Even though it was a hot day, Cody and Jan had all of the doors and windows of the downstairs one-bedroom apartment open to keep the smell of paint from gagging them.

Neither of them had ever liked the color of the paint in the living room, and this might be their best chance to do something about it. Jan, a tallish, slender girl had her hair up for this task and was wearing an oversized hat and a plastic hair cover as she didn’t want to risk getting paint in her long dark hair and bangs.

Cody was wrestling with changing the toilet; the old one seemed to want to plug up if someone took more than a good healthy leak in it. That was not surprising, since it was clear to Cody that it was the cheapest possible piece of junk on the market. Their last renter had been quick with a plunger, so he had been able to get along with it. The next one might not be able to cope with it as easily, so to prevent unwanted phone calls or banging on their door in the middle of the night, the two of them had agreed that now was a good time to change it out. So the tall, dark, and Jan thought handsome, young man had tools and toilet parts spread all over the bathroom.

There was a fitting on the old feed line that was proving recalcitrant, and Cody was one wrench, or at least the correct wrench away from dealing with it. He got up, went to the foyer and was about to go out to the tool box in his pickup truck when he noticed a familiar person getting out of her car. “Susan,” he spoke up when he was sure he was right. “I didn’t know you were back in the States.”

“A couple weeks now,” the well-built blonde said. “I guess the news from Spearfish Lake hasn’t filtered down here yet.” Susan and Cody were related by marriage. Susan’s older sister was the wife of Cody’s father’s brother. There had never been any attempt that he knew of at sorting out whether that made Susan Cody’s aunt, or what, but he figured it must be something like that. While they knew each other through their families, they were not exceptionally close. They were, however, close enough that when the time had come for Susan to sell this apartment building, it was possible to work out a family back-scratching deal for Cody and Jan to buy it – with parental help on both sides, of course.

“Probably not,” Cody shrugged and went on, “Jan and I were home for a couple weeks back at the first of last month, but there just hasn’t been a reason to call home since. So how was China?”

“The short answer is ‘filled with Chinese,’” she smirked. “The long answer would take a while. How’s Jan?”

“Doing just fine,” Cody smiled. “We’re working on one of the apartments and we have paint all over the living room. You’re welcome to come in and join us, but you want to watch where you stand or sit. There are a few Pepsis in the refrigerator, if you’re interested.”

“Talked me into it,” she grinned. “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you, Cody. It must have been in the spring two years ago when we signed the papers on this place.”

“Must be,” Cody nodded as he led her into the building. “I think we only missed each other by a day or two when Jan and I left for the Academy in Pontiac, and both Jan and I have been grateful that you lit a fire under us to come here.” He raised his voice and said, “Jan, we have a visitor. Susan has come to visit us.”

Jan was on a stepladder, rolling paint onto the ceiling, she looked down at their visitor and said, “Susan, it’s nice to see you again. I’d give you a hug but I’ve got wet paint all over me.”

“Verbal hug accepted,” Susan said with a smile. “That’s going to make a huge improvement in here. I always thought this room was too gloomy.”

“It ought to brighten things up a bit,” Jan agreed. “I’ll agree, it was a little ratty in here too, but we’re getting it fixed up. It’ll probably be our nicest apartment when we get it done.”

“Should be,” Susan replied. She knew the building very well; she’d owned it for five years and had lived here with Mizuki for four of them, excepting the year the two of them had spent in Japan. It was a big old Victorian home, built well over a century before for a family a lot larger than today’s norm. It had sat empty for a while before being divided into four apartments the year before Mizuki and Susan came to Southern Michigan University. Absentee management and health problems had led to it being on the market at a very low price just at the time the two girls had been looking for an apartment to rent.

Susan had thought the idea of buying the building and renting out spaces had a lot of potential, given the tight housing situation on campus. Mizuki and her father were less enthused about it, but Susan’s father thought it was worth a try. It had indeed worked. The rental of three and a half units – Mizuki had paid for her share of the apartment the two of them lived in – had made the payments on the building. In addition, the income took care of the upkeep with enough left over that Susan had been able to afford several rather frugal summer bike trips with her friends in Europe. It had been a good deal all around, and with the advantage that Susan had been effectively able to live here for free.

When the time had come to leave Southern Susan had given some thought to just holding onto the place, but she’d realized that managing the place from China was going to be difficult – it had been hard enough the year she and Mizuki had been in Japan. Fortunately, Cody and Jan, along with his parents, had been smart enough to also see the advantages and buy into the deal. His father was the leading accountant in Spearfish Lake and had been able to finagle the sale enough to minimize taxes on the transfer.

The apartments really weren’t bad. The one they were in was the smaller of the two downstairs ones; the other one was a two-bedroom affair, somewhat larger than this one but a bit cramped. There was less room upstairs, since the two-bedroom apartment partly used a one-story wing on the other side of the house. The ones upstairs were small, but adequate; Susan and Mizuki had lived in the smaller and cheaper of the two, above the two-bedroom unit, for three years. When they’d returned from Japan it was occupied, but the other one upstairs was vacant, so they had moved in there until they graduated.

“We’ve tried to work on these apartments when we get the chance,” Cody said. “We’ve had some renters who just weren’t very good housekeepers.”

“Been here, done that,” Susan smiled. “I’m not as good with tools as you appear to be, but there was a guy here in town who could do some simple maintenance for me. He looked after the place the year Mizuki and I were in Japan. So how much longer do the two of you plan on being here?”

“Good question,” Cody said. “We could graduate at the end of the next term, but we’ve decided to stick it out until next spring to take advantage of getting some extra classes in. I mean, we have four-year Clark Foundation grants like you did, so we might as well use them.”

“My logic exactly,” Susan agreed. “So you’re going to move on next spring?”

“We’re not sure,” Cody explained. “I’ve been taking some law classes at Notre Dame. If I can get formally admitted to the law school there, we may well stay here a couple more years. But I won’t know for sure about that until next spring, so I’m already getting other applications out. There’s a lot of places we could wind up, depending on that.”

“Even if Cody gets into law school at Notre Dame, a lot is going to depend on where I’m working,” Jan put in. “We’ve agreed I have to be the one to keep a roof over our heads while he concentrates on his law books. Cody, could you help me please? I need about one more dollop of paint in the tray. About a cupful, no more.”

“Sure, Jan,” he smiled. “You’re close to done, and then maybe we’d better take a break.”

Susan stood back and watched them for a moment. Cody and Jan seemed like a normal young couple who were used to working closely with each other. But since they were family, Susan knew that the two were anything but normal. What’s more, neither of them showed any signs of the tragedy that had brought them together.

Since Susan had been in Japan at the time, she had not found out until well after the fact that the two had been little more than casual acquaintances in high school, until the night that Cody had found Jan being beaten and raped by her father and her brother. However, Cody, a very good competitive pistol shooter, had been on his way back from target practice at the local firing range, which meant he’d also had a nine-millimeter in his car. When he’d fired a warning shot and yelled at Jan’s father and brother to let her go, both reached for a shotgun kept at hand. Neither of them got close before Cody pulled the trigger two more times, giving them both very intense but very brief headaches.

Shooting Jan’s father and brother had made her an orphan, so Cody and his parents offered to take her in, not quite realizing that Jan had already – and justifiably – developed a severe case of hero worship over her rescuer. By the time Susan returned from Japan the two had become very close; most in the family agreed that the two couldn’t have been any closer if they were married. Janice had had her last name legally changed to Archer because she had become a de facto member of the family, with everyone’s approval.

They were not brother and sister, but neither were they husband and wife. If there had been any discussion of them actually getting married, it hadn’t made it as far through the family as Susan, but then she knew there were some things the two were quite private about. She suspected the two of them must have had plenty of issues to work through, but as far as she knew they dealt with them by themselves.

It wasn’t long before Jan was done with painting the ceiling. The two put the paint away and rinsed out the tray. “Let’s grab some Pepsis and go sit on the back porch a bit,” Cody suggested. “I don’t think we can mess things up out there very much.”

There were no chairs on the porch, but the steps made for perfectly adequate sitting. “So, Susan,” Cody said as he popped the top on a can, “any news from home, other than you’re back from China?”

“Not really,” she replied. “I’m sure you’ve met Henry’s new wife?”

“I wouldn’t say new, they’ve been married for almost a year,” Cody grinned. “We went to the wedding, just a quick up-and-back weekend. She sure is something else, isn’t she?”

“Very smart, very articulate, and very nice,” Susan replied. “She’s new to me, after all, since I was in China while that was happening. I heard very little about her before I found out they were getting married, and I’m still a little surprised that Henry wound up marrying a physician. She sure beats that dipwad Cindy person Henry lived with for years.”

“I never got to know Cindy very well,” Cody shook his head and went on. “But she never seemed to be the sharpest pencil in the box.”

“She wasn’t,” Susan replied. “I never understood what he saw in her.”

“I don’t know enough about that to make an informed comment,” Cody replied. “But I have to wonder, Susan. Did you just happen to drop by because you were in the neighborhood, or is there something else?”

“Well, I did drop by just because I was in the neighborhood,” she smiled, “but I got waylaid on the way here by Dr. Thompson. The next thing I knew I had a job at the college.”

“A job? In the States?” Cody replied in good-natured sarcasm. He knew about Susan’s career goals, of course, wanting to work overseas on someone else’s money; it was no secret in the family. “Will wonders ever cease?”

“Well, it surprised me too, but the money is enough that I feel compelled to give it a try, at least for a year or two.”

“What will you be doing?” Jan asked.

“Student Relations Coordinator,” Susan replied, and went on to give the two a thumbnail explanation of the job as she understood it. “But that means I now need a place to live. Dr. Thompson suggested I look into buying a house, but I don’t want to make that permanent of a commitment until I know how well the job is going to work out. You’re probably full up, but I thought I might as well ask since I was in the neighborhood, so to speak.”

“I thought it had to be something like that,” Cody grinned. “You hit us at the right time. The apartment we’re working on right now only got vacated a few days ago. The guy living in it figured on spending the next year here, but he got a last-minute acceptance to a program at the University of Verona, in Italy. We decided to not list the place until we got it fixed up. You probably know that around this time of year all you have to do to get trampled is to put up the shortest possible notice on the Student Housing Office electronic bulletin board.”

“Some things don’t change,” Susan smiled. “I never had trouble keeping the place filled up either.”

“I’m not sure what’s going to happen when they start building the new residential tower,” Jan pointed out. “I think it’s going to change things considerably, and we might want to sell out and move on before it opens.”

“This close in, not a chance,” Susan told them. “At least not until they get the second tower built, and Dr. Thompson just told me it’s going to be several years before they even start on it.”

“It still might be a good idea to get out while the getting is good,” Jan replied. “People will see that coming and it’s bound to affect housing values.”

“You might have a point on that,” Susan conceded. “I don’t know. No promises, but by next spring, if I decide to stay here, I might be willing to buy the place back. It’s within easy walking distance of campus, and given the parking situation that’s no small thing.”

“It’s something we all might want to think about,” Cody nodded. “But yes, if you want the apartment we’re working on, it’s available. Susan, there are a couple of things you have to understand. We’re on a very tight leash financially, so there’s no way we can afford to give you a family discount. It’ll have to be full rate, nine hundred a month, first and last month paid in advance like everyone else does. However, since we’re still in the process of fixing it up, we can paint it any color you want within reason.”

“The paint we have is a neutral beige,” Jan added.

“That’s fine. I’m not picky. Does it come furnished at that price?”

“More or less,” Cody said. “There are some pieces we stuffed in the bedroom or across the hall to get it out of the way for painting. To be honest, some of it is student-apartment quality, meaning it’s junk. I’d recommend replacing the bed or the mattress and box springs at a minimum.”

“I’m not made of money right now, but I don’t have to put up with junk, either. Let’s take a look at what you have. How soon are you going to be done with the apartment?”

“A couple days, if we push it. If we could have a couple more days, there are a few extra things I’d like to do.”

“That will be fine. I need to get back to Spearfish Lake to get some things anyway, but I want to go to work as early as I can, maybe the first of the week. I can put up with junk until I have time and money to replace it.”

“We’ll be ready for you,” Cody promised. “Look, Susan, one more thing. I shouldn’t have to tell you this because of who you are, but the house rules are no noise, no party drinking, no drinking at all if you’re under twenty-one, which I know you’re not, no smoking, and especially no recreational drugs. There’s a cop living on the premises who will come down hard on you if he catches you doing it, and you’ll be out on your ass. I’ll have you sign a waiver of tenant rights that allows for immediate eviction if you’re caught breaking the rules.”

“The cop is you, right?” She knew that he’d attended a police academy to become a certified police officer; it had been going on during her last bike trip with her friends in Europe before going to China.

“Right. I work part-time for several departments, mostly here in Hawthorne, and sometimes Bradford or Amherst. When we’re at home to see the folks, I’ve been known to work a shift or two in Spearfish Lake. Jan is a part-time nurse at a nursing home here in town while she’s working on her classes, partly here and partly at Notre Dame. It keeps our heads above water.”

“I have no problem with signing an agreement like that,” she said. “And in fact, I wish I’d thought of that waiver of tenant rights you discussed. Did the law student side of you draw that up?”

“Yes, but I had it vetted before we started using it,” he smiled.

“Have you ever made up your mind between a career as a police officer or a lawyer?”

“No, and I don’t expect to for a while either. Job opportunities have something to do with that, but I’ve been told by a number of people that there isn’t much harm in a police officer being a lawyer, or the other way around.”

“I can understand that, given that three hours ago I wouldn’t have predicted that I would be starting a job here the first of the week.”

“Life does have a tendency to surprise us,” he grinned as he glanced at Jan. “Ask me, I know that better than most people. By the way, I should mention that I have guns on the premises. Some people are a little touchy about that, but it’s the way things are, and if you don’t like it there is no obligation to stay here.”

“I have no problem with it,” she smiled. “I’m a Spearfish Lake kid. I never was a hunter but I know what guns are.”

“There are people in Spearfish Lake who have problems with it,” he replied flatly. “Or, at least there were. You may not have heard that story, since you were in China at the time.”

“Oh? What’s this?”

“I don’t know how much you know about my essentially getting kicked out of school by the new principal nine months after I rescued Jan,” he said firmly. “I know there was quite a bit of talk of it around the family.”

“Yes, I knew about it,” she nodded. “That was when I was a senior here.”

“What you might not have heard is that on my third solo shift working as a part-timer in Spearfish Lake a year ago, well, guess who I stopped for drunk driving. I had no problems writing him up for it, and it was one of several reasons why he’s not the principal anymore.”

“No, I hadn’t heard that,” she grinned. “So you got your own pound of flesh out of the deal.”

“Essentially, though I didn’t plan it that way, but it didn’t add to my reputation as a nice guy around Spearfish Lake. For that and a few other reasons, we don’t go back there very often. For us, right now, this is home. I’ll admit, it’s sure going to be strange to have this place full of Spearfish Lake kids this next term.”

“The Spearfish Lake House, huh? Maybe you ought to make a sign.”

“It just worked out that way,” he shook his head. “It probably won’t stay that way.”

“These kids, are they anyone I know?”

“I don’t know. All of them are incoming freshmen, and they’re young enough that Jan and I don’t remember them from school. We’ve got four kids who’ll be sharing the two-bedroom, Jack Erikson, Vixen Hvalchek, Alan Jahnke, and Summer Trevetheck. There’s a girl by the name of Nancy Halifax who’ll be in the little apartment upstairs. All that has been nailed down for months.”

“None of the names ring a bell,” Susan shook her head. “But if they graduated this year … oh, shit!”

“What?”

“God, I’m twenty-four and I’m already getting old,” she said. “They’d have to be six years younger, but since I wasn’t at Spearfish Lake High School for my last two years in high school, it would have to have been eight years since I would have met them. They would have been in fourth grade or something like that the last time I was in school there. No wonder I don’t know any of them!”

“Time flies when you’re having fun, Susan,” Cody grinned.

“It does,” she replied ruefully. “Since a lot of my job is going to involve new students coming to Southern, I’m going to have to spend a little time remembering how to identify with them.”

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