Chương 15
Dale was transported to County General with a broken nose, two cracked ribs, and a concussion.
He told deputies Briggs had ordered him to meet at the trailer.
He went because Briggs threatened to fire his brother and report Dale for stealing equipment.
Whether the theft claim was real remained unclear.
According to Dale, Briggs had demanded to know exactly what he'd told police.
When Dale refused to change his statement, Briggs hit him.
Travis had been there at first.
Then he left.
Why remained unknown.
Briggs said almost nothing after arrest.
At 10:07, Sullivan arrived at the pharmacy.
He looked more tired than before.
"Good news first."
"Dale's stable," Gideon said.
Sullivan nodded.
"Also, Briggs didn't start the fire."
Gideon looked at him.
"You sure?"
"Pretty sure."
"Why?"
"Traffic camera has his truck heading toward Carver's before fire alarm time."
"Dale saw him at the trailer after six."
"He left around six-twenty."
"So someone else burned the records."
"Looks that way."
"Travis?"
"Possible."
"Daniel?"
"Possible."
Sullivan gave him a look.
"You're getting dangerously comfortable listing suspects."
"Mechanic brain."
"Right."
"What does Briggs say?"
"That Dale attacked him."
Gideon stared at him.
Sullivan shrugged.
"People say things."
"Any explanation for the fake invoices?"
"He asked for a lawyer."
"Smartest thing he's done tonight."
"Probably."
Sullivan sat in the chair across from them.
Maisie had fallen asleep against Gideon's side.
Her head rested under his arm.
Sullivan lowered his voice.
"We got a warrant for Harland's office."
"Fast."
"Assault, witness intimidation, missing person circumstances, fire investigation, fraud allegations."
He rubbed his eyes.
"Judges also dislike being awakened for nonsense, so we brought enough."
"What did you find?"
"Not much yet."
"Yet."
Sullivan studied him.
"One interesting thing."
Gideon waited.
"File folder with your name."
His jaw tightened.
"Contents?"
"Copies of public business records."
"Anything private?"
"Old background report."
"Source?"
"Company listed on the report."
"Who?"
"Private investigator named Martin Vale."
Gideon had never heard the name.
Sullivan continued.
"He pulled employment history, addresses, business registrations, court records."
"My service number?"
"Not on the report we found."
"So it came from somewhere else."
"Looks like it."
"Why was Briggs investigating me before tonight?"
Sullivan's expression shifted.
"That's the problem."
"What?"
"The report is dated six months ago."
Gideon went still.
Maisie stirred against him.
He did not move.
"Six months."
"Yeah."
"Why?"
"We don't know."
"Did Briggs know who I was at Carver's?"
"Maybe."
Gideon thought back.
Briggs asking whether he was local.
Briggs having his number.
The printed picture of Evelyn labeled Problem.
The confrontation no longer looked random.
But it still might have begun as one.
People could prepare for a man and still accidentally meet him over ribs.
"What connects me to Mercer six months ago?"
Sullivan said, "Your shop serviced county fleet vehicles."
"So?"
"Mercer was bidding on the county maintenance annex."
Gideon frowned.
"I worked on inspection trucks."
"One of those trucks belonged to Carl Dennis."
"Who?"
"County building inspector."
The name meant nothing.
Then Daniel's earlier explanation snapped into place.
Inspector.
Federal cooperation.
Permit delay.
Gideon looked up.
"Was he the inspector Evelyn's father tried to bribe?"
Sullivan's eyebrows moved.
"How do you know about that?"
"Daniel."
Sullivan muttered something unpleasant.
"Yes."
"What does that have to do with me?"
"You repaired Dennis's truck after a brake failure."
Gideon remembered then.
A white county Ford.
Soft pedal.
Split rear line.
Nothing unusual except the driver had been furious because he missed a site visit.
"Six months ago."
"Exactly."
"And?"
"According to Dennis, you found something else."
Gideon searched his memory.
Then it came.
A small GPS tracker zip-tied beneath the frame.
Cheap magnetic case.
He had assumed fleet management device until the county shop supervisor said it wasn't theirs.
"I found a tracker."
Sullivan nodded.
"Dennis turned it over to federal investigators."
Gideon stared at him.
"Briggs put it there?"
"We don't know."
"But he investigated me afterward."
"Yes."
"Because I found it."
"That's our working theory."
The story narrowed.
Not fate.
Not coincidence.
A small mechanical job.
A forgotten device.
A frightened contractor tracing the person who disrupted his leverage.
Gideon looked down at Maisie.
He had not even remembered the tracker until tonight.
Sullivan said, "This may be why your identity ended up on those invoices."
"To make me look involved."
"Or to poison you as a witness if you ever mattered."
"That seems elaborate."
"Briggs had six months."
"Fair."
"And somebody inside Mercer helped."
Gideon looked at him.
"Celia Voss."
"We're looking for her."
"Daniel?"
"No evidence yet."
"Travis?"
"Missing."
Sullivan leaned back.
"Tonight has exceeded my interest budget."
"Travis called us."
Gideon blinked.
"When?"
"Ten minutes ago."
"From where?"
"Bus station."
"Why?"
"He wants protection."
"From Briggs?"
"From whoever set the fire."
Gideon sat straighter.
"What does he know?"
Sullivan's mouth tightened.
"Enough."
The next morning, Gideon woke on June's couch with Maisie's feet against his ribs and three hours of sleep behind his eyes.
Rain tapped against the windows.
June was making coffee in the kitchen.
"Your daughter kicks like a mule."
"Genetics."
"Not from Claire."
Gideon sat up.
Maisie remained asleep.
His phone had nineteen notifications.
He ignored social media.
He opened Sullivan's message first.
TRAVIS STATEMENT CORROBORATED.
VOSS LOCATED.
FIRE SUSPECT IN CUSTODY.
Gideon read it twice.
Then another message appeared from Evelyn.
Can I call?
He typed yes.
She called immediately.
"Celia confessed to setting the fire."
Gideon rubbed his face.
"That fast?"
"Not exactly."
"What broke?"
"Travis had messages."
"Between them?"
"Yes."
"Why did he leave the trailer?"
"She told him to meet her at the storage site."
"He went?"
"He got scared halfway there."
"Reasonable."
"He parked behind a closed hardware store and watched her car pass."
"So he called police."
"Eventually."
"Eventually matters."
"Apparently he spent forty minutes considering Mexico."
Gideon almost smiled.
"Human."
"Very."
"What did Voss say?"
"She helped create fake vendors."
"For Briggs?"
"And for herself."
There it was.
Not one grand conspiracy.
Two greedy people overlapping.
"How much?"
"Still being determined."
"Your father?"
Evelyn was quiet.
"He protected Briggs because of the recording."
"And Daniel?"
"He hid the blackmail."
"Why?"
"He said he thought he was protecting my father."
"Do you believe him?"
A long pause.
"Some of it."
"That's probably the right amount."
She exhaled.
"He resigned this morning."
"Did you ask him to?"
"No."
"That complicates things."
"Everything does."
"What happens to your father?"
"Lawyers."
The word sounded tired.
"Federal investigators will decide what matters."
"And Mercer?"
"Board meeting in two hours."
"You staying CEO?"
"I don't know."
"Do you want to?"
Another pause.
"I don't know that either."
June placed coffee in front of Gideon.
He mouthed thanks.
Evelyn said, "Briggs knew who I was at the restaurant."
Gideon's hand stopped.
"Travis confirmed it?"
"Yes."
"He followed you?"
"No."
"Then how?"
"Someone at the storage facility told him my car arrived."
"Voss?"
"Yes."
"So he went to Carver's looking for you."
"Yes."
The original ugliness became worse.
Not random entitlement.
Pressure disguised as entitlement.
"He wanted to scare you."
"Apparently."
"Did he know I would be there?"
"No."
That mattered.
The meeting between Gideon and Evelyn had still been accident.
The rest had been prepared around them.
Evelyn continued.
"He planned to provoke me into making a public scene."
"Why?"
"So he'd have leverage if I challenged the subcontract."
"Video of the CEO behaving badly."
"That plan was stupid."
"Yes."
"He wasn't counting on me."
"No."
"Most people don't."
She laughed softly.
"Thank you."
"For what?"
"Again?"
"No."
Her voice steadied.
"For not becoming the story."
Gideon looked at Maisie asleep beside him.
"I already did."
"The internet story."
"Unfortunately."
"I mean with me."
He stayed quiet.
Evelyn understood anyway.
"You didn't ask for anything."
"I asked for your keys to be returned."
"You know what I mean."
"Yeah."
She said, "I want to repay you."
"No."
"Gideon."
"No."
"Your shop could use a fleet contract."
He almost laughed.
"Absolutely not."
"Why?"
"Because then every person in town will think I threw Briggs through a table for business development."
"You didn't throw him."
"Technical distinction."
"I could send work through normal procurement."
"No."
"You are stubborn."
"Correct."
She sighed.
"Fine."
Then, more quietly, "Can I buy Maisie dinner sometime?"
Gideon looked down at his daughter.
"Why?"
"Because I owe her an apology."
"For what?"
"Taking her father away from piano night."
"That wasn't your fault."
"Still."
He hesitated.
"She likes burgers."
"Carver's?"
"Probably too soon."
"Agreed."
Three weeks later, Gideon stood in his shop under a lifted Silverado while Maisie sat at his workbench doing math homework.
The viral video had faded.
A newer argument involving a school mascot had taken over the town's attention.
Briggs remained in county jail awaiting hearings on assault, witness intimidation, fraud, and related charges.
Celia Voss had been charged in the fire and financial scheme.
Travis had entered a cooperation agreement.
Dale was back home, sore and unemployed, but alive.
Mercer had suspended the Harland subcontract and opened its books to outside auditors.
Daniel Cross had not returned to work.
Evelyn remained CEO.
For now.
She pulled into the shop parking lot at 5:17 in a plain sedan.
Maisie saw her first.
"CEO lady."
Gideon lowered the truck.
"Don't call her that."
"Why?"
"Because she has a name."
Evelyn entered carrying three paper bags.
"I brought burgers."
Maisie looked at Gideon.
"I like her."
"You've known her four seconds."
"She brought fries."
"Strong opening."
Evelyn smiled.
They ate at Gideon's scarred workbench because the office table was covered in carburetor parts.
Maisie asked Evelyn whether CEOs got summer vacation.
Evelyn said no.
Maisie declared the career structurally flawed.
Gideon agreed.
After dinner, Maisie went outside to practice riding her bike in circles around the empty lot.
Evelyn watched through the open bay door.
"Board kept me."
"For now?"
"For now."
"You sound disappointed."
"I haven't decided."
"Seems contagious."
She folded her napkin.
"My father admitted what he did."
Gideon said nothing.
"He says he never intended to pay the inspector."
"Do you believe him?"
"I believe he wants that to be true."
"Different thing."
"Yes."
Outside, Maisie missed a turn and put one foot down.
Then she tried again.
Evelyn looked toward Gideon.
"You were right about something."
"Dangerous start."
"You can't fix everything."
He leaned against the bench.
"Maisie tell you that?"
"No."
"Then she's spreading."
Evelyn smiled.
Gideon looked through the bay door.
Maisie completed the turn this time.
No wobble.
No foot down.
She looked toward him immediately.
"Did you see?"
"I saw."
"Whole circle."
"Impressive."
"You weren't watching."
"I was."
"Prove it."
"You almost hit the blue barrel."
She grinned.
"Okay."
Evelyn gathered the empty bags.
"I should go."
Maisie called from outside, "You can stay."
Evelyn looked at Gideon.
He shrugged.
"Apparently management has spoken."
She sat back down.
The evening settled around the shop.
An air compressor clicked on in the rear bay.
Traffic moved along the county road.
Maisie's bicycle tires made a soft hiss over the pavement.
Nothing dramatic happened.
Nobody needed rescuing.
Gideon found he preferred it that way.
May you like
Maisie circled past the bay again and shouted, "Dad, look."
This time he did not glance away.
