“A professional nonpayer of rent paid his deposit, his first and last, a few more months to establish his bona fides, then settled in for a spell of hard luck. It had come to this, he would declare, choking a sob, his mother’s medicine or the rent.
Just this once slid into twice and after a while his mother died again. By then the landlord knew he was in for a porking but too late. The nonpayer would claim hardship and file for bankruptcy. In like a tick, it could take two years and lots of money to get him out. Sometimes ten grand in legal fees alone. That’s when a heads-up landlord would call me.
I’m Dick Henry. The Shortcut Man.”
