PART 7

Three weeks after I moved out, my life became quiet again.

At first, the silence felt strange.

There was no Barbara complaining about the temperature.

No Jessica calling from downstairs asking me to pick up groceries.

No Tyler reminding me that rent was due.

No one telling me where I could park.

No one making me feel as though my presence was an inconvenience.

I spent my first few mornings simply sitting on the back patio with a cup of coffee.

Sometimes I cried.

Sometimes I laughed.

Sometimes I spoke to William as if he were sitting across from me.

“I think you’d like this place,” I told him one morning.

A breeze moved through the oak trees.

“I finally bought the house you always told me I deserved.”

I smiled.

Then I heard the doorbell.

It was Marcus, my real estate agent.

He was holding an envelope.

“Morning, Eleanor.”

“What’s that?”

He handed it to me.

“This came to my office by mistake. I thought you’d want it.”

I opened it.

Inside was a copy of a property record.

I looked at the address.

My address.

Then I saw the name listed beneath mine.

My expression changed.

“What is this?”

Marcus looked confused.

“I was hoping you could tell me.”

I read it again.

There was an old lien attached to the property.

Nothing that threatened my ownership, but enough to make me curious.

“Who filed this?”

Marcus leaned over.

“It appears to have been filed years ago by a landscaping company.”

I stared at him.

“Which company?” He looked at the document.

“Tyler Morgan Landscaping.”

My heart stopped.

Tyler.

I called my attorney immediately.

Rebecca arrived that afternoon.

She examined the documents carefully.

“This doesn’t affect your ownership,” she said.

“Then why was Tyler’s company attached to my property?”

She pointed to a date.

“The lien was recorded before you purchased the house.”

“Was it legitimate?”

“Apparently not. It was released years ago.”

I frowned.

“Why would his company ever have anything to do with this house?”

Rebecca looked at me.

“That’s the question.”

We investigated.

What we found surprised both of us.

The house I had purchased had previously belonged to an elderly couple.

They had hired Tyler’s landscaping company several years earlier.

Tyler had done work on their property.

Apparently, the couple had never paid the final invoice because of a dispute over damages.

The matter went to court.

Tyler’s company lost.

The lien was later released.

It was old history.

Completely irrelevant to me.

Except there was one strange detail.

Tyler knew this house.

He had worked on it.

And he had apparently known it was on the market.

I stared at Rebecca.

“Do you think he knew I was buying it?”

She shook her head.

“I don’t know.”

I decided not to ask him.

I had spent enough time explaining myself.

CONTINUE FOR NEXT PART….