Alan said, “I’ll be right out.” He joined them and quickly filled the Mayor in on the talk he’d had with Councilman Fred Harvey.
When he’d finished, the Mayor looked astonished. “I’ve never known Fred Harvey to play North’s game before!”
“They must be working together this time,” Alan said.
“Or he has some reason for wanting North to win,” Mayor Jim Devlin pointed out. “And there’s one other possibility. He feels responsible for you and he’s trying to help you.”
“If that’s it, I’m not flattered,” Alan said grimly.
“You’ve exhausted all the possibilities of connecting Lafferty with the shopping center or the housing development?” the Mayor asked.
“He’s clean there,” Alan said.
The Mayor rubbed his chin and stared ahead thoughtfully. “There must be some angle. I’m positive of it. What about Harrigan Street?”
“What about it?” Alan wanted to know.
“The entire street and all the buildings adjoining it will have to be razed if the North End spur becomes a reality,” the Mayor said. “Now one building and lot wouldn’t be worth much. But put them all together, and they would add up to a lot of money.”
Judith saw what the Mayor was suggesting. She said, “You’re wondering if there has been any big turnover in real estate in that area lately!”
“Exactly!” the Mayor said, his face lighting up. “It gives us another possible area of self-interest.”
Alan shook his head. “It’s a long shot.”
The Mayor’s eyes held their normal bright twinkle again. “But long shots invariably pay the best odds!”
His enthusiasm was catching, Alan hesitated only a few seconds. “I guess it’s worth a try. But it’ll mean a lot more digging than before. This time we’ll have to look up deeds to almost half a hundred private properties. It can’t be done in a day.”
“But if we find what we’re looking for, it will be worth it,” Judith said, happy at the thought.
Alan glanced at his wristwatch. “Too late to begin now. The Registry of Deeds office will be closing in a few minutes. We’ll have to start all over again first thing in the morning.”
“Tell you what,” the Mayor said. “I’ll let you have a man from my office. There’s an old fellow in the tax division knows that area better than anyone else at City Hall. I’ll send him up to the deeds office to work with you.”
Alan offered a faint smile again. “I hope you’re not starting us on another wild chase for nothing!”
The Mayor winked. “I have a hunch! Let’s follow it through.”
As usual, he left them in much better spirits than when he’d arrived. Judith was faintly hopeful, although she didn’t want to see Alan get too encouraged and then crash again as he had earlier in day.
Alan said, “Since you’ve got to attend the authority meeting with me you may as well stay in the city, and we’ll have dinner together. Then we can come back here and pick up what we need for the meeting.”
She called her mother and explained. Millicent sounded doubtful, and Judith was waiting for her to make some comment about Miles Estey, but she didn’t. She and Alan went across to the Harbor Room and had dinner. Since they had to hurry through the meal to return to the office and prepare notes for the meeting, they had little time to talk.
It was a few minutes after seven when they entered the office again. Alan found the minutes of the previous meeting, and they went to work on their program for the evening ahead. By working without a pause, they had everything in order by a few minutes before eight and were ready to leave for City Hall.
Alan smiled at her as he helped her on with her coat. “I haven’t said anything before, but I will now. Thanks for the support you gave me today.”
“I didn’t feel I was much help,” she demurred.
He swung her around and, taking her by the arms, looked into her face with great earnestness. “I dropped pretty low this afternoon. It would have been a lot worse if you hadn’t been here.”
“Then I’m glad I was.”
“One thing worries me,” he said, his eyes meeting hers.
“What?”
“Can I always depend on you being around?”
She smiled. “What makes you think I mightn’t be?”
“Miles Estey is back in town.”
“That’s finished.”
“You sound very sure of that.”
“I am sure.”
He shook his head. “You forget I spend last evening with him.”
“So?”
“I don’t think it’s finished as far as he’s concerned,” Alan told her. “He had a certain note in his voice every time he mentioned your name.”
Judith blushed. “Did you two spend your time discussing me?”
“Not exclusively.”
“I should hope not,” she remonstrated. “Two grown men with important problems facing them, and they waste their time talking about some girl!”
“A very special girl!” Alan said, bringing her close to him for a kiss. As he let her go and they started for the door, he added, “And don’t forget what I’ve told you about Miles Estey. You’re still very much on his mind.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
Alan Fraser did himself credit at the meeting of the bridge authority committee. At least Judith thought so. And she was sure quite a few other people did, too. He gave no sign of the strain he was under and no hint of the efforts he was making to attempt to checkmate the North interests. But he did maange to assume an air of confidence and suggest that the various problems might be solved without saying just how.
The Mayor was in attendance, as were bloated Senator Lafferty and several of his associates from the North End Real Estate Owners Association. And in a chair removed from the others, a lone Miles Estey took in all the proceedings. After the meeting, Alan was surrounded by questioning members of the committee, and Judith was left to pack his brief case and get ready for their departure.
It was during this time that Miles came over to her. He offered her a faint smile. “Quite a performance,” he said. “I didn’t know he was up to it.”
She looked at the young labor leader with a twinkle in her eyes. “He may have other surprises in store for some people.”
“I’ll be looking forward to them,” Miles assured her. “Any reason why you shouldn’t drive home in my car?”
She hesitated. “I don’t know.”
“He’s going to be busy here for some time,” Miles said. “There isn’t any real need for you to stay, is there?”
Judith considered and then said, “Wait until I’ve given him his papers.” She took the brief case and pushed her way through the group around Alan to hand it to him. She said, “I think I’ll leave now. We have a long day tomorrow.”
Alan interrupted his talk with an elderly woman on the committee to give Judith a surprised glance. Then he looked over and saw Miles waiting and apparently understood. “All right,” he said quietly. “No reason you should stay here.”
She smiled and went back to join Miles. “I’m ready to go,” she said.
On the drive home, Miles told her, “It looks as if I’m going to have to stay here longer than I intended.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s not clear yet with whom I’m going to be dealing,” he explained. “If the Governor takes action on that petition and calls a halt to construction, a new bridge authority will be elected. So there’s not much point in coming to an agreement with Alan when he may not be speaking for the authority two weeks from now. I’ll have to wait and see what happens.”
“There may be no change.”
“What makes you feel so sure of that?”
“I can’t tell you yet,” she said. “But if Alan is successful, you’ll know soon enough.”
Miles seemed determined to keep his eyes on the road ahead. He said, “Your name came up a few times when Alan and I got together last night.”
“So I understand,” she said lightly.
Miles showed surprise. “He did mention that to you?”
“Without going into details,” Judith said. “Tell me about it. I’m curious.”
“Nothing much to tell,” the young labor man said awkwardly, “except that I know he’s in love with you.”
She laughed. “He’s been telling me almost the same thing about you.”
“Perhaps it’s true.”
“I thought we’d arrived at a point of understanding,” she reminded him.
“I’ve been considering things since then,” he said. “Maybe I don’t want to bow out of the race or your life after all.”
“I surely hope you won’t,” she said sincerely.
“I mean that I believe we could still have a future together,” he said as they pulled up in front of her place.
She smiled at him. “Right now I’m more concerned about the present than the future.”
He gave her a resigned smile. “And more interested in Alan than you are in me.”
“I didn’t say that,” she reminded him. She quickly said good night and got out of the car.
The next day she began her ordeal at the Registry Office. Alan went with her to get her started and than returned to the office, leaving her faced with a seemingly endless search. She had not been working more than an hour when a wizened little man in a shabby blue suit and battered gray hat entered the records room and came up to her.
Removing his hat, he said, “I’m from City Hall. The Mayor sent me. He thought I might be able to help. My name is Foster, John Foster!”
Judith offered her friendliest smile. She pointed to the table strewn with documents. “You know what I’m delving into,” she said. “The Harrigan Street properties and those in that area.”
“I know well,” John Foster said. “Shouldn’t present too many problems. I’ll just get a stool so I won’t have to stand.”
Judith was impressed by the wizened man’s ability to scan the files quickly and come up with pertinent information. When lunch time came, she asked, “What do you think?”
John Foster gave her a knowing look. “I think we’re onto something,” he said. And tapping the list he’d started to make, “Nearly every property in that district has changed hands in the past eighteen months. Now it isn’t logical that all that real estate activity should go on in one small area without a reason.”
“And the reason could be the North End spur of the bridge,” Judith said.
“I’d say it has to be,” Foster said emphatically. “Some of those houses hadn’t changed hands in the previous twenty or thirty years.”
“I’ll tell Mr. Fraser when I see him at lunch,” she promised. “And you will be back?”
“Nothing will stop me,” the little man said, putting on his battered hat. “I don’t want to miss any of this.”
Judith recounted their success to Alan in the office over a light lunch they’d had sent in. She promised, “By this evening or tomorrow afternoon at the latest, we should have some kind of a picture of what has been going on.”
“I think we’ve got a good hint now,” Alan said, holding a half-empty paper cup of milk in his hand as he spoke. “The people we want to get at have been buying up those properties like mad.”
She nodded. “So that when the bridge authority has to buy them for a North End spur, they’ll be in a position to cash in.”
“If only Lafferty is the one behind it and we can prove, it there will never be a North End spur,” Alan said grimly.
“It has to be he,” Judith exulted. “It all fits!”
“Don’t get too excited,” Alan warned her. “Remember what happened before.”
“We didn’t have John Foster to help us then,” she told him. “That little man is a wizard.”
But even with a wizard to help her, the pace slowed down. It wasn’t until mid-afternoon two days later that she and John Foster completed a list of the transferred properties and the parties involved.
The little man sighed. “That’s it, Miss Barnes. We’ve managed all we can here. There’s one company holding most of the better properties, the Northeast Realty Group. And it’s headed by a Samuel Kent.”
“So Kent is our man,” Judith said. “Is the name familiar to you?”
John Foster concentrated, his brow furrowed. “There used to be a lawyer in the North End name of Kent. Must be ancient now. Remember him when I was a boy. But I don’t think it could be him. He must be dead.”
“I guess it’s time for Alan to take over,” Judith said, picking up the list.
“Good luck, Miss Barnes,” John Foster said.
“And thank you,” she told him. “I’ll let you know how we make out.”
She hurried from the Registry Office and along Canterbury Street to King Street. Since time was all-important now, she was anxious to get the information in Alan’s hands as soon as possible. But at the corner she ran into an unexpected delay. She came face to face with Pauline Walsh.
The tall blonde girl was wearing a stylish suit in a loud purplish shade and was as eye-compelling as ever. But her manner toward Judith was not as cordial as previously.
“I’ve been hoping I’d meet your,” she said.
“I’m having some terribly busy days.” Judith smiled. “I’m on my way to the office now, and I’m late.” She prepared to move on.
But Pauline restrained her with a touch of a gloved hand. “Alan can wait for you just a minute or two longer,” she said in a purring voice.
“I am in a hurry,” Judith insisted.
“I’m sure you are,” Pauline said, too agreeably, “but you can spare a moment for me. Have you heard that Alan and I are no longer engaged?”
“No!” Judith said, genuinely surprised. “No! I hadn’t!”
“Strange,” Pauline smiled sarcastically, “especially since I had an idea you might be the reason.”
“You’re wrong about that.”
“I’ll need more than your word to convince me,” Pauline assured her. “But then I don’t begrudge you Alan. He’s never going to get out of this trouble he’s in.”
“You think not?”
“I don’t suppose you’ll mind,” the blonde girl said. “But I would feel disgraced.” And with that she swept away.
For a stunned moment Judith watched after her. Then she turned and hurried on down the street So much for Pauline, she thought grimly. She wished that Alan had told her about breaking his engagement so it wouldn’t have come as a complete surprise. But she didn’t have time to worry about that or discuss it with him just now. There were more pressing matters to be attended to.
She went directly into Alan’s office and spread the lists on his desk. “There’s the whole larcenous story in black and white,” she said. “We are interested in a Northeast Realty Group and one Samuel Kent.”
Alan frowned. “Samuel Kent? You don’t mean the old lawyer who has his office in a ramshackle building on Elm Street?”
“According to John Foster, that Samuel Kent is dead.”
He shrugged. “That’s the only one I know. We’ll make a few phone calls and see what we can discover.”
Judith went out to check the accumulated morning and afternoon mail while he made the calls. After about twenty minutes he came out to stand by her desk with the list in his hands.
“The New England Trust Company is acting as agent for Samuel Kent and the Northeast Realty group,” he told her. “They’re collecting the rents and taking physical care of the properties and looking after taxes. The balance of monies received after their commission is paid is deposited to an account in the Port Winter National Bank.”
“What about Kent?”
“He’s not dead,” Alan said grimly. “But he’s not around here either. He’s shut up his office and just vanished into thin air.”
“Oh, no!” she exclaimed. “Someone must know where he is!”
Alan shook his head. “According to the Trust Co
mpany, he is supposed to get in touch with them. But he hasn’t.”
“What does it mean?”
“Another dead end, I’m afraid,” he said with a sigh.
“Not after all that searching,” she said disconsolately. “I can’t believe it.”
He smiled and patted her shoulder. “You made a good try.”
“What next?”
He studied the list. “I’ll check with a few of the other North End law firms,” he said. “It’s possible I may get a lead on this slippery old Samuel Kent from them.”
Judith forced herself to settle down to the routine typing of replies to some of the more urgent mail. But she was depressed and unable to concentrate properly. Alan kept on the phone, but she knew that he wasn’t having any luck. Soon it was close to five o’clock and closing time. She was about to put away her typewriter when she heard the office door open, and when she looked up she saw it was Brandon Fraser.
The stern, gaunt face regarded her with uncertainty. Then, in a voice mild for him, he said, “Good afternoon, Miss Barnes. Is my son busy?”
She smiled for him. “He’s been making a few phone calls.” As she rose to tell Alan his father was there, the young lawyer came out to join them.
“Hello, Dad,” he said. “What is it?”
Brandon Fraser cleared his throat. “I just received a call from the manager of the New England Trust Company. He tells me you are looking for a veteran member of the local bar, Samuel Kent.”
“That’s right,” Alan said. “He’s important to me because he’s been involved in the purchase of a number of properties that will have to be taken over by the bridge authority if the North End spur goes through. And he seems to have disappeared.”
“I think I may be able to help you,” Brandon Fraser said in the same careful tone. “When he left, he turned a few of his clients over to me. He wrote me about one of them yesterday. And he gave me his address. He’s living in a hotel in a small Florida town.”
Judith and Alan exchanged delighted glances. And the young lawyer told his father, “I need that address!”
Brandon Fraser carefully drew out a wallet from his inside jacket and then, with equal caution, took a folded slip of paper from the wallet and passed it to Alan. “There it is,” he said, returning the wallet to his pocket.
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