Read Online Dead Cat Bounce by Norman Green - Free Book Online Page A

You won’t be able to use it in court.”
    He nodded. “They will destroy the evidence if they know what to look for. I don’t know how much time I have left. And it doesn’t matter whether it’s been found legally or not, once it gets out that there’s something historically significant on that property, we’ve won. The developer will be forced to sell to the state. Anyhow, now you understand my interest in this house.”
    â€œBut…Surely you can’t be serious. Would you actually buy this place, just to…” She gestured at the woods.
    â€œMy employer’s generosity does have its limits,” he said. “You still have this property under exclusive contract, am Iright? If we were to compensate you for your forbearance, could you be persuaded not to show this house for, say, another week to ten days? Or is the market too hot for such a thing?”
    â€œThe top end of the market has plateaued,” she said. “Yours is the first call I’ve gotten on the place. But what you’re proposing is unethical and against the law. I would be acting contrary to the interests of the current owner.”
    â€œI understand,” he said. “Can I ask you who the current owner is?” She looked at him, unsure. “I’m sure it’s a matter of public record. You’d hardly be giving away state secrets.”
    â€œSony,” she said. “One of their executives owned it, and they took it off his hands when they transferred him back to Japan.”
    â€œAhh,” he said. “Well, that’s a relief. All is not lost, corporate property managers are notoriously corrupt.”
    â€œWell, in that case,” she said, and she cleared her throat. “How much are we talking about?”
    â€œI can go ten thousand,” he said. “In cash, of course. For a week.” He nodded his head in the direction of the front door. “I came prepared,” he said. “The money is out in my car.”
    â€œLord have mercy,” she said. “Here’s the key. I’ll give you two weeks. How’s that? Is there anything else you need?”
    â€œYes,” he said. “I’ll need the garage door opener.”
    Â 
    He stepped through the woods carefully, taking his time, doing his best to walk south in a straight line, which would keep him parallel to the road and the parkway beyond. The sound of the traffic was muffled, but steady and unceasing. Once out of sight of the McMansions, there was nothing to look at but the trees, the carpet of leaves under his feet, the occasional stone ledge shouldering its way up through the earth, a dead tree here andthere, prone on the forest floor. Three times he crossed narrow trails that meandered across his path. Kids, he thought, coming into the woods to drink beer, but there were no empty beer cans anywhere, no footprints, and the trails were too narrow to have been made by a bunch of undisciplined humans. That’s not the way we walk, he thought. We wander off the trail, we throw shit on the ground to let everyone know we’ve been here, empty bottles and candy wrappers and cigarette butts. He saw none of that. Deer, he thought, or coyotes. This part of New Jersey had plenty of both.
    He stopped next to a giant elm. The tree was a monster, it completely dwarfed its neighbors. He stood there, leaning by one hand against the deeply ridged bark of the tree as he looked down the slope in front of him. There was a clearing about a hundred and fifty yards ahead. He could see the bright green of cultivated grass shining between the tree trunks, the glint of a galvanized metal chain-link fence. A dog sat just inside the fence, small in the distance, tan and dark brown, lean and hungry-looking. Doberman, he thought. The thing knows you’re up here, and he wants a piece of you…. He moved forward carefully, slowly halving the distance between himself and the dog before