Page 11 of This Could be Love

“No problem. I didn’t want to get involved. I just had the nagging feeling that the guy might want to cause problems.”

“I had that from the start,” she mumbled.

Two teenage girls with tennis bags came onto the court and waved to Carter. He cast a glance at his watch and said goodbye.

“I’m sorry you had to experience that,” Kay said once we werealone again. “I don’t know what’s going on with that guy.” She shook her head. “Simply showing up here and lashing out.”

“Well…just so I understand this all correctly.He’sthe guy you filed a complaint against for disturbing the peace?”

Kay nodded, and the last bit of hope I had that everything was just a big misunderstanding disappeared.

“For renovating?”

“For renovating inthe middle of the night. Made such a racket you thought the sky was going to come crashing down.”

I refrained from mentioning that ten o’clock at night couldn’t really be considered “in the middle of the night,” regardless of how early you went to bed.

“And it’s not the first time,” she continued. “The first two times I let it slide, but this time around I lost it. I went over and rang, but he wouldn’t open the door. So, I had no choice but to go to the police.”

I replayed the conversation in my mind. “And what did you mean when you said that you ‘didn’t approve’ of his project?”

“The hostel.” She rolled her eyes. “The guy’s gotten it into his head that he’s going to build ahostelright next door.”

That she spit the word out more than she stated it made me choose my words carefully.

“And what’s so bad about that?”

“Wouldyouwant to live next to a hostel?” She cast me a doubtful glance. “I bought this house because it’s quiet. Not to have baked surfers and backpackers partying day and night one door down.”

I had to grin.

“What?”

“Well, come on, hostels aren’t just full of stoned surfers and backpackers, are they? I mean, there are also families that…”

“Are loud? Yeah.” She lowered her heavy eyelids. “I just want peace and quiet, Lou. I’ve earned it.”

“Have you tried talking with him? Maybe there’s some kind of…”

“You’ve just seen firsthand how talking with him goes.”

“So, what do you intend to do now?” I asked carefully.

“Naturally, I’d like the city council to revoke his business license.”

I hesitated. “Is that possible?”

“Marty says it’s not impossible.”

“Who’s Marty?”

“Marty Simmons. My lawyer.”

“You’ve got a lawyer involved?”

“Just consulting at the moment. But if Greenfield here turns up again to threaten us, I’ll be forced to take more drastic steps.”

“Come on, Vince didn’treallythreaten us.” I added a mild “right?” to soften my observation a bit.