Chapter 4

Cassie’s hours at the co-op were cut by Wednesday. Not fired. Just cut. Her manager said it was seasonal. Cassie knew better. She came home with a sales slip in her hand and tears in her eyes.

“Kubiak supplies their lumber,” she said. “They’ve been doing it for years. One phone call from Ray, and I’m down to eight hours a week.”

Walter took the slip. He looked at the invoice number, then at the green binder. He wrote the date in the margin.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

“Don’t be sorry. Fight them.”

“I am.”

That afternoon, Ray Kubiak came to the house. He was a big man in a clean canvas coat, with a handshake that lasted a second too long. He stood on the porch and looked at the orange order still taped to the storm door.

“Deke’s young,” Ray said. “He gets excited. I told him to slow down.”

Walter didn’t invite him in.

Ray pulled a folded paper from his pocket. It was a copy of the clipboard list. Four Bell Street addresses. Three ticked. And beside 214, in the same pen as the ticks, one word: HOLD.

“You were never supposed to be on his list,” Ray said. “You were marked HOLD. Deke wasn’t supposed to touch your house. He got greedy.”

Walter looked at the word. “What does HOLD mean?”

Ray folded the paper again. “It means somebody upstairs wanted your house left standing. I don’t know why. But you should take the money and go. Before Deke does something stupider.”

“Who wrote it?”

Ray’s eyes slid away. “I don’t know. I just know what I saw.”

He left. Walter stood on the porch with the folded paper in his hand. The word HOLD was still there, small and black, written by a hand he didn’t recognize.

That night, Cassie found the county’s purchase records online. Three condemnations. Three lots. One buyer: Kubiak Construction. The purchase orders were signed with Deke’s initials.

“It’s all there,” she said. “They’re stealing the whole street.”

Walter looked at the green binder. Then at the word HOLD.

“No,” he said. “They’re stealing three houses. Somebody wanted this one left standing.”

“Why?”

Walter didn’t answer. He picked up the phone and called the county annex. He asked for Nadine Voss.