Deadly Secrets Page 7

  Chapter 6

  Missy’s handyman turned out to be a fully fledged contractor. I should not have been surprised as Missy does absolutely nothing halfway. She would have required that any home repairs also be done by a consummate professional. She might be blond, but no one had ever made the mistake of thinking that Missy was dumb. In this case the professional was Mike Keegan of Keegan Builders, Inc.

  When I placed my call to the number that Missy had given me, I thought that surely I had made a mistake. However, Lucy, apparently Mr. Keegan’s secretary, soon set me straight that yes I did have the right number. And yes, Mr. Keegan would be interested in meeting with any friend of Mrs. Gaston about a home renovation project.

  Surprise, Surprise, I guess Missy had made an impression. I smiled as the thought flitted through my mind, “I wonder what that impression had cost poor Mitchell.” In case I forgot to mention it, Mitchell is Missy’s all too imperfect and wonderful husband.

  I scheduled a meeting with Mr. Keegan for Tuesday at 1:00 PM. I liked meetings at 1:00. I could still come in to work for half of the day, have a nice lunch hour, a brief meeting, and then an early afternoon of some leisure.

  I arrived just before the appointed hour at a quiet, little office space that appeared to be one half of a duplex on the corner of Abercorn and 38th street. The building was brick and had been nicely updated to modern standards and codes. I also noticed in a nod to safety, lovely black iron work had been added to the doors and windows on the lower levels. The unsuspecting might just think how pretty a picture it made. However, if you were familiar with downtown, you knew that all streets can present a danger after dark, especially any street with an actual number in its name. After all, guns and bullets didn’t know to stay out of affluent neighborhoods, and often neither did their operators.

  Since I went to the appointment straight from work, I was attired in more casual clothing. Though as I have already explained, my clothing is never too far from casual. For this occasion I wore fitted trouser jeans in a dark wash finish, a button down three-quarter length sleeve pink top. In a nod to formality, I had changed from my work boots into a pair of pale pink sling back sandals. They were flats of course, but better than my worn and well broken in Timberland work boots. My hair was down and temporarily brushed into place in a chin length bob. My make up as always was light and fresh. All in all, I would say that I looked fine and probably like some teenage kid instead of a person who was old enough to have given birth to one.

  Due to the limited availability of street parking downtown especially in the summertime, I had to walk two blocks to get to my destination. I was very relieved to open the front door and walk into a wall of cold air. I sighed in sweet thankfulness for the invention and widespread use of the air conditioner. I heard a feminine chuckle and turned to greet the woman to whom I had spoken on the phone.

  I walked over to the little desk on my right and reached out my hand. “Hi. I’m Miranda Hannigan. I have a 1:00 with Mr. Keegan.”

  The woman laughed and shook my hand. “Yes, we spoke on the phone. I’m Lucy Keegan.” She inclined her head to the closed door which I was sure must be Mr. Keegan’s office. “Mike is my son. He lets me run the office in an attempt to keep me from running his life.”

  I chuckled. It was nice to finally meet someone with a good sense of humor. Too bad it was an over the hill woman with graying hair and a waist that was still trim but running toward pudgy with all the speed of a slowing metabolism.

  Mrs. Lucy Keegan seemed oblivious to my thoughts or at least unconcerned; she gestured for me to have a seat in one of the two large leather wingback chairs that flanked her desk. “Have a seat dear, and I will let him know that you’re waiting.”

  She trotted off to poke her head in the door that I had noticed earlier and made the announcement which I was able to hear for the second time. I was also able to discern a general muttering that must be from the elusive Mr. Keegan, which sounded very much like a grunt.

  In short order, Mrs. Keegan was back seated at her desk and apparently more than ready to make ideal conversation. “So, Ms. Hannigan, I take it that you are doing some remodeling at present.”

  I groaned inwardly, but years of breeding came to my rescue. “Miranda, please, Ms. Hannigan feels too formal. When you call me that, I want to turn around and look for my mother.”

  Mrs. Keegan seemed pleased. “Very well then, Miranda, What are you looking to fix?”

  I must have looked like a vacant lot which would have been the perfect expression because I was momentarily taken aback about how a stranger could know that I needed to fix my life.

  She waved me off. “Dear, you look like a deer in the headlights as the saying goes. You can expect the same question from my son, you know. What are you looking to remodel or build?”

  A light bulb went off in my head followed by a great big “DUH.” “Oh, well my grandmother died a few years ago and left me her house. I have been living there since, but I’ve been unable to really put in the work to make the place mine.” I shrugged my shoulders. “Now seemed like the time to me.”

  Mrs. Keegan seemed to ponder my words looking for the deeper meaning that she was sure must be there. Luckily, I had hidden it so deep that even Indiana Jones might not have been able to excavate it. “Well, that sounds wonderful, Hon! What are you planning to do to the old house? Nothing garish I hope?”

  A weak smile pulled at my lips. “No, nothing garish, I just want to make some changes to the bathrooms and the kitchen mostly. Though I will be refinishing all the original wood flooring and repainting all the rooms too, but that’s nothing major or structural.”

  Mrs. Keegan nodded and looked at me head on. “It seems that you have put a great deal of thought into your plans. Is anyone helping you with all this?”

  So there it was. She had veiled it well. “Well, that’s why I have come to Keegan Builders….for help.” I straighten my backbone and looked her square in the eye. “I plan to do some of the work myself, of course, but there are some things that I hold no illusions about being able to do. That is why I need Mr. Keegan and your crew.”

  “Well, Miranda. You have come to the right place. There is no one better to sort out a mess than my Mike.” She angled her head and grinned me, “And very few easier on the eyes than my boy either.”

  “Uhhhh. Well that’s very nice to know, Mrs. Keegan, but I assure you that I am not looking for easy on the eyes or anything else in a man right now…..other than some construction assistance.”

  Lucy Keegan just arched a perfectly plucked brow at me as if to say we shall see. However, I was saved from further interrogation when the door to Mike Keegan’s office opened, and the very man we had been speaking of presented himself. I blinked twice trying unobtrusively to clear away what surely must be a mirage. When the vision did not change, I had no choice but to conclude that Mr. Mike Keegan was indeed that good looking.

  I tried not to embarrass myself, but how could anyone - man, woman, or child - not stop and admire that. I mean that would be like walking by the Mona Lisa without even stopping. In short, it would be a crime against morality or possibly humanity. I don’t know exactly which, but it would definitely be a crime.

  He was at least six and a half feet tall. Yes, I have a height addiction when it comes to men. How could I not since I am rather tall for a woman? I like to look up to my man, in more ways than one. He had dark hair; I think some muddy shade of brown. It was hard to tell since it was buzzed so close to his scalp that there was only a small smattering left. His eyes, however, were absolutely a chocolate brown. They were nice eyes, not just to look at. They seemed to say, “Hello there. I am a nice man. There is no need to run in fear; just lie down and be seduced. I will take care of you.” Boy what a combination. I almost wanted to comply, and that was saying something since I had temporarily sworn off men in an effort to find myself again. His face was nicely sculpted with a strong chin and a long straight nose. No one ha
d ever broken that beauty. I gulped down my reaction and stood to shake his hand.

  Mike Keegan came forward hand extended. “Sorry to keep you waiting. You must be Mrs. Hannigan. I’m Mike Keegan.”

  I shook his offered hand and smiled. “Thank you. Please call me Miranda.”

  “All right, Miranda. If you’ll please follow me this way, we can get down to business.”

  We walked into his office, and Mike, as I was already thinking of him, closed the door and took the chair behind his desk. I was seated directly in front of him across the large expanse of the desk. Good - there was safety in having four feet of solid wood and computer equipment between us. Mike took out a notepad and sat back a bit in his chair. “So, Miranda, what exactly are your plans, and how can Keegan Builders help you with them?”

  I launched into the same story with slight variations that I had given moments ago to his mother. Then I got down to business. “Well, that’s the general idea anyway. The first thing that I want to do is to attack the two smaller bedrooms upstairs and the bathroom that resides between them. I want to expand the closet space in both of the bedrooms because what is there now is not really adequate. In reality, we really need to double that space. I will leave it up to you to give me some possibilities with that once you have seen the space. I don’t want to take up a lot of each room’s space, and I want to keep the original open feel of the rooms. What I would like to do is turn the bathroom and bedrooms in to a Jack and Jill bath situation so that there is access to the bathroom from both bedrooms and the original entrance from the hall still remains. Again, I need your help with this project. I have no intention of trying to do framing or take out walls. What do you think?”

  Mike rubbed at his jaw. I could see a slight growth of beard beginning to appear. Instead of looking unkempt, it just made him look all the more capable and manly. “It certainly sounds doable, Miranda. Adding in some closets and cutting in a couple of doorways should not present too much trouble. What about the state of the wiring and plumbing in the house?”

  I lightly knocked myself on the forehead. “Sorry, I forgot to mention that, but my Grandmother had all that updated to code while she was alive. Now it is up to me to update the house and make it as functional and beautiful to live in now as it was when it was built.”

  Mike Keegan smiled at me, and the effect was devastating. “Do you happen to know what company your Grandmother used when she had the work done?”

  “Not off the top of my head, but I am sure that I have the information somewhere at home. I remember coming across some receipts for the remodel when I went through her papers after her death. I’m sure I saved them. It’ll just be a matter of unearthing them. Why are they important?”

  “We don’t have to have them, but if you can find the name of the company, I can contact them and get specific information about the work that was done on the home. That way I’ll have a better working knowledge of what is going on in the walls and floors with the plumbing, electrical, and any other systems that might have been updated since the original blueprints were made.”

  “I can see why that would be helpful, and now I’m a little embarrassed that I did not think to bring the receipts with me.”

  Mike waved away my concerns. “It’s really no problem. We can get started without them. I understand your passion for this project, Miranda. I think that we’ll get along fine. I love old houses, and you seem to love this one. I think together we will be able to make it into something truly wonderful.”

  “Thank you. The house means a lot to me. My grandmother was killed in that house, but that’s the only bad memory that I have of it with her. That house is full precious memories for me, and I want it to be full of my son’s happy childhood memories also.”

  “I understand. A house is just a house until someone has made it a home. So aside from the closets and the Jack and Jill bath, what would you like us to do?”

  “Well, I want to do some of the work in the bathrooms myself to save some money since a full house remodel is going to be expensive as it is. So after you have gotten that portion of the bath done, I plan to take over. However, I do want you to work on the master bathroom. That bathroom is going to need some plumbing work done. Is that something that Keegan Builders can handle too?”

  “Yes, ma’am, we do it all. So what are you thinking in the master bathroom?”

  “Well, nothing major. I’m having the claw foot tubs in both bathrooms sent out for refinishing. In fact, the movers are coming to pick up both tubs on Monday morning. Sam and I will be using the downstairs bathroom from then on until construction is complete. I love the tub, but I also want to add an enclosed glass shower to the room. There is plenty of room, but no existing drain or water hook up for one. I also want to expand the vanity from a single sink to double sinks, so a second sink hook up will need to be added. And if that is not enough, I want to use some of the extra space in the bathroom for a nice walk in closet. That way I don’t have to take space from the bedroom to make a new closet.”

  Mike nodded and made notes as I talked. “All of that sounds good. We should have no problem accommodating you. I’ll have to see the spaces we’re talking about, make some drawings, and take detailed measurements before I can get down to the nitty-gritty of planning it all.”

  “That’s what I figured. I have no problem with that. I’m teaching only three more weeks, and then I am taking the summer off. That will give me two whole months to work full time on my own home construction projects.”

  “I was wondering when you were planning to get the rest of the work done. If you get tired of doing the work yourself, we would gladly take over; after all that is what we do.”

  “Thanks, but I think that I’m going to enjoy it. I am starting demo in the two upstairs bathrooms this weekend. Of course, everyone wants to get in on demo, so I have some friends and family coming to help me. I’ve already ordered the vanities, cabinets, and fixtures that I want to go into the remodeled bathrooms, and they will be delivered on Monday. I plan to store them upstairs in the third bedroom, which is currently vacant. Will that be okay, or will having things in the room get in the way of you and your crew?”

  “It should be fine. If we need to move anything later, then we can revisit the issue at that time. Just to give you a very rough estimate, it looks like with these two rooms we have about two weeks of work. It would probably be shorter, but since we are adding plumbing in the master bath, we’ll have to rough it in and wait for the inspector to come out and give us the go ahead that we are up to code. That usually adds a few days.”

  “That sounds great. Do we need to move on to the planned downstairs renovations, or should we wait until some of the other work is done?”

  “Let’s go ahead. I like to have the whole job laid out so that my guys are never just standing around waiting on something to do.”

  “That sounds more than reasonable. The bathroom downstairs was redone about 20 years ago, but while it is functional, it’s not in keeping with the style of the house. There is a large bedroom downstairs, and the bath is next door. Again what I would like to do is have access to the bath from the hall and add access to the bath from the bedroom. That is the guest room, so it would be nice to make it a guest suite, but we still need to have general access to the bathroom since it is the only bathroom downstairs.”

  Again, Mike jotted notes and what looked like doodles on his pad. “That should be simple enough. What about the layout of the bathroom? Does it change, or are just the fixtures changing?”

  “The plumbing lines will stay the same. I am keeping the sink, toilet, and tub in the same places. I simply want to change and update the fixtures and flooring. However, I do want to exchange the current ugly tub shower combination for a more modern Jacuzzi tub, so some new wiring is going to be needed for that; at least I assume it’s going to be needed.”

  Mike smirked. “You assumed right. Tell me something, Miranda. How is it that you kno
w so much about all this, the remodeling that you want to have done?”

  I looked at him a little confused. “Well, I had better know what I am talking about. How else can I tell you what I want to do? How else can I make sure you don’t rip me off, and finally how else would I know that I can finance the renovations?”

  “Point well made, but just so you know, most people don’t think that way. They come to me with no idea of what needs to be done to make their dreams come true and no realistic idea how much those dreams are going to cost them.”

  I sniffed and tried to look superior. “I am a teacher. That means I have to be in the business of learning and researching the things that I want to know. If I didn’t, then I would be the worst kind of hypocrite.”

  Mike laughed then. “I think that we are going to work very well together, Ms. Miranda.”

  I smiled back at him and agreed. “Yes, I think so too; now on to the kitchen.”

  I left the office of Keegan Builders, Inc with a spring in my step. I was no idiot who would attribute my happy mood only to the successful completion of a job, but I was happy about that. No, I was woman enough to admit that I had enjoyed conversing with an intelligent and good looking man. Life was certainly looking up, or at least it was until I got to my car, noticed the expired meter, and the parking ticket on my windshield. Great, karma gave me one good thing and then turned around and kicked me in the rump.