Chapter One
Hunter Black had found the perfect property. Situated on 120 acres, backing onto a forestry reserve, with a small private lake, a year-round flowing creek and the closest neighboring house was five miles away. The small city of Regal, boasting twenty-thousand people, where he grew up, was fifteen minutes away. It was the first solid step towards executing his plan.
He had a beautiful main home built. From the quiet country road, he set the house back one-hundred yards, setting the driveway winding through a one-hundred-year-old evergreen forest, resting on a bed of ferns, as wild and untouched as a forest could be these days.
At the same time, he had had the carriage house built. It was a cozy, two bedrooms, with a kitchen and a living room, a front porch for sitting out of the weather and a back deck for a barbecue and sunbathing. He had invested over five-million dollars into it all, over the course of a couple of years. The house and landscaping were finally complete.
With the main house incorporating an indoor swimming pool, fully functional gym, modern kitchen, living room or great room, movie room, spectacular master bedroom, den and more. He had all of the most modern toys, cameras, speakers and intercom throughout. From his den, or home office if you prefer, over the three computer screens in front of him, he could see every square inch of interior and exterior areas of both houses and cleared property. He could monitor it all from the comfort of his desk chair.
A flip and click of the mouse and he could see all of the cleared forest area he had created for the building site. He had additional plans, but for now, he could see fifty-yards in any direction from the house. The wall of forest at fifty-yards prevented seeing beyond.
Next, he set about finding the perfect tenant. He was patient and he retained a big city housing manager to cull tenant applications under the auspice of being a Good Samaritan, looking to provide a leg up for an unfortunate mother.
Twice a week he culled through the tenant applications they thought may interest him. The applications contained the usual stuff, tenancy history, employer contact info, references, plus a photo of the applicant. Half way through the second month of the search one applicant finally generated enough interest. His triggers were, job, sick child, no emergency contact and her photo was pretty good too.
He sent the application off to a private investigator he knew from past business dealings. He knew the PI well, some of their dealings had been in the grey areas of the law, 'almost black', he remembered. He knew the PI could be trusted to keep quiet about anything because to do otherwise would be to invite his own disaster.
A week later the PI's report arrived. It wasn't that thick so he started reading it.
Subject
Jen Radner
Twenty years old.
Natural light brunette fading to blond in the sun.
Measurements, Thirty-five-Twenty-three-Thirty-six. C cup, excellent health.
Height, Five feet five inches. Weight One hundred twenty-five lbs.
Smiling he wondered to himself how in hell the PI got that info.
She is the mother of a one-year-old boy, Brian.
Brian suffers from a debilitating condition, macrocephaly, that has made him none verbal, his head is outgrowing his body, other health conditions arising. He sleeps as much as sixteen hours a day on average. Surprisingly, the boy is generally healthy, it's just his brain won't stop growing. Considered very easy to care for by visiting nurses and child care workers, for now.
His life expectancy is five to seven years.
Subject was raised in Regal, with a normal small-town life. Her parents were killed in a car accident three years ago. She didn't take it well. Dropped out of school, fell in with a bad boy and a worst crowd.
The bad boy, Brian's father, was one, Terry Owen, who was a year older than Jen. Terry grew up rough, alcoholic parents, domestic violence, with heavy drug use since he was fourteen-years-old. In and out of juvenile detention for B&E, drug dealing, possession. No violence charges nor reputation of violence. Just your typical home grown junky trying to survive in a small town.
The investigator was unable to find any legal source of income for either of them during this time and neither of their parents had anything to pass on. Welfare had stepped up but she rebelled after meeting Terry.
Looks like she got pregnant but kept using until birth. Kid was messed up and daddy couldn't handle it and ran. Mama pulled herself together, sobered up and has been trying to care for the kid as best she can.
They, mom and kid, reside in an eightplex, low income, housing unit on the south side. Welfare has provided the housing since the birth of Brian but having now achieved full time employment, her welfare runs out at month's end. This is motivating her rental search.
'South side, rough place,' Black was thinking.
Presently employed, last three months, as a receptionist/secretary for two-thousand dollars per month, with a commercial painting contractor. No known familial ties to company or staff. Employer does considerable DND work but most staff must hold valid security clearance. Subject's application is still in queue.
Bank account of two-hundred-sixty-five dollars with Bank of America. No loans, credit card debt of four-thousand-six-hundred-seventy-three dollars, making negotiated monthly payments of four-hundred dollars. She got in way over her head buying some special medical equipment for her son.
Well liked at work, although passes on all invites to extra-curricular events, including lunches and after work bar stops. Couldn't find a neighbor who could say they knew her.
Suggests total dedication to something or someone outside of work. Her child?
Summary
