Chapter 12
Peggy took a couple of days off to be with Brenda and she seemed to be more like her old self. Brenda became a lot more relaxed around us and, now that all of the past tensions were gone, she started taking better care of herself and glowed with an inner beauty that matched her outer beauty. She was a big help with Peggy and within days it seemed totally natural to have Brenda living with us.
The only problems I has in those weeks after we got back from Denver was the hot tub and the pool. Every night Peggy and I would hit the hot tub or pool to unwind after we got home. Our place was screened by the natural vegetation of the desert so we always swam nude and used the hot tub nude. Peggy invited Brenda into our evening ritual like it was the most natural thing in the world for a viral adult male to swim and bath with two of the most beautiful and well-built, not to mention nude, women on the planet. They saw that I was uncomfortable. Brenda seemed Ok with it and Peggy teased me in front of Brenda for my Puritan ways; as she put it. I quite often had to wait for them to go into the house to hide my erection when I got out of the tub.
After we got back home I concentrated on running the business for three weeks. I hit a spell where we wouldn't be starting any new projects and everything was running as most construction projects do; like a minor riot. I called Bob Cassidy and explained what I wanted to do about the farm and he agreed to find out everything that he could about the farm and go with me when it became time to confront the uncle.
Bob called back a few days later and said that he felt that he had all of the information that he needed. We agreed to make the trip to Idaho the next day. I explained the Peggy and Brenda that I was going to be gone for a few days and what I was going to do about the farm. Brenda offered a few suggestions about what she wanted me to do to the uncle but they were all illegal.
On the trip to confront the uncle Bob went over everything that he had found. The farm hadn't been worked in a couple of years and if someone didn't start taking care of the place it would start to rapidly lose value. Two years taxes were owned and notices had gone in the paper that the farm would be sold at the next auction. Most of the equipment had been sold by the uncle to fuel his alcohol addiction. Bob had copies of a couple of newspaper ads that listed the farm equipment for sale. The house was quickly becoming known as the place to party. All you had to do was provide the uncle with enough rotgut to get him to pass out.
As we pulled in front of the house in the rented car it was obvious that there had been no repairs done in the past few years and little cleaning either. The yard was strewn with trash and a couple of wrecks. We walked around the outside for a couple of minutes shaking our heads.
The front door opened and an overweight man stepped out, "You two, can I help you?"
"Are you Tim Sellers?" I asked.
"Yeah and who the hell are you. What the hell are you two doing tromping around my property?"
Bob pulled out some papers, "According to this deed, Peggy and Brenda Sellers own this property."
The uncle scowled, "Ain't no Peggy or Brenda here. This place belongs to me. Now get your asses off my property."
I stepped forward, "I think that you're the one that ought to get off of the property. I'm Peggy's husband and I have her authorization to take possession of this property and all of the contents of the house and the farm equipment."
The uncle looked at me for a long time trying to figure out his next step, "Them two shits abandoned the place. If it wasn't for me, the sheriff would have taken it long ago. Now, I told you get off my property or I'll call the sheriff."
I pulled my cell phone out, "That's a good idea because I was about to call him myself. I'm going to have you charged with rape, statutory rape, child abuse, grand theft for selling property that doesn't belong to you, illegal use of property, assault, abuse of office for failing to manage the estate of your brother properly, and several other financial crimes. Is there anything that I've left out Bob?"
Bob looked solemn, "There are a few that you didn't mention. I think you'd better get the sheriff out here and have this man arrested. Just on the charges that we can easily prove, I think he's looking at thirty years in prison. I sure wouldn't want to be him when the other inmates find out he rapes children. He'll wind up being some guy's girlfriend within twenty-four hours."
I pointed at Bob, "This man ought to know. He was a cop for thirty years."
The uncle started to say something but I grabbed his arm and started dragging him to his old pickup, "Get your ass into that truck and get the hell off this property. As soon as I get into town I'm going to file all of those charges that I just rattled off to you, with the sheriff. If I was you I'd put as much distance between you and the sheriff as possible. I intend to make sure that you spend the next thirty years in jail."
The uncle sat in his truck and looked at both of us. You could see that he was trying to figure out if he had a way out of this mess. He finally shut the door and started the truck and spun out onto the county road and drove away from the farm as fast as possible.
Bob shook his head, "I don't know if we could have made all of those charges stick. You were a bit off the wall with a couple of them."
Bob and I went inside and almost gagged. I couldn't believe that a human would live in such filth. Even the dumbest of animals wouldn't live like this. It was clear that the uncle was making no attempt to stay sober.
We locked the front door as we left. We didn't have a key so we'd have to break in if we ever wanted to get in again. We got into the car and I drove slowly up the road watching for the next farmhouse. We found a driveway leading to a farmhouse back off of the county road. It was a sharp contrast to the farm that we had driven Tim Sellers off of. A man stepped out onto the porch and waited for us to come to him. As we walked up to him he introduced himself as Buck Manos.
"Hi," I said, "I'm Peggy Sellers husband. She and her sister own the next farm down the road. I don't know if you remember them or not."
I went over why I was here and why we had evicted Tim Sellers. The farer remembered Peggy and Brenda as kids and said that Tim had told him that they had gone to live with an aunt in Chicago. I gave him a brief account of what Tim had done to the girls.
"Mr. Manos, my wife and her sister are going to sell the farm. Do you know of anyone that would be interested in buying it?"
"Hell, I've offered to buy it from Tim Sellers a couple of times. Mainly, I just wanted to get him out of the county. If it's for sale I'd be interested in it for my boy. He just got married and it'd be good for him to have a place of his own."
"I'll tell you what, Mr. Manos. I'll have the farm appraised and then I'll have my wife get in touch with you and she can set the price. In the meantime, if Tim Sellers sets foot on the property again, I'd like you to call the sheriff. Don't confront him; let the sheriff take care of it. I'll leave you my card. Have the sheriff call me if Tim comes back. Now can I have your number so my wife can get in touch with you?"
We exchanged numbers and he assured me that he would watch out for the property. I asked if he knew the number for the sheriff and the tax office and he walked into his house and came back with the Yellow Pages phone book.
"Take it with you. We have the new one. The numbers you want are the same in that one."
On the way back to turn the rental car in, I called the sheriff and told him what I had done about the farm. I give him a brief account of how Tim Sellers had raped both girls and squandered away their inheritance. The sheriff was only too happy that Tim Sellers was on his way out of town. He assured me that if Sellers came back he would call and have Peggy and Brenda charge him for the rapes and the other crimes. Apparently Tim Sellers was a major thorn in everybody's side in this county.
We got back to Sky harbor airport about two o'clock in the afternoon. Bob Cassidy had left his car in the office parking lot and I drove him to the office to pick up his car. When we parted I told him to be sure and send me his bill and he grinned and told me that he never forgot to bill clients.
I was surprised to find Brenda in the office working. I later found out that Peggy had her helping out because Brenda felt that she needed to pull her own weight. I called both of them into my office. When they came in I motioned for them to close the door. They both grinned from ear to ear as I told them how we had run their uncle off of the farm and had the sheriff on the lookout for him. When I told them about Buck Manos wanting to buy the farm they vaguely remembered him. They seemed happy that someone that knew the area would want the farm. I didn't tell them about the condition of the farm.
When I had finished I told them that I was going to take them both to dinner in town that night to celebrate. Peggy wanted to go home first and get ready so I told them to go ahead and I would catch up on what was happening since I was away. Peggy knew that I kept clothes at the office in case I had to get dressed up for an affair and I had a bathroom off of the office where I could take a shower.
They both left and I started working on the paperwork that had piled up while I was away. My list of phone calls that I had to return was greater than I could handle in a couple of hours. Some of them would have to wait until tomorrow.
About seven o'clock Peggy and Brenda came back in my office wearing dresses that accentuated their figures. I knew that they would be turning a lot of heads tonight. These two women had to be among the most beautiful women in the southwest if not the whole world. I made a mental note to talk to Peggy about fixing Brenda up with some nice guy.
I took the women to the Ancala Country Club for dinner. Dan and Abby had belonged to the club and it had been part of the estate. Since the membership was transferable and had been part of the estate; I became a member. It was valuable as a business resource. As was always the case, the food was the best that money could buy. Brenda couldn't believe that people lived this way. I didn't know what she had gone through after she ran away from home, but I was sure that it wasn't pleasant.
When Brenda went to the restroom Peggy leaned over to me, "We have more than we deserve to have. Would you mind if I take whatever we get from the farm and give to Brenda. That way she'll have some money of her own. I don't expect that we'll get too much but it's more than she has now."
I assured her that I didn't mind what she did with her own money and that I was proud of her for being so kind to her sister.
"It's your money as much as it is mine. We're married and we share lives, money and everything else."
I took the women dancing for a while after dinner and found the
Brenda was a great dancer. I watched to make sure that I didn't dance
with one more than the other. I didn't want to spend the next couple of
weeks in the doghouse.