The Charity (13 page)

“Well, now, Sweetheart. That’s right. This part of town is mostly protected land. One family or another over the generations had granted their land to the town for preservation. So the homesteads you do find out this way are from the original settling families. Perc is real proud of its mountainside. Why you can stand anywhere in the valley look up at the mountains and see the same thing our forefathers saw. Just beautiful, wide-open forest. It’s so striking when you compare our little valley to some of the others up the river. Why, do you know what they let happen up there? Some poor, misguided folks entrusted their family lands to land rapers! Those poor folk just stood by while some coal mine or lumber mill leveled their beautiful hills. Such a crying shame! It was certainly lucky for us that our town fathers had the wisdom and the foresight to stop anything like that from happening to us. And now we just have a gem of a valley all to ourselves. And the seasonal folk, of course. But mostly ourselves.”

Jessica only half listened to the patter of her guide. This is one town that did not like outsiders, she concluded, and she was just as happy that meant she would be left alone.

The road finally leveled out and entered a large plateau. Both sides were flanked by a three-rail, white wooden fence. The fence divided up the expanse into several sections, each filled with waist-high grasses. Lainely turned up a graveled drive, stopped in front of a large white barn and walked to the center of the large circular drive.

“Well now, this is it! One hundred and fifty acres of the roughest terrain in Harlan County!” She swept her arm in a dramatic gesture. “I just love coming up here, but my Gawd! What a drive! Can you just imagine what it must ‘a been like to drive a horse trailer up that road? My Uncle Milliard had nerves of steel, but my Auntie just could not stomach the trip. She would wait down in the valley at Electra’s house and wait for Uncle Mill to fetch her up with the pickup after he was done haulin’ the horses up that road.”

“Electra?” Jessica turned her head toward Lainely at the mention of the name. It sounded vaguely familiar to her.

“Why yes! I almost forgot to mention her to you! My Heavens! Why Electra Lavielle is your closest neighbor there at the foot of the valley. She is just a true sweetheart of a woman! She knows everything about everyone in town and writes about it in the local paper in her own column!”

“Oh, right. That must be where I remember her name from. It sounds like she likes this time of year, too.”

Lainely laughed. “Oh my Gawd yes! She just throws the most magnificent parties. Everyone, and I mean everyone, just dies to go to one. She is such a sweet thing. I think it must break her heart to say good-bye year after year to her close friends. She just manages to keep a smile on her face somehow.”

“I’ll bet,” Jessica said quietly to herself as she continued walking around the property.

The barn was of average size made of eight large box stalls divided into rows of four on either side of a broad corridor. Each end of the barn opened with a giant sliding door. One opened to a paddock out the back and the other faced the house and the driveway. Just inside of this door was a small office on the right side and a tack and feed room on the left. The back of the barn led to a series of smaller paddocks with the mountains as a dramatic backdrop. Overhead a large hayloft could be accessed at several points by ladders.

Jessica climbed into the hayloft and looked at the beams and the roofing timbers. Although the outside of the building was in need of a fresh coat of paint, the inside and the structure of the building were in very good shape. It was obvious that a lot of care had gone into maintaining the barn over the years and that only recently had it begun to show some wear from lack of use and care.

Hopping down from the loft, Jessica followed Lainely to the house. It was situated on the right side of the driveway with the front facing southwest. Its white sides were bright in the afternoon sun, and Jessica squinted against its glare. Following a short brick walk past a patio overgrown with weeds and a small fenced enclosure that must have been a garden area, Lainely let Jessica in through the front door off the porch. The floorboards creaked in seeming surprise at having to bear someone’s weight again, and the door jammed itself in their path and only relinquished its stance after Lainely heaved her shoulder against it several times.

The two women stood in the front hall for several moments in silence. Each caught in their own thoughts. Jessica looked briefly at Lainely, surprised at the uncustomary pause in her conversation. She thought she saw a slightly wistful look on Lainely’s smooth face.

The house was empty except for some overly worn rugs, a mismatched table or two and a large, lumpy couch and armchair covered in faded gold damask. Sunlight flooded in through a dirty window at the top of the stairs immediately in front of them. The downstairs was divided into the smaller rooms that were in fashion at the time the main house was built. To the left was a room that must have been the formal dining room judging by the corner cabinets and its ornate tile hearth. Further around to the left was the addition that housed the kitchen and large breakfast nook. The addition was ‘new’ in that it was built within the last 100 years or so. The last update to the kitchen itself must have been in the mid-seventies complete with brown appliances and large floral print wallpaper. Jessica wrinkled her nose.

Lainely was watching her client carefully for any reaction and pounced at the first opportunity. “Just terrible, isn’t it? Why mother, may she rest in peace, just about passed away dead when Auntie did this to her kitchen. Auntie was just so proud of herself when she came up with the color scheme, brown, burnt orange and avocado green. Just what in the world was anyone thinking when they dreamt up those colors. Gawd awful! But mother always hinted afterwards that color blindness ran in her family, and it must have been poor Auntie that got the lion’s share. Well, I always thought that color blindness was something you got after you lived in a house with these colors for a while!”

“It’s nothing that some new wallpaper and a coat of paint won’t fix. The sooner the better, don’t you think so?” Jessica was standing with her back to Lainely looking out the back door up to the barn. The mountainside was washed in sunlight. “The place seems to have roughed out the neglect of the past few years. I’m surprised to see a couple of horses up on that hill. Has anyone been taking care of the place?”

“Well, no. Not really. The house has been closed down ever since they took Uncle Milliard’s body back down the mountain. But I’ve made sure the horses had someone looking after them. Uncle Milliard was adamant that those horses never come down the mountain and that they stay with the farm. I made him a deathbed promise that I would see to it that those fine horses stayed in their born and bred home. It just seemed like the least I could do.”

“Lainely, I’d like to buy the farm. I am willing to offer you fifty thousand dollars off the asking price. How about it?” Jessica braced herself for the battle.

“What! You actually want it?” Lainely caught herself and sputtered. “Why that’s a crime! This is a fine piece of property that has just been begging for the right person to come along! Why I just can’t insult the sellers by goin’ in with a price like that. I mean, what will they think?”

Jessica had been listening to her companion softly and consistently dissuade her from this property. She was certain that Lainely had done so countless times before with other prospective buyers and had been quite successful at it. Lainely’s point of keeping two old hacks on the farm was a nice touch. The worn look of them probably kept a few potential buyers from seriously considering it as a viable horse farm.

On the way up to the farm, Jessica had reviewed the folder Lainely had prepared on the property. It was complete with topographical maps showing the steep terrain and the lack of any close neighbors. It was surrounded by National forest on three sides. Lainely had played that card very well. In a socially active town like Perc, anyone drawn to living there would not want to be banished to its outer reaches. So that had culled many more buyers from the pack.

But what Jessica also learned from the file was that the property was owned by a trust managed by a law firm in Louisville. They had consistently lowered the price over the years to an already basement level for properties of this type. Most of the price reductions had come in the recent months. Jessica surmised that they were growing tired of the frequent visits to check on the property and wanted the ease of managing cash for the trust’s beneficiaries, whoever they were. Jessica could always negotiate up if she had to, but she sensed that the executors would jump at the offer.

“Well, Lainely, I’m sure that they will be happy to consider an offer, especially one coming from a relation such as you. Let’s go back and get the paperwork done.”

A brief storm passed through Lainely’s eyes before she remembered her manners. “Why of course. Certainly, Tess.”

The ride back down the mountain seemed to have even more bumps and turns than the ride up. Lainely chatted on about the families in the town and how much everyone pulled together when the town was empty during the winter months. Her favorite things were the small hunts that went on and intimate dinner parties thrown by one person or another. She mentioned the article on the Harvest Hunter Pace and added that anyone riding in the event was automatically invited to the huge Hunt Ball hosted by the Lavielles. The pack of riders normally numbered in the hundreds. Many entries were made just so they could go to the Ball. Jessica had gotten the picture of a close-knit town accustomed to its genteel way of life and proud of its position in the social and horse worlds.

Lainely finally stopped the subtle attacks on the property and tried a different angle. “Now then, Sweetheart. What kind of financing did you think you wanted to arrange. I know several wonderful bankers in town that would be most pleased to help you out. Why, Jeffrey Curtis just up the street at the First National Bank and Trust would be most honored to help you out. I could give him a call right now and—”

“No. Thank you. That won’t be necessary. I have my own means and don’t need additional cash. Please, let’s just make the call to the trustees and see what they have to say.” Jessica had a suspicion that Mr. Curtis would be difficult to get any money from, anyway.

Jessica enjoyed watching Lainely’s face try to hide the calculations that were going on behind it. Jessica knew that Lainely’s ‘people radar’ did not pinpoint her as a wealthy woman or a trust fund brat. Jessica assumed that she was categorized as a ‘Small Time Work-a-Holic’ not ‘Woman of Independent Means.’ Jessica wanted to keep Lainely off balance.

She flashed her most brilliant smile as they entered Lainely’s office. Belying the small ad that Jessica assumed would be of someone starving for a sale, the furnishings were expensive and the office professionally appointed. Lainely ushered Jessica into the smaller of the two conference rooms.

“You’ve told me so much about Perc, I can’t wait to be your neighbor.” Jessica really didn’t care if she was liked or not, especially by Lainely, but she knew her tactics would carve out the space she needed from people.

Lainely made the call to Louisville and acted as a mediator for Jessica on several questions, finalizing the details of the sale. After a brief conversation she hung up the phone and sighed.

“That’s it then! They said yes!”

The paperwork and deed were quickly drawn up and Jessica arranged for the funds to be transferred to the designated bank in Louisville. Any money remaining after the sale was deposited into the First National Bank and Trust. She had made a point to meet Jeffrey Curtis on Lainely’s advice and found him to be pleasant enough to deal with. Jeffrey treated her very solicitously when he learned of the sums of money she commanded with a phone call. She was careful to cultivate the image of substantial independent wealth which could come his way if she was pleased with his bank’s services, thus ensuring his ongoing attention and care to her funds, as well as her privacy.

Her first order of business was to open the house and assess its readiness for winter. Although not huge, it was rambling with additions and renovations done throughout the generations. When viewed from outside its tall peaks and sloped roofs seemed to echo the mountains themselves. The house had much customized detail inside and would eventually be charming, but was in need of a lot of work. Besides the downstairs’ den, kitchen, dining room and living room, the upstairs had three bedrooms with interconnecting nooks and large closets. Jessica rarely ventured into the sizable upper attic spaces or basement and only did so for maintenance reasons. Mice had made nests in the pipes which had gone unused for so many years and a couple of windowpanes had broken in storms, allowing rain to soak old plaster walls. Other animals found the inside of the house a convenient spot to nest and Jessica knew it would be a little while before she got rid of all of her rodent friends. Fortunately for her, the slate roof was in good condition and did not require her attention.