Page 92 of In the Line of Ire

"I'm notgoing to shoot you," said Solomon as he holstered hisweapon.

"Imight," I said, keeping my gun fixed on him. "Why would you dothis?"

"I wantNatalie to move out."

"Because you intend to sell the land to the propertydeveloper," I said, nodding. "TheGazetteran a big story on the plansand improvements. And most of the neighbors have alreadysold."

"If Idon't sell the property and have it vacated this week, they'llretract the offer. I already signed a lease with Natalie beforethey spoke to me. I can't break the lease. I want her to break itand leave the house voluntarily," he whimpered.

"Youseriously thought this was the best way to do that? By scaring awoman and her kids out of their home?" asked Solomon.

Ipouted. "I wanted to ask him that."

Larrylooked at me and blinked before he looked at Solomon again. If itwere possible, Larry seemed to shrink a little smaller. "You can goahead and answer," I said after waiting too long for him torespond.

"Ididn't think she would leave without a conflict."

"Youcould have explained the situation to her. You could have told hershe could break the contract without any penalty. You could alsohave offered to pay her rental deposit and moving expenses to a newplace as a goodwill gesture," I suggested.

"That'sa lot of money!"

"You'reabout to make a lot of money on the sale of the house! I cannotbelieve how people think sometimes," I said to Solomon. "He couldhave spent this afternoon brainstorming feasible ideas, or maybediscussed his dilemma with some friends. But no, this creep decidesall on his own to scare the crap out of three harmlesswomen."

"I'msorry I scared them," said Larry. "I thought they'd just freak outa little before demanding to move out. I wanted to tear up thelease like I was doing them a favor."

"So youweren't secretly perving on them?" I asked.

"What?No!" He screwed up his face in disgust.

"Whyshould we believe that? You've been entering through the attic forweeks. Moving their stuff around, sleeping in Natalie's bed. Youeven brought snacks!" I added, remembering the receipt I found onher bedroom floor and the junk food in the attic.

"I gottired. It takes a lot of effort climbing up thetrellis."

"I don'tcare!" I yelled. "It's weird. And creepy."

Outside,a police siren gave a whup-whup.

"Youcalled the police?" Larry sighed. "What did you do thatfor?"

"Becauseyou broke in and smashed the place up." I lowered my gun and turnedto Solomon. "This has to be the dumbest criminal we everencountered."

"I'm nota criminal. This is my house," said Larry.

"I'mgoing to answer the door so I don't have to explain the ins andouts of landlord/tenant lease agreements to this dumbass," I toldthem. Turning, I strode from the kitchen, annoyed and exasperated,my head thumping again. I opened the door and let in Jord and thetwo uniformed officers he brought along with him.

"Whathave you got?" asked Jord.

"It'sthe landlord. We're assembling a case file of conspiracy to commitharassment, malicious mischief and scare tactics that he's beenconducting against the lawful tenants in his efforts to force themto leave."

"Whatfor? Why didn't he just serve them notice?" asked Jord.

"Heplans to sell the property to a developer who’s buying up the wholestreet. Also, he's not the brightest bulb in the carton. This way,"I said as I led them back to the kitchen. Solomon leaned againstthe counter, his gun nowhere in sight and his arms crossed. Larryremained on his knees with his hands folded across the back of hishead.

"You didall of this?" asked Jord.

"Who areyou?" asked Larry.

"Detective Graves, Burglary Division, Montgomery PoliceDepartment."

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