"Hey Henry, what's up? Having fun establishing your own practice?" Jack said as he answered his phone. He was sitting on his couch with Madison while they searched through property listings.
"I thought it would be a bit tedious, but I'm actually enjoying myself," Henry replied over the phone. "I'm calling because I wanted to talk to you about a potential hire."
"Okay, go on."
"While I know enough about real-estate law to handle North Star business, I'd be more comfortable if we had someone with more experience in that field running things. And, it just so happens that I know someone from my old law firm with that experience. Her name is Abigail Wexler and she would be a great asset to your team. She has experience with both residential and commercial property law so she could help with more than immediate North Star business."
"Great. Madison and I have been looking through property listings, but we can't trust the pictures, and it would look suspicious if it was just me and Madison talking to a real-estate agent. But if someone like Abigail took point, then we could just tag along as interns or something. And this would give us the opportunity to see her in action before we make a final decision. If we hired her to help with looking for properties, she'd be under attorney client privilege, right?"
"Yep. Do you want me to contact her and make an appointment?"
"Yes, please do. Our classes start soon, so try to see if you can't make this happen before then."
"Sure. I understand. I'll call her now and set up an appointment."
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Henry had rented the third floor of an office building in the University District. It was more space than he needed at the moment, but it was close to NSU, which made it convenient for Jack in case they needed a face-to-face meeting. The elevator opened into a small vestibule with two doors, one solid and locked, the other glass and leading to the foyer of Henry' new law practice.
Jack pushed through the glass door and stopped in front of the small desk. Seated behind the desk was someone who looked familiar.
"Candice?" Jack asked.
"Oh, Hi Jack. Fancy meeting you here," she said with a smile. Then she pointed at a door on her right, "Go on in, they're waiting for you."
"I'm surprised to see you here," he said. "Is Henry going to get in trouble for poaching staff from his old law firm?"
"No. What can they do? Besides, I was more than happy to come work for Henry. That Gefen gave me the creeps."
No shit, he thought, remembering his virtual encounter with the old villain. If she got the willies from Gefen, I'll bet she is a good judge of character. Probably better than Henry, given what happened in the simulation.
"You don't say," he said. "Well, I'm glad you're here helping Henry." Then, in a lower voice, "By the way, what do you think of Abigail?"
"I like her!" replied Candice. "She's sharp as a tack and a good judge of character. Don't get me wrong, Henry's a good guy, very smart. But he can be a bit dense sometimes when it comes to people."
Thinking of recent conversations with Madison where his own failures were highlighted, Jack chuckled. "Are you sure that's not just a guy thing?"
Candice smiled kindly. "Maybe a bit," she said, wiggling her hand in a gesture that said, "sort of." "But Henry seems to be a bit more blind to the darker side of people than average. Not that I'm complaining. I kinda like that about him."
Oh? Maybe her reasons for following Henry include more than just getting away from Gefen.
"Well then, you can keep an eye out for him. Please don't hesitate to call me if you get the same feeling about someone that you got from Gefen."
She winked then saluted him and said, "Aye Aye captain."
He smiled, returned her salute, then turned and entered the door on the right. On the other side, he found a small, plain conference room. There were no windows, the walls were a plain off-white color, and the carpet was forgettable, office standard. There was a small oval table, with a synthetic wood pattern, surrounded by six plain castor chairs. Two of the chairs were occupied. One by Henry, the other by a woman who was neither young nor old, dressed in a charcoal professional looking pant suit. As he entered, Henry and the woman, who Jack assumed was Abigail, stood.
"Jack, this is Abigail Wexler," said Henry. "Abigail, this is Jack."
Abigail reached out her hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you."
As Jack clasped her hand, he was surprised by her firm grip. It wasn't strong enough to imply that she was engaging in a contest, just firm enough to convey a sense of confidence.
"It's a pleasure to meet you," he replied as they all took seats.
As soon as they sat, Abigail reached down and pulled a sheaf of paper out of a case that was sitting beside her chair and handed it to Jack.
"I understand you like to make things formal. Here's an engagement letter I think you will find satisfactory."
Jack took the papers and read through them. Besides the usual boiler-plate he'd seen in other engagement letters, this one also made it clear he was engaging her, not her law firm, and narrowed the scope of her services to only include real-estate matters. Satisfied, he signed the papers with the pen she handed him.
"Great," she said, "So, how can I help you?"
"We, North Star Properties, are looking to acquire homes or condos in or near the University area to be turned into rental properties. One of these properties will in turn be 'rented'," he made air quotes, "to myself and a friend."
Abigail frowned and seemed to tense slightly when he made air quotes while saying "rented".
He continued, "I don't particularly care how things are arranged financially, as long as it is legal and unlikely to trigger an audit. All that really matters is that the property is owned by North Star, and all that any nosy busybodies will find is that myself and my friend appear to be normal renters. I would like to live a relatively normal life while I attend college, and that means I need to hide any conspicuous consumption."
Abigail relaxed and said, "Ah, I see. You want to put your money to work, but don't want anyone knowing you have money working for you."
"Correct. That's why I replaced my twenty-year-old Sentra with a Land cruiser instead of a Bugatti Chiron."
Abigail choked, "Chiron? Um, how many properties did you wish to acquire?!"
Jack smiled to himself. Clearly, Henry had not told her the full story. "I've allocated twenty million as an initial investment in North Star."
"I see," she said, sounding a little surprised. Then she gave Henry a look of admonishment and said, "I was not made aware of the scope of your needs."
Then turning back to Jack and smiling, "No matter, this is well within my abilities. Do you already have properties in mind, or do you want me to help locate prospective properties? Also, did you plan to come along during my initial look at each property?"
"Yes. We've come up with an initial list for us to look at. And, yes, we would like to physically look at each property. The pictures online look good, but pictures lie."
"Yes, yes they do," Abigail nodded. "But how do you intend to hide your financial involvement if you are tagging along?"
"I figured if anyone asked, you could just tell them Madison and I are interns."
"Madison?" she asked.
"A friend of mine. She's one of the few people I know that I trust not to betray me."
"Understood. As for your intern idea, that could work. Or," she smiled mischievously, "I could claim you as niece and nephew."
Jack shrugged his shoulders. "Whichever you think will be more believable. Just as long as no one suspects that I'm the actual buyer."
Abigail pouted when Jack didn't rise to her bait, then said, "Actually, I think a better cover story would be that a friend asked me if you two could tag along as a way for you to get familiar with the area, and to learn about real-estate; knowledge very few young people have."
"Sure, that works too," Jack said. "We start classes in a few days. If we gave you the list of properties, would you be able to arrange viewing for all of them within the next three days?"
"How big is your list?"
"Thirty-two."
"Okay. I think we can manage to schedule viewings for most of them within the next three days."
"Great, give me an e-mail address and I'll send you the list."
Abigail pulled out a business card and wrote something on the back, then handed it to Jack with back side up.
"Since you are hiring me and not my firm, here's my personal e-mail address. You can send the property list there."
Jack pulled out his phone and sent the list he already had prepared to the address on the back of Abigail's business card.
"I've also included the requirements for the house Madison and I want to occupy during our attendance at NSU. If you find or know about any other properties that you think might fit, feel free to include them on our upcoming viewing tour."
Abigail confirmed receipt of the list, read the requirements he and Madison had composed, asked a few clarifying questions, then left, stating she would contact him as soon as she had the first day's viewing schedule established.
Before she left to get started Jack asked, "By the way, since it will probably take a few months to close on a property and then wait for contractors to finish painting, carpet replacement, and whatnot, we are looking to find a fully furnished apartment to rent in the area in the meantime so we don't have to commute all the way from Crestmont."
"Hmm, why not just stay at a hotel, or grab something from FairStay? Even if you can't make a single reservation for the entire three months, you can just patch together several reservations. It's not like moving a few suitcases is that inconvenient."
When Jack got home and told Madison about Abigail and her FairStay suggestion, Madison said, "Huh, why didn't I think of that?"
Jack chuckled. "Isn't that supposed to be my line?"