Waterson managed not to whistle his appreciation because he knew they were negotiating and it was not smart to accept the first offer or even be impressed by it. “That sounds like a nice deal, but I already have a buyer lined up.”

“Have you completed the sale?” Stillwell asked with a frown.

“Not yet, but we do have an option contract.”

“I see. Well, I suppose we can just wait and deal with the new buyer. How long until you expect to close?”

But Waterson wasn’t interested in letting Coleman turn that kind of profit when Waterson could do so himself. “I doubt he’d sell for that price,” he lied.

“We are prepared to pay whatever is reasonable to get the property, Mr. Waterson.”

Ah, so he was right that the ten dollars was just the opening gambit. “My contract with the buyer allows me to sell to someone else instead if they offer more money than the buyer is willing to pay.”

Mr. Stillwell frowned again as he considered this. “That is typical in such contracts, of course, but Standard Oil prefers not to get involved in third-party negotiations.”

“I don’t see why that would be a problem,” Waterson said genially. “My buyer has already indicated he isn’t willing to pay that much for the property.”

Stillwell gave him a pitying smile. “That is because he doesn’t yet know that Standard Oil is also interested.”

“Why would that make a difference?” Waterson scoffed.

“Believe me, Mr. Waterson, it makes a tremendous difference. If your buyer learns that someone like Standard Oil is willing to pay more for the property, he will demand that you sell to him at the same price we offer no matter how high it is, and then try to negotiate an even higher price to sell it to us. As I’m sure you can see, that isn’t in Standard’s best interest. So we will simply withdraw our offer to you and wait for the sale to take place. Then we can do business with the new owner.”

“But . . . but that isn’t fair,” Waterson tried lamely.

“I can see why you would think so, but my job is to protect Standard Oil’s interests, not yours.”

Waterson’s brain was churning. How could he get out of the deal with Coleman? The seventy-five thousand Coleman was going to pay him was nothing compared to the quarter million or more that this fellow would pay, and he wasn’t going to let Coleman make that profit if he could help it. A quarter million was enough to set them up for life. No more fake séances and cons. With that and what they’d already made on the séances, they could retire in style.

“What if I can get out of the contract with my buyer?”