I didn't hear from Harvey about the duplex all day so both issues were still weighing on my mind during my morning walk the next day. I would have called Harvey from the parking lot again, except that he had warned me the decision might be a while. I realized that it was Friday, If nothing happened that day it was going to be at least till Monday. I didn't have any real money tired up in it yetso that wasn't the issue. I had written Harvey a check for five hundred bucks just to show I was serious, but I didn't consider that a problem. I made up my mind again on the spur of the moment to call Harvey when I returned from the meeting with Wilson. Maybe he could light a fire under someone's ass at the bank.

Wilson was the department's head of personnel. He was a college trained boy who had always planned to climb through the administration ranks. It was obvious that he had made a better plan than me. During his twenty odd years he had made deputy chief, while I had made it only to Detective Sergeant.

The patrol division had their headquarters in the basement of the city hall building. The detectives worked from a substation in pig valley. However, the police administration offices filled most of the second floor of the city hall building. It seemed that the executive route was the way to go for sure.

"Detective Abba, I'm glad you could come in."

"I think it is a little soon to be discussing my future with the department, but I didn't feel as though I had a lot of choice." I had decided in the elevator to not be too cooperative, but also not to be hostile,

"I can see your point, since tradition has been to have this talk after the subject returns to work, but medical science has made great strides in predicting the course of recovery. So regardless of what we believe, we now have a pretty accurate model of your future."

"Oh, please let me in on it the doctor's haven't."

"Well for one thing chasing bad guys through the woods, will get you another heart attack with an almost 90% probability."

"Is that your subtle way of telling me I'm off the streets for good?"

"I'm afraid so John. I know you want me to be candid, so yeah you would be a danger to your partner."

"He knew there was no way a real cop would put a partner in danger for no good reason. It was a slimy trick, but an effective one. "So what is your plan B?" I asked.

"I'm sure you know there are three alternatives, we can shoehorn you into an administrative job, or we can give you a disability pension. As you know the third alternative is for you to take the twenty year pension and find a less stressful job."

"I did know all that, I didn't start with the cops last week Wilson, so what's it to be?"

"Well frankly I don't have a position for which you are qualified. But you are also not fit for full duty, so I am in a bit of a quandary."

"Well Chief, I have done twenty three years on the line, I'm not going quietly for you." I waited a second to see what he would do. "So are we finished here?" I finally asked.

"So you are going to fight me on this?" He obviously meant to make it personal.

"I am going to call the union lawyer when I get home. I will fight for my pension, you bet. I will either, continue working here, get my full pension like every other injured cop before me, or the department will be in court for years."

"I see," he replied.

"I hope so," I stood and left without saying goodbye. I second guessed myself all the way down in the elevator. I didn't bother to call the union rep, since I had already decided to just show up for work at the end of my five weeks. The ball was in the city's court as far as I was concerned.

I left the room absolutely sure that Wilson would find me the most demeaning job possible. I had a union rep for that kind of thing. It was about the only thing the union was good for, as far as I was concerned. Still it was something.

It was after three when I reached the parking lot. I switched the cell phone on and found that I had a message. It was simply to call Harvey. "So Harvey what's the word."

"The word is the place is yours, if you will take their deal. It is what you offered but all screwy. There are lots of hoops for you to jump through. They want to do a loan assumption."

"What is that all about?" I asked. I had no idea what it meant but I knew that I was probably not going to like it.

"Since your offer is close to the pay off on the house, they want you to just assume the 42,600 loan, but to pay the collection fees on top of the acquisition fees."

"What exactly are the numbers?" I was exasperated and it showed.

"The rate of the original mortgage was a lot higher because it was commercial. They want you to assume that and pay over a thousand dollars in unrecoverable fees."

"I'm going to need a comparison between what the payments will be on both types of loans." I said
"Even at the asking price it might be cheaper."

"I already did it. If you take their full sales price, your down stroke would be five grand plus closing and leave you financing 47k more or less. your payments would run about 4 bucks on twenty years."

"And if I go their way?"

"Penalties and fees would run around three grand total they said. I think you can believe them. The payments are going to be about 450 for 15 years and six months."

"How do they compare?"

"Over the term of the loan you would save about ten grand with the refi but the monthly payments would be more. All in all, if you can afford the payments, it's the better deal. Plus there would be no requirement that you actually live there," Harvey explained.

"When do we close?"

"They need a week at least to get the papers ready plus they have to check your credit."

"Okay Harvey let's do it."

"I'll make the call and have this ready for them to begin work Monday."

"Once we are absolutely positive, I need to give my landlord some notice and get a crew in there to do the repairs."