebrow, “Why’s she in a wheelchair?”

Andi shook her head, “Nobody knows. I haven’t been able to find anything about it. Press photos before her husband and daughter disappeared were all run-of-the-mill hoity-toity black-tie stuff, nobody in a wheelchair. No photos of her after the disappearances.”