No Place Like Home by Mary Higgins Clark

percent.”
    â€œI also own twenty percent of the property on Route 24 and I want my money from it,” Henry continued. “We have an offer. Either sell it or buy me out.”
    â€œHenry, you know perfectly well that the people who want to buy that property are fronting for Ted Cartwright. If he gets his hands on it, he’ll have enough land to press for commercial zoning. Long ago, we agreed that we’d eventually deed that property to the state.”
    â€œOr that you would buy me out,” Henry insisted stubbornly. “Georgette, let me tell you something. That house on Old Mill Lane is cursed. You’re the only real estate agent in town who would accept the exclusive listing on it. You’ve wasted this firm’s money advertising it. When Alex Nolan asked to see it, you should have told him the truth about it right then and there. The morning I showed that place to Celia Nolan, there was something positively chilling in the atmosphere of the room where the murder took place. She felt it and it upset her. As I also told you, the damn place smelled like a funeral parlor.”
    â€œHer husband ordered the flowers. I didn’t,” Georgette replied hotly.
    â€œI saw the picture in the newspaper of that poor girl collapsing, and you are responsible for it. I hope you realize that.”
    â€œAll right, Henry, you’ve had your say,” Robinsaid, suddenly speaking up, her tone even and firm. “Why don’t you calm down?” She looked at Georgette. “I was hoping to spare you from getting hit with this the minute you walked in.”
    Georgette looked gratefully at Robin. I was her age when I opened this agency, she thought. She’s got what it takes to make people want the houses she shows them. Henry doesn’t give a damn anymore whether or not he makes a sale. He wants to retire so much that he can taste it. “Look, Henry,” she said, “there is a potential solution. Alex Nolan did publicly admit that he cut me off when I tried to tell him about the background of the house. The Nolans want to live in the area. I’m going to go through every listing I can find and line up some houses to show Celia Nolan. If I find something she likes, I’ll waive the commission. Alex Nolan didn’t even want to press a complaint against whoever vandalized the house. I have a feeling they’ll both be amenable to settling this matter quietly.”
    Henry Paley shrugged and, without answering, turned and walked down the hall to his office.
    â€œI swear he’ll be disappointed if you manage to pull that rabbit out of the hat,” Robin commented.
    â€œI’m afraid you’re right,” Georgette agreed, “but I am going to pull it out.”
    It was an unexpectedly busy morning with a young drop-in couple who seemed seriously interested in buying a home in the Mendham area. Georgette spent several hours driving them to view places in their price range, then calling the ownersand getting permission to go through the ones they liked. They left after promising to come back with their parents to look at a house they seemed to have fallen in love with.
    Georgette had a quick sandwich and coffee at her desk, and for the next two hours went through the multiple-broker listing of residences for sale and studied it carefully in the hope that one of them would jump out as an attractive prospect for Celia Nolan.
    She finally culled the list down to four possibilities. She would push the two she had an exclusive on, but show Celia the others if necessary. She was friends with the agent who had those two listings, and could count on making some kind of arrangement about her share of the commission.
    Her fingers crossed, she called the Nolans’ number and was relieved and delighted that Celia seemed totally amenable to looking at other houses in the area. Next, she made phone calls to the owners of the houses she had selected and asked to