I gave them the price they asked. I knew better than to try to negotiate something lower. Even so, it may now be worth double my investment.”“Let�...�s go upstairs Jim. Check out these hand rails, all originals. There aren’t too many craftsmen that even know how to build something like this today.”The view upstairs over looking the great room, the pool and gardens was breathtaking. From up top, the great room with all that glass surrounding the massive fireplace... well it came alive. Mike and Kim. See you next week, Estelle?" Sure..." said Lee lying.After the delivery guy left. Lee did some exploring in the house. Thepictures that once hung on the walls were back and showed a family. Itwas a white mother and father with two children that looked between theages of 2 and 5. A young girl in the photo didn't look like thecheerleader he had seen. It must have been a different family living inthis house. Why would both of them leave completely furnished roomsbehind? Lee figured he had. Insulated carafe in hand, Jeff headed for the living room. After greeting the other Alphas already there, he put the carafe on the coffee table near the cups and condiments."Ah ... elixir of the gods," General Whitworth said after he had filled his cup, blown on the hot brew and taken his first sip of the day."Where is everybody?" Jeff asked with a grin as he took the freshly filled cup and plopped down in his favorite chair near the fire.They all chuckled, but Dave verbalized what they were. Her tongue flutters to taste the juice. "Thought so."A clamor of incoming chit-chat echoes through the building. The stranger latches the panel behind her.Let's see if she can handle the heat. I perch on the bench, unfasten my top, and flip on the headlights before showing her the wide-open road.She kneels dead center and studies the swollen ripple I've been buffing to a high-gloss finish.Dispensing with preliminaries, her tongue probes for the recess where my fingers had burrowed, dips.