Divine Artifact in a Scientific World-Chapter 68: House Date (1)

Abigail pulled the key out of the little lockbox that was attached to the door handle and unlocked the front door. It was nine fifteen am, and this was the first house on today’s schedule. Abigail had given him a strange look when he introduced Miranda to her, but didn’t raise any objections.

After opening the door, Abigail turned to Miranda and said, "Miranda, why don’t you take a look around? I need to speak to Jack for a moment."

Miranda looked at Jack and he nodded.

"Okay," Miranda replied in a chipper tone. Then brushed Jack’s arm with her hand before heading into the house. From the moment he’d met her at the breakfast place, she’d been constantly touching him. Nothing exaggerated, just little touches on thigh, arm, hand. Brushing against him, and sometimes leaning into him, but only briefly. Never enough to cross the line into public intimacy, but always enough to make her presence felt. It was honestly intoxicating, and he loved it. It made him feel special, wanted, desired, in a way he had never felt before.

As Miranda wandered away and around a corner, Abigail turned to Jack and said, "Just so you know, I’ve worked with Miranda’s mom before..."

Jack nodded. "Yes, she mentioned it."

"And she’s..."

"Aquitanian," said Jack.

She nodded, then held up her hand. "Please let me finish."

He nodded, "Alright, go ahead."

Abigail continued, "She has a rather unique philosophy. One that she has taught to her daughters. They tend to treat men, how should I put this..."

"Their either fools to be used or the one to get behind, support, and hold on to with both hands?" supplied Jack.

"Ah, so you know?" she replied, surprised.

"Yes. She explained it to me, in detail. You don’t need to worry. Let’s just say I know some things about her that let me be certain she will not, cannot, betray me." The last was a bit of inspiration that came to him unbidden. He left it vague enough that Abigail could interpret however she wanted. Maybe she would think he had dirt on, or leverage over Miranda, or maybe she would think he knew some detail about her personally that allowed him to make such a claim.

Abigail’s eyebrows rose slightly at his last statement. Then she nodded and said, "Alright, if you’re certain, then I’ll defer to your judgement. Her mom does seem extremely loyal to her husband."

She turned and walked into the front room of the house and as he followed her inside, she asked, "By the way, what happened to Madison?"

Jack frowned, then said in a frustrated tone. "She was arrested by the FIS on bogus hacking charges yesterday evening. Our lawyers are convinced that the company that filed the charges either mistakenly identified Madison instead of the actual hacker, or they filed false changes and faked evidence so they can avoid paying her the bug bounty she earned."

Her eyes narrow when she heard him mention Madison getting arrested.

"I didn’t know Henry had any expertise in that area of law," she said.

"He doesn’t. When the FIS arrested us, I called Henry, told him the situation, then asked him to find the best lawyers he could, one for me, one for Madison."

Her eyes narrowed further when he mentioned that he, too, had been arrested.

"And Henry didn’t mind?"

"No. He knows when to seek expert assistance."

"Huh. And, if you don’t mind my asking, who did he find for you? And how are you here, if you got arrested yesterday?"

"Wendel Dushane, and they released me because I’m innocent. Though Wendel was a little surprised when they returned my devices."

Her eyes widened. "Wendel Dushane? And he thinks Madison is innocent?"

"Yes. Denise, his associate has expertise in the field and is convinced that the people who filed charges either mis-attributed a hack, or more likely, are trying to frame Madison so they don’t have to pay out the massive bug bounty they owe her. The most frustrating part of all this is that even if it is a frame job, she might still get convicted."

"I see. That is unfortunate," she replied. "I’ve heard of Mr. Dushane and his law firm. They are very knowledgeable in that field, so if they think there’s something wrong with the charges, it’s almost certainly true."

Then she asked, "Did they say if they think Madison will be released?"

"Wendel said it seemed likely. She wanted to be here, but her arraignment is scheduled for tomorrow and they’re holding her in jail until then. Hopefully, they’ll post a bond and she can join us on Sunday."

"Wait, does she know about-" she tilted her head deeper into the house where Miranda was wondering.

"Yep. They know of, and about, each other. They might be almost as interested in each other as they are in me." He knew that last sentence was a lie. They might be a little interested in each other, but they were obsessed with him. At least it was better than just saying, "It’s complicated," which seemed too ambiguous. And there was no way he was going to explain the true nature of their relationships to a non-soul-bonded person.

She gave him an appraising look. "I see. Well then, I apologize for prying."

"No need to apologize. I appreciate that you were willing to go out on a limb to express concern."

She bowed her head slightly while saying, "Thank you for your understanding."

Then she turned towards the interior of the house and said, "Let’s see what Miranda has discovered so far."

They walked into the kitchen and discovered Miranda on her knees, head stuck inside the oven. Her shapely ass was on full display and her skirt was short enough that from their position, he could see she was wearing thong underwear. And the thin triangle of material covering her secret garden was sheer, providing him with a clear view of her lovely labia.

Abigail cleared her throat.

Miranda backed out of the oven and looked over her shoulder at them, so her lady bits were still in full view.

She smiled playfully at Jack before turning and pointing at the oven and saying, "This oven is trash. Someone tried to clean it, but there’s so much gunk baked into the corners that I wouldn’t be surprised if the smoke alarms go of the first time you try to use it."

She got to her feet, but stayed bent over, giving him an even better view of her goods. Then brushed off her knees before closing the oven door and straightening up.

As Miranda walked closer to Jack and Abigail, Abigail cleared her throat and asked, "Noted. Did you find anything else of note?"

Miranda nodded. "Yes, the windows have the old style aluminum frames that are notorious for encouraging mold growth because of condensation. All the electrical outlets are ancient, and I think the hot water tank is busted. Oh, and I think the previous owners let their pets pee in the house and it’s soaked into the floorboards because even though the carpet is new, I can still smell urine in several rooms."

"Very thorough," complimented Abigail. "But do you think the cost to remedy all those issues would be worth the hassle?"

"It’s a good area, convenient for students or staff of NSU, or anyone working in the area. In the end, I think it would depend on how much the seller is willing to take off to offset the repair costs. Though, I have to wonder what else might be wrong with the house. I know some buyers are willing to forgo an inspection, but that would be a bad idea for this house. I would not be surprised if there are other problems besides what I’ve seen."

Jack was surprised. He knew almost nothing about buying houses, but it seemed that Miranda had some training.

"Very good Miranda," complimented Abigail. "It seems your mother trained you well."

Jack almost blurted, "You have no idea," but instead made a noise, half choke, half laugh.

Miranda winked at Jack, and Abigail gave Jack a look, though he couldn’t interpret it.

They all made a tour of the house, Miranda pointing out what she saw, and Abigail pointing out other things to pay attention to. The backyard looked like a regular backyard to Jack, but both Miranda and Abigail tutted in disgust at the sight of it.

As they were driving towards the next house on the list, Jack asked Abigail’s recommendation.

"We can make an offer, but we’ll want it to be contingent on the inspection. If the house has good bones, then it will be worth it if the buyer accepts our offer. But, like Miranda, I suspect the inspection will find deeper issues. So the most likely outcome is that someone foolish will make an offer without the inspection contingency and will be left holding a lemon."

"So, lowball the offer and include an inspection contingency, so if more issues are found, we can walk away?"

"Yes, that’s my recommendation."

"Okay, we’ll do that."

"Miranda," said Abagail over her shoulder as she drove, "what do you think would be a reasonable offer, given what we know?"

"Hmm, if the house was solid, not issues, it would probably be worth around eight twenty, but there’s at least a hundred fifty kay of renovations needed, so I’d offer six seventy."

"Very good. That’s almost exactly what I would have suggested."

"Oh, did I miss anything?"

"No, you didn’t miss anything. It’s just that Jack isn’t making an offer with the intent to occupy, he is making an offer as an investor. So we can afford to be more aggressive. I’d recommend offering six fifty. If the buyer accepts, that shows the market is in our favor and the seller is desperate. Even if the inspection shows additional issues, with a desperate buyer we may be able to keep the price low enough to still make it profitable."

"Oh, okay. Yeah, that makes sense," said Miranda.

The next house on the list was actually a two-bedroom condo on the second floor of a three story building. When they arrived at the door to the condo, they noticed it was unlocked and partially open.

Abigail said, "We’re actually a few minutes early. It looks like the previous appointment is still looking. I’ll pop in-"

Before she could finish, the door opened all the way and a tall blond woman in a tight pantsuit stood in the doorway. A young man, maybe Jack’s age, stood behind her dressed in designer jeans and a button-down shirt.