2
The rear door led into the hall that traversed the whole of the house, and they met Stan near the basement door. Nick’s eyes flickered between his workman and the closed basement door, but his voice didn’t betray any of his suspicions. “How’s the work going?” he asked Stan.
“Do you want the good news or the bad news first?” Stan wondered.
“The bad news.”
“This place might bankrupt you,” Stan warned.
Nick grinned. “I don’t think it will completely drain my coffers, but thanks for the concern. What’s the good news?”
“This place might bankrupt you,” Stan told him.
“How soon will you know the former and the latter?” Nick asked him.
Stan furrowed his brow and glanced over the walls in the hall. “I’ll need to rip apart some of these walls to get a better idea of what we’ll need, a
