(Nectar) The Realtor's Tale

[Alessandra]

When you were used to spending your time not feeling heat or cold, the rush of a/c was weird to say the least. Oh how she didn’t miss having to worry about those things.

The corners of her mouth pull upwards as she looks at the man, dark eyes meeting his own.

“Buonasera.” Greets the Italian. “My associate is correct, we're here to talk about some property that we recently came into possession of. I have no need for your money or your partners.” Maybe it was the hood? So she lowers it.

“Do you have some time to talk with us? I really would like to know more about these properties and your name came up as the one who originally sold them.” She hoped he wasn’t going to give them trouble or try and blow them off. Her patience was at an all time low right now.

[Yumyumcrow]

Amerigo Nunez does not skip a beat.

"Of course. Please, this way."

He moves off to one of the glass walled office spaces, where he waits for the pair to settle. He himself puts himself behind the desk where he lays down his mug and absently fiddles with a pencil.

"Which properties are we talking about?" The tilt of his head and the way his eyes narrow as he takes in the pair suggests he may already have suspicions. "I have gone through a fair few properties over the last year. A bumper year, in fact. It... just makes it a bit hard to recall what passed through my books when. You understand, yes?"

[Robert Cross]

Cross is happy to let Alessandra do the talking, his preferred means of communication being much more...physical. Brutally so.

But Amerigo seems happy to oblige, and so Cross follows him into this new room. Remains standing, toward the back, as the realtor takes a seat.

"A few warehouses out in Roseville. At [street address]. We're curious about previous owners..."

With that, he falls silent again. Not wanting to interrupt the Reeve's flow.

[Alessandra]

Her head nods and she follows. She finds a place to stand near the desk, watching Amerigo.

When he asks his question, and Cross answers, her head nods once again,

“That’s the address.” Confirming that was the one they had questions about. “Now, we know who we got the property from, but want to know who held it before them.” Her mind already working on reasons for wanting that info should he ask.

Smiling, “A bumper year huh? I take it old warehouses are a frequent sale? What is the going rate for such a property?” the Reeve was curious how much was spent on it. If a lot was, then perhaps there was more to it than she thought. “In case I decide to expand my properties of course.” The smile remains.

[Yumyumcrow]

Amerigo Nunez smiled dangerously from behind his desk. "I got my ways," he replied to Alessandra. "And I always keep a spare book on the down low. For special clients. Many of them have, shall we say, special needs or requirements."

He looked over at Cross, keeping him within the conversation.

"I remember them. They came as part of a set with two other warehouses, but the others were out of town. Even more run down than those ones by the rail yards. Never thought I'd clear them. Gary was a relief. But you are not interested in that..."

"I got them cheap. Agents from a Mexican pharma company were streamlining their business. Read, getting out of California, I imagine: I did my research and this pharma company rarely does work in the US. Plenty work in central America. Anyway, the warehouses were defunct assets in the area and they wanted them sold quickly. I jumped... A little too quickly. The whole lot of them were mangy and derelict. I reached out, naturally, but there were no buyers."

"Doesn't end there, though. Before this particular pharma bought them up, the warehouses were owned by a string of small companies, trusts, and so forth. None of the sites had been cared for in years. The warehouses were all owned, briefly, by a biotech start up. Now this company had a lot of expectation but they didn't come to anything. The story I picked up was that they were hit hard by corporate espionage, then later bought out. Guess who by - the Mexican company. I suppose that the Mexican's strip mined the biotech start up and those old warehouses were the last to go."

He shrugged nonchalantly.

"Thats pretty much it."

He looked carefully at Cross, his eyes sliding past Alessandra deliberately.

"So. Since I'm giving this information out for free, whats your interest in all this?"

[Robert Cross]

Cross watches. And listens.

The tingle of quickened blood makes his scarred-flesh a map of sensation. The beating of his heart, involuntary rise and fall of his lungs, all of it is very strange to him. Cross doesn't enjoy this facsimile of life. Does not like 'living' this lie.

Still, no amount of magical blood can make his cold, blue eyes seems alive. Especially when they narrow, and fix on a target. Which is exactly what they do when Amerigo asks his question.

"Ms. De Luca acquired these properties recently. We were curious about their history." He shrugs.

"I suggest you ask her," Cross continues. "I'm just here to make sure you continue to share your information...freely."

It's not exactly a threat. But it's close. The Burned Man doesn't like to be probed by Breathers.

[Alessandra]

An eyebrow was arched in interest at hearing this,

“That’s good to know, I may be in the market for more properties around the city. Warehouses are preferred, and if you are able to accommodate those with special requirements, we might have to do business.” Rather or not he could do things on the down low remained to be seen. But the info was filed away.

Nope, they knew Gary, and if Gary was smart and didn’t feed them a line of crap, he’d live to breathe a couple more years.

Mexican pharma company? Now this was a first. So if they rarely did business within the US, than perhaps there was something else going on with the warehouses.

So a pharma company AND a biotech? Those were things she was hoping to hear, which would make the stash make sense.

A finger taps against her lips as she listened, working things out in her head. She wasn’t stupid, there was more going on.

“Interesting. Do you happen to know the company’s names?” worth asking.

She then chuckles, “I highly doubt you’re providing this information for free,” a shake of her head, “Nothing is ever free, there's something in it for you, you just haven't shared it yet.” A smirk, certainly not in her business.

Then Cross speaks, she nods, “I want the history on the properties, specifically who owned them prior to Gary. We asked him, but he claimed he didn’t know, and that you would be the one to ask. I’m not stupid, there is always a name attached to a check or a face to cash.” But would he share those names with them, or were things going to get difficult. Well, for him.

[Yumyumcrow]

Amerigo Nunez didn't miss a beat.

"Well, if you are looking for properties in Roseville, do think of me."

He leaned forward, clasping his hands together.

"I do. For a reasonable contribution I'll give you the names and you'll get the history that you seek. I'll have done the due diligence for you, after all."

For the moment, he was focussed on Alessandra. Business person to business person.

"For a further consideration I'll tell you who recently bought the other two warehouses. That is, if you are interested."

[Robert Cross]

Flat, blue eyes cut to the Reeve, then back to the Breather. Slippery fish, this one.

"And what do you consider reasonable?"

It's Alessandra's game now.

If she plays ball with the financial angle, Cross could maybe pitch in. If she wants to take it...in another direction. He'd be more than happy to help with that too.

[Alessandra]

Roseville, that name again. Something told her she didn’t want property in that area of the city. Not until the Brood were exterminated anyways.

And there it was, everyone had a price. Nothing was free.

Head and eyes turn towards Cross as she thought this over.

“Interesting. But I believe we have a different understanding of due diligence. Because it sounds to me like you already have said information, not requiring you to go out of your way to get it. Now if you actually had to make some calls and dig around, I might consider it due diligence. Not to mention that I’m pretty sure most of that info is public record. Which means I'll have to make sure I include your name and license number when I inquire about it. Unless,” she pauses, “there’s some illegal activity going on here and you’re not on the up and up with your sales and record keeping. In which case, circumstances are changed.” She was simply a property owner looking for info on her property. Ball back in his court.

She just didn’t have contacts in City Hall to get the info for her. But maybe an internet search could turn something up. The records department.

A light shrug, “I’m interested, more warehouses are good for business. But I’m not looking to play ball with illegal properties or shady dealings.” See this face, innocent face. “A good question, what do you consider reasonable? And are those numbers changed where there is clearly some shady things going on?” criminals deal in properties all the time, was good way to move product and make money.