while she set up the sign-in sheet and information packets on the dining room table.
The house was very neatly kept and Cassie wondered how much of that was due to the fact that it was being shown to potential buyers. She moved into a short hallway and then up the stairs that led to two bedrooms and bathroom above. She stepped a few feet into the master bedroom and looked around. The room had a large bay window that looked out on the steep rock hillside at the rear of the house. LeValley called from below, seemingly knowing exactly what Cassie was looking at and thinking.
“Mudslides are not a problem. The hillside out there is extruded granite. It’s probably been there for ten thousand years and, believe me, it’s not going anywhere. But if you are seriously interested in the property, I would suggest you get a geological survey done. If you buy it, it will help you sleep better at night.”
“Good idea,” Cassie called down.
Cassie had seen enough. She stepped out of the room and crossed the hall to the child’s bedroom. This room, too, was neat but cluttered with collections of stuffed animals, Barbie dolls and other toys. There was a drawing easel in one corner holding a crayon drawing of a school bus with several stick figures in the window. The bus had pulled up to a building where a red truck was parked in a garage. A firehouse. The girl was a good artist.
Cassie checked the hall to make sure LeValley had not come up and then stepped over to the easel. She flipped over some of the pages containing prior drawings. One drawing depicted a house with a large green lawn in front of it. There was a FOR SALE sign at the front of the house and a stick figure of a girl stood next to it. A bubble coming from the girl’s mouth said Boo Hoo. Cassie studied it for a long time before breaking away and looking around the rest of the room.
On the left wall there was a framed movie poster for an animated film called The Little Mermaid. There were also large wooden letters spelling the name JODIE SHAW, each letter painted a different color of the rainbow. Cassie stood in the middle of the room and silently tried to take it all in and commit it to memory. Her eyes fell on a photo which stood in a small frame on the girl’s white bureau. It showed a smiling girl standing with Mickey Mouse amidst a crowd at Disneyland.
“Their daughter’s room.”
Cassie almost jumped at the voice behind her.
She turned. Laura LeValley stood in the doorway. Cassie had not heard her on the steps. She wondered if the broker had been suspicious of her and intentionally sneaked up the stairs to catch her stealing or doing something else.
“Cute kid,” LeValley said, giving off no sign of suspicion. “I met her when I first took the listing. I think she’s six or seven.”
“Five. Almost six.”
“Excuse me?”
Cassie quickly pointed to the photo on the bureau.
“I would guess. I mean, if that photo’s recent.”
She turned and raised a hand, taking in the whole of the room.
“I also have a niece who is five. This could be her room.”
She waited but there were no further questions from LeValley. It had been a bad slip and Cassie knew she was lucky to have gotten away with it.
“Well,” LeValley said, “I want to get you to sign in so we have your name and number. Are there any questions I can answer for you? I even have an offer sheet with me if by any chance you’re ready to do that.”
She smiled as she said the last line. Cassie smiled back.
“Not just yet,” she said. “But I do like the house.”
LeValley headed back to the stairs and down. Cassie moved toward the door to follow. As she stepped into the hallway, she glanced back at the collection of stuffed animals on a shelf above the bed. The girl seemed partial to stuffed dogs. Her eyes then went back to the drawing on the easel.
Down in the living room LeValley handed her a clipboard with a sign-in sheet on it. She wrote the name Karen Palty, the name belonging to an old friend from her days dealing blackjack, then made up a phone number with a Hollywood exchange and an address on Nichols Canyon Road. After she handed it back LeValley read the entry.