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I’m not sure I want to know what he needs to do.”
    Maria said, “My uncle Bruno had a bad problem like that, and he said that if it’s a dead animal, you wanna get to it before it liquefies into the wall. If that happens, you might never get out the smell. The goo gets into the drywall and you have to do sawing and cutting and stuff.”
    Kat lowered her head and put her hands over her ears. “That’s just too gross to even contemplate.”
    “Yeah, you don’t want those liquid dead bodies, you know. Bruno is the type of guy who knew about dead bodies.”
    Peering over her wine glass, Kat said, “So what does Uncle Bruno do anyway?”
    “He’s never been exactly clear on that. But he has some pretty nice cars. When I was a kid, he let me ride around in his fine, fine convertible Corvette. I was looking hot in that ’Vette. Even if I was 10. I was still hot.”
    Kat laughed. “Yeah, I bet you were.”

    The next morning, Kat was sipping coffee and leafing through the Big Bad Proposal, as she’d come to think of it. The pounding in her skull suggested that perhaps the Wine and Whine last night may not have been a great idea. With the proposal binder laid open on her table and red pens strewn about, Kat attempted to concentrate and move into work mode. It was slow going and Kat had the sinking feeling that she wasn’t going to finish editing it before Monday morning rolled around.
    The phone rang, jarring Kat from editorial tedium. She leaped out of her chair to answer it. “Hello?”
    “Hello, Ms. Stevens, this is Larry Lowell. My apologies for calling so early. Do you have a moment to talk?”
    “Sure. I’m awake, and I’ve had most of my coffee, anyway.”
    The lawyer cleared his throat. “I talked to my friend about the odor at your property and we went to take a look yesterday afternoon. He thinks he can address that issue, but there may be other difficulties with the structure.”
    Kat sighed. Maybe Larry had some kind of sinus problem. He spent a lot of time hemming, hawing, and clearing his throat. “Difficulties? What type of difficulties?”
    “The main dwelling may not make it through another winter,” he replied. “The roof was not constructed the way most contractors would do it today. The roof metal was laid directly upon the roof stringers with just a layer of plastic between the metal and the insulation. That’s typically how you roof a barn, but not a home that is heated. For a house, generally you would have a layer of plywood sheeting and tar paper under the metal. The trusses also aren’t close enough together, so ideally you would remove the roof, add more trusses, tar paper, and the wood sheeting. As it is now, you have issues with condensation, and over the years the plastic has decomposed, so there are just little pieces left. There may be other issues as well, but going up into the attic revealed that the roof is definitely a problem now.”
    “I don’t know what a stringer is, but it all certainly sounds expensive to fix. Is repairing the house something that the estate could pay for? If I sell the place, I can’t sell it if the roof is about to cave in. I think that’s the type of thing anyone buying a house would want you to disclose.”
    “Stringers are the strips of wood that hold the trusses together. The roof metal is attached to them. And yes, the money is available for repairs if you opt to live at the property yourself. If you are going to sell the property, it may be more cost-effective to tear down the house and just sell the land.”
    Tear down the house? That seemed extreme. And it felt wrong, like she was throwing away all that her aunt had worked to create her entire life. Plus, what about the animals? It was their home, too. But making Chez Stinky her home seemed like an extreme step. Kat liked her comfortable life. Sure, her job might not be the most interesting one in the world, but it paid the rent on her apartment.
    “How soon can they get rid of the