Walk the Line (Man of the Month 12)

"Hey," she said tentatively, catching her father's eye. "We didn't mean to eavesdrop. We came to see what was going on with the plans for historical awareness. You know, like we talked about. To get on the Center and the commission's radar."

Tyree snorted. "Oh, we got on their radar, all right."

Eva caught Elena's eye. "He's not upset with you," her mom said, soothing Elena's rising fear before it bubbled over. She longed to hold Brent's hand--something was bad and she didn't want to know what it was--but she wasn't allowed to draw strength from him. Not now. Not in front of these people.

"Daddy?"

Tyree let out a long, frustrated breath, then turned to look at Easton. "I can't even talk about it without putting my fist through a wall. You explain it."

Easton nodded, looking sober. "At the recommendation of the Austin Center for Downtown Conservation and Revitalization and the local historical commission, the city has begun proceedings to forcibly buy The Fix from your father. It's called eminent domain, and it's one of their governmental powers."

"And we can't fucking stop them," Tyree said.

"I didn't say that," Easton put in. "I'll do everything I can. Hannah and I have already started drafting papers to file tomorrow, and we're going to burn up the phone lines making calls and lining up expert witnesses. All I said was that the law specifically allows for eminent domain in order to preserve a historic building as a museum or similar where it appears that the property would otherwise be lost to disrepair or mismanagement. That's not the exact statute, but it's the general idea."

"And from what you say, it's hard to win a challenge to eminent domain."

Easton hesitated, then nodded. "But that doesn't mean we won't try. And it won't cost you a dime. Hannah wants the money her father left her to fund this. That way it supports you and it filters back into the firm, untainted by her stepfather."

"I can't let you do that."

"You can," Easton said. "But we can talk about that later.

"The vandalism," Brent said, and Elena thought it was as much because he was thinking about the case as that he was trying to divert Tyree from the money situation. "They're using the vandalism as grounds to pursue a forced sale under the statute."

"They are," Easton agreed. "But as we all know--hell, as anyone watching the television show knows--the building is in excellent shape and has recently been improved. That will help our chances."

Tyree didn't seem to hear. He just shook his head.

"It'll be okay, Daddy," Elena said, moving beside him and taking his hand. He pulled her close, hugging her tight.

"Will it?" he asked. "Because from where I'm standing it looks like we worked like hell, got ahead of the game, and now one unexpected play is going to knock us on our asses."

He sighed, his chest rising and falling. "In other words, just when I thought we were in the clear, we're going to lose this whole place after all."

Chapter Eleven

"I'm sorry to put a damper on our plans to have wild sex all over the house," Elena said inside the circle of his arms.

"Oh, baby." He tightened his hold on her. "Don't even worry about it. I'm shell shocked, too."

They were spooned together on his sofa, shifting only t

o get another sip of wine. They'd already had two glasses each, and the wine had dulled a bit of the shock of Easton and Tyree's announcement.

"Do you think the city will really shut The Fix down?"

He heard real fear in her voice, and though his instinct was to simply reassure her, he owed her the truth. He'd seen a few eminent domain cases play out when he was still a cop--not directly related to his cases, but a few played out tangentially--and he knew that most of the time, the city prevailed.

"It's possible," he said honestly. "But if Landon and I can track down the tagger, maybe we can show the court that the vandalism is under control. That might go a long way to stopping the proceedings."

"That's why they let me go, isn't it? They realized who my father was and knew that this was coming."

He closed his eyes, not wanting to voice the truth that he'd realized back in Tyree's office. "Yeah," he finally said. "I'm pretty sure you're right."

For a moment, she was silent. Then she said, "You'll find them," and the trust in her voice would have brought him to his knees had he not already been stretched out on the couch.

"It's going to be okay," he said, sitting up and pulling her up with him. Without him asking, she shifted, moving to straddle his lap, and for the first time he paid attention to what she was wearing--a black dress with a loose skirt and a fitted bodice closed by a column of tiny, vertical buttons.