Chapter 54

"If you like Scott's place," Laura said, "You'll love this one. Sorry it wasn't available when you were shopping, Scott. You'd have liked it. It's about twice as big, a hundred and sixty acres. About half of it is woods, just over I believe, and the remainder is what you see there, rolling, mostly grass. There are a couple of small ponds, that marshy area that way is where a draw runs across it. It starts uphill just about here, it rises a lot once you cross the highway."

"Is the highway on the property line?" Jessica asked.

"Right, we're standing on the west line. It's about a half mile straight in front of us, and we're about halfway across this way."

Whole lot of empty land out here.

"What are we, a couple of miles from your place?" Alex asked Scott.

"Just about. We turned left off 656 onto 151 about a mile back, and it's about a mile down to my place."

"What do you think?" asked Jessica.

I think I like it.

"I like it. Of course we'll have to start and build from the ground up. I'd like to take a walking tour over it. That'll take a while. Better start early."

"Let me know and I'll have someone familiar with the place meet us." said Laura. "The owner lives in Florida, but has some family here. One of his sons keeps an eye on the place, and has spent a lot of time here. He can tell you a lot about it."

"Why don't you check and see when a good time is for him," Alex said. "We're pretty flexible."

"Sure, I'll give him a call. Hang on."

She talked for a few minutes, then tapped the button to end the call.

"Gil is pretty flexible too," she said. "He's retired and looking to move. Any of the next few days is good."

"How about day after tomorrow?"

"OK, I'll set it up."

"Y'all can come over tomorrow night," Scott said, "spend the night and get an early start."

"Sounds good," said Alex. "What's he asking for it?"

"Four-fifty. I suspect with all the people moving in from other states, he won't have much trouble getting it. People coming in from Califorina and New York especially, a lot of properties are selling on the first look. Arkansas is still something of a secret, most are looking at Florida - which is getting crowded - and Texas. But it won't be long before we're wanting to keep it a secret."

He's looking for four hundred something then. Got a feeling she just made a sale. I like this place.

"What are the other ones like?" Alex asked.

"They're both smaller. One is about eighty acres, the other is seventy-four or so, more or less as they say."

"Let's take a look over this one, I kind of like it. Let's see, what day is it?"

"Wednesday. So it will be Friday."

"I like it, thanks Laura."

She's good looking. Guess being a good-lookin' woman comes in handy in this business. Seems OK though.

Back at Scott's house they chatted for a while before Jessica and Alex left.

"We might want to make some different arrangements," Alex said, "for buying this place."

"What sort?" asked Jessica.

"Like not having it connected to us. Specifically me. Scott, do you know what happened to me in the hospital?"

"Just that they apparently screwed up a lot."

"It's more than that. I don't know how it's going to go but I don't much like it. The people who own that hospital are apparently pretty crooked. Using it for insurance fraud and who knows what else. We're going to go after them, not just because of what they did to me, but what they're doing to other people.

"We're working with an investigator, and some other victims. And he thinks it could get nasty. Like organized crime nasty. We might like to have a place no one knows about. Maybe we buy this place, form a company to keep our names out of it. Harry should be able to put us in touch with the right people.

"That way if they send somebody looking for me, they don't know about this place."

"Good idea," Scott said, "I take it you mean nasty as in dangerous."

"Yeah. What do you know about organized crime in the area?"

"You mean like the Mafia?

"Well, actually Harry referred to something called the hillbilly mafia. Or redneck mafia, local gangs but connected to the real thing."

"Another thing, you remember Madison Spencer? Big farm family mostly in Cross County."

"Maybe, if you give me a hint."

"Some of them were your neighbors when you still lived on the farm. Your dad was friends with one of the older generation, served in Korea together. They had a lot of land in the area. You dated one of the ones that was about you age, little younger. Katherine, went by Kitty."

"Kitty?"

Kitty? Hang on a second. When?

"She worked at the First State Bank in Wynne. You worked there a couple of years, same time as her."

Yeah. Blonde girl. I called her skinny. A Kitty shouldn't be a blonde though. Brunette maybe. Redhead? Nah. Skinny blonde.

"Yeah, think I'm seeing something. What happened to her?"

"You moved to Jonesboro. Just after I did. Julie, my first wife palled around with one of her cousins. They all had big families. Kitty's family was one of the few that didn't, just her and three sisters. Seven or eight kids was common. Or more.

"Anyway, Julie and one of her cousins, Ellen, were pretty close. I remember one night she was over, they started talking about some of their adventures before we met. Ellen dated a guy from Harrisburg, he was apparently a pretty rough type, eventually went to prison. Told us he took her to a dog fight once. And only once. It scared her, she wouldn't even go near where the fight was, told him she wanted to leave. He finally did, and she didn't see him any more. Almost of all of them were drunk - and probably on other stuff - and a lot were carrying guns. Including the guy she was with.

"But she talked about him some, said he was tight with the guy ran the local organization. Said he had a mob connection, I guess something Cosa Nostra, or maybe an associate pretty high up. Said someone local had a contract on him, what for she didn't know, but he was able to get it called off. Not something I'd want to get mixed up in."

I may be already. Jessica too. Gotta think about this some.

"The way Harry talks, they are dangerous. And if there's some big money...

"You know Kenneth Carlisle?" Alex asked.

"Yeah. A little. He involved in this?"

"Harry thinks he may be the money behind the hospital. It'd take a few million to do."

"He's pretty low-key," Scott said. "I figured he was mostly retired, but some of these people never retire. Just have to keep on making money, more than they have any use for. He's said to have his fingers in a lot of things, mostly as an investor. Real estate all over the place, big undeveloped pieces. Once in a while you see some for sale, no realtor sign, just a phone number. Some of those are his. I could see him being into a hospital - he made his biggest score in medical equipment and supplies."

"That's what Harry said. Apparently there's a lot of money to be made in anything paid for by insurance, and the government."

"Yeah, seems that way. I guess if enough money's involved, people can get nasty if you threaten their gravy train."

"That's what Harry was thinking."

"Where does small-time local crime figure in," Scott asked. "Protection?"

"Pretty much. And enforcement, persuasion. And as a last result... you get the idea."

"I can see that. Be careful. I'll keep an ear out. And both eyes open."