FOUR
"And you're sure they haven't lived there for five years?" Cole asked when the girls told him what they had learned.
"I'm positive," said Phoebe. "In one of my college classes I had to do some community service to get credit for the course. I had to drive past that house every day to do the community service. I know Drayson was still there then. That was about two years ago or so."
"It doesn't make sense that they'd lie about something like that," said Cole. "There's no reason to lie about how long you've lived somewhere."
"Unless they're hiding something," said Piper. "The question is, what are they hiding?"
"Maybe I can find out something," said Cole. "I can check with the district clerk's office and get some information about the house. That might give us a clue about what's going on."
"Isn't that dangerous?" Phoebe asked. "Not even counting the demons after you, if someone at the district clerk's office recognizes you that could cause a whole lot of other problems."
"Relax, it's not going to be a problem," said Cole. "I can call and get all the information I need."
"You think they'll give you any information?" Piper asked.
"Absolutely," said Cole. "The kind of information I'll be asking about is called public knowledge. Anything on file with the district clerk's office is in the public domain which means anyone can get the information. I won't even have to identify myself."
"Well, I guess that will be okay," said Phoebe.
Just then Leo orbed into the manor.
"I'll use the phone in the kitchen," said Cole. "I'll let you know what I'll find out."
"Did you find Drayson?" Piper asked Leo.
"Not exactly," said Leo. "I was able to locate a couple of homeless guys with dogs but none that fit Paige's description. You'd be surprised how many homeless men there are in this city."
"Well, we found something very odd," said Piper. "We checked out Drayson's house. There's a couple living there that claim they've lived there for five years."
"But didn't Phoebe say that Drayson had lived there until just a couple of years ago?" Leo asked.
"Yes," said Phoebe. "That's what's so odd about it. There's no reason for them to lie about something like that. Cole's checking out the house right now to see if he can find out anything about it."
"Well, we still need to find Drayson," said Piper. "Leo, do you think you can search some more for him?"
"I can try," said Leo, "but it's not going to be easy. Homeless people rarely stay in one place very long. Even when they stay in a shelter or mission they'll move around. It's the proverbial needle in the haystack. If I get lucky I might find him but there are no guarantees."
"Paige, is there anything else you can tell us about him that might help Leo find him?" Piper asked.
"Not, not really," said Paige. "He needed a bath and a shave and his clothes needed cleaning but other than that there's nothing that jumps out about him. Other than the dog he had with him. I really wasn't paying that much attention to him. My arm was hurting and I wanted to get here so Leo could heal my wound."
"The wound," said Phoebe. "You had a shirt wrapped around it when you got here. You said Drayson gave you the shirt."
"Yes," said Paige. "I was bleeding pretty badly. He gave me the shirt to staunch the bleeding."
"That's it," said Phoebe. "I can use the shirt to scry for him. With any luck we should be able to locate him pretty quickly. If he's mortal there shouldn't be any magic to block the scry."
"If he's mortal," said Piper. "If he's not we might have a problem."
"It's worth a try," said Phoebe. "We don't have anything to loose."
"Can you really do that?" Paige asked. "Use the shirt he gave me to find him?"
"It's possibility," said Piper. "I think the shirt is in the trash. It was so bloody I didn't think it was good for anything else. Phoebe, you get the map and the crystal and I'll get the shirt. Leo, as soon as we locate him you'll need to orb us there so we can have a chat with him."
"That may not be a good idea," said Leo. "Homeless people are used to being picked on. If we all go there it might make him nervous. We might not get any information out of him we can use."
"Leo's right," said Paige. "We don't want to spook him especially if he's not a demon. I think Leo and I should go alone. Leo can orb me there and he all ready knows me. In fact, he saved my life. He might be more talkative if I talk to him alone."
"Just be careful," said Piper. "He might be a demon and it could be dangerous. If there's any hint of danger, Leo, you're to orb her out of there immediately."
"We have to find him first," said Leo.
"I have the map and the crystal," said Phoebe. "Piper, get the shirt. I think we'll get a good reading from it."
As Piper went to get the shirt, Cole came out of the kitchen. He had several sheets of paper in his hand.
"I found some things about Mr. Drayson's house," said Cole. "It was built in 1897 by Randy Drayson. Apparently it survived the big quake of 1906 with only minor damage. Drayson died in 1937 and it was inherited by his son, Jack Drayson. He died in 1999 and his son, Scott Drayson inherited it. Three years ago Scott Drayson lost it because delinquent taxes. The city took it and Drayson was evicted about six months later. It's lain empty ever since.,"
"Well, it's not empty now," said Piper. "And the couple living there has done a great deal to fix it up."
"I did discover a few interesting things about it, however," said Cole. "It was never put up for sale by the city. That's a little odd. Normally when the city takes a property for delinquent taxes it's put up for sale. Either someone can pay the delinquent taxes on it, in which case they get the title to the house free and clear or the city will put it up for auction. Whoever bids the highest buys the house.
"Except in this case the paper work on the house was never put through. So it was never put up for back taxes or auction. The procedure used to dispose of the house was never used. And the different departments that handle disposition of confiscated property each think another department is handling it. It's typical bureaucracy red tape. The departments handling the various aspect of the house's disposition haven't received the proper paperwork so they just file the house in some pending file. Until they get the proper paperwork it will probably sit in some filing cabinet gathering dust."
"Typical bureaucratic laziness," said Paige.
"Not necessarily," said Cole. "I did find out that one of the people involved in processing the paperwork is named Spencer Albert."
"That's the name of the couple who are living there right now," said Piper.
"Exactly," said Cole. "It appears that Mr. Albert has used his position in the city government to keep the house from being sold so they can live there."
"That's a nice trick," said Paige. "As long as the house is in limbo they don't have to pay rent, a mortgage, or taxes on it. And with him being able to control the paperwork no one will ever be the wiser. All he has to do is make sure the proper paperwork is never filed and he can live there as long as he wants."
"It's not a bad plan," said Leo. "They could live there forty or fifty years before anyone discovered their plan. Once one of them died the house would go into probate and it would probably be discovered what they were doing then, but until that happened no one would have a clue what was going on."
"I doubt it," said Cole. "More than likely, unless someone actually checked, they'd never find out what Mr. Albert had done. And he'd be able to make sure that no one checked enough to discover his plan."
"He couldn't do that after he died," said Piper. "And as Leo said, once the house went into probate, what he did would probably be exposed."
"Except our Mr. Albert would have someone in place to take care of that in case something did happen to him," said Cole. "I don't think we're dealing with a corrupt public official. I think we're dealing with demons."