Patterson Reid was no stranger to speaking to a large crowd. His voice was forceful and charismatic, just the way the best, most crooked politicians addressed their constituents.
“As many of you have probably heard by now, there have been false allegations made against my company, PCR Phosphate, which employs hundreds of workers right here in Kirkland. These allegations have come in the form of a federal lawsuit, which threatens the livelihood of many of you who are listening. And tomorrow, we go to trial.”
Reid folded up the piece of paper he was reading from and stuck it into his pocket. He leaned forward on the pulpit and glanced out into the crowd. “Now, I’m aware that I’ve been absent more often than not within the walls of this church over the last few months, and I know that there is no good or reasonable excuse for it. Still, I consider myself a part of this family, and all of you know that I’ll do whatever I have to, no matter what, if it means securing the welfare of this wonderful town and telling the government to leave our hard-working employees alone.”
There was another smattering of applause, louder than the first one, and he continued, “Kirkland depends on you. I implore all of you to think about that tonight, and what it means if we just stand idly by and let the strong hand of a bunch of government lawyers steer us in whatever direction they want. I, for one, will stand up and say, ‘No’ to their scare tactics. I will stand up and tell them, ‘We won’t be pushed around.’ I promise to stand up and protect the most vital, most important part of our community – the people who want to work, and don’t want another government hand out! I sincerely hope that all of you will stand beside me, and beside what this town means to everyone that lives here. Thank you.”
I wondered if they’d forgotten about the people that had fallen ill over the years because of the poison that plant put in the water. The end of his speech was covered by the boisterous sound of applause. Just like that, with a few sugary words, Patterson Reid had won so many of them over. The smile on his face was a mile long as he shook the pastor’s hand and returned to his seat. He looked every bit like the cat that had just eaten the canary.
They had forgotten, hadn’t they? He’d convinced them.
There was more to the story than what Cindy had said, just like I thought. Patterson Reid didn’t simply want to look good, or upstanding, he wanted the entire town on his side for the trial. He’d done it when he ran for mayor, and it secured him an easy victory. Now, he was trying to pull off the same stunt. It might have been wrong of me to think it at the time, but I clenched my fists hoped that one day I’d see him and his smug, conniving daughter get hit right where it hurt the most.
Twelve
Opening arguments began on Shane’s case first thing Monday morning, but the news was more focused on the growing group of protestors that had gathered outside the courthouse. I watched them on television, holding up signs and marching up and down the sidewalk with unruly expressions on their faces. When a reporter put her microphone in front of one man, he angrily chanted, “PCR is here to stay! EPA, go away!”
It would have been humorous if not for the serious, crazed gleam in his eye and the dozens of other protestors standing behind him and chanting the same thing. I silently wondered how many of them had been paid to be there by Patterson Reid and how many he had simply managed to convince to join. Undoubtedly, many of them were employees that had come to fight for their jobs.
Things were mostly the same through Wednesday, with very little coming back about the trial itself and most of the attention going to the protestors. Several people had already been arrested by police for getting out of control and one man was filmed being roughly pushed against the courthouse steps and handcuffed after tossing a sign at one of the lawyers from Shane’s team. The whole thing was devolving, and fast.
I was sitting with mother at her chemotherapy appointment when my phone buzzed in my purse. It was a text from Shane, letting me know he hadn’t forgotten about coffee and asked if I had time to meet with him.
“A message from you-know-who?” Momma asked teasingly.
“Yeah.” I slid my finger across the cracks in the screen while I read his message. “He wants me to meet him for coffee at the Atlantic Café downtown. Apparently the court is having a long recess for the next few hours.”
“You should go on and meet with him then. I’m not goin’ nowhere till this here bag is finished.” Mother raised one finger and pointed at the bag of neon liquid hanging above her chair.
I let out a sigh. “I want to see him. I just feel like I’m always leaving you here, Momma.”
“Oh, phooey,” she dismissed it. “That’s cause I’m always askin’ you to go fetch somethin’ or other. ‘Sides, I won’t be havin’ to come here much longer. My last appointment is next week.”
“I know you’ll be glad.”
“Darn right. Think I’ll even drive myself.”
“Momma, no,” I argued. “You’re not supposed to be driving.”
“Like hell I ain’t. I told you I got this thing licked.” She crossed her arms and stuck out her chin. “I’m perfectly capable of gettin’ myself to and from this place, and I won’t hear another word of it, young lady. You don’t need to be here anyway for my meetin’ with the doctor.”
What the heck was that supposed to mean? Not once had she argued with me about taking her to the appointments over the last few weeks. Now, all of a sudden, I was being overbearing?
“Momma, I-“
“Nnnt!” she chided nasally. ‘I done tol’ you and that’s it, Mary Katherine. I want to do next week’s appointments on my own.”
I stared at her in confusion for a moment before finally shaking my head and giving up. Mother was just as hard-headed as Daddy when it came to certain things and this was no exception, it seemed.
“Listen,” she said, and reached out to stroke my forearm with one bony hand. For all her renewed energy the last few days and how much she’d been eating, the progress seemed to have faded. Even the greyish circles had begun forming around her eyes again.
“Mary Katherine, I know what’s best for me, and this is somethin’ I aim to do on my own. So go on, now. That man is waitin’ to hear back from you. Don’t just sit there jawin’ at your ol’ Momma. You go and sit with him for a while. I’ll be right here waitin’ when you get back.”
I relinquished a half-hearted smile. “Alright. I won’t be long, ok? But I still want to talk about this driving business later. Don’t think I’m just going to forget.”
“Yeah, yeah. Leave me to my soaps, now, and change that channel ‘fore you go. Tired of watchin’ all this nonsense on the news anyway.”
I arrived at the Atlantic Café, a small coffee shop a few blocks from the courthouse, and pulled mother’s old Buick carefully into the narrow space between two other cars right off the street. It was metered parking, of course, as real estate downtown was precious and what few parking lots existed were either reserved or drastically inconvenient.
“C’mon…easy does it,” I coaxed.
Just as I thought I’d pulled off squeezing the gigantic land yacht of an automobile into place, there came a sudden, disturbing bang from the rear of the vehicle. I jammed the brakes, causing the whole car to shake, and covered my mouth with my hand.
Oh, crap.
I buried my head against the wheel and shook my head. This day was not turning out how I’d expected. Mother was going to kill me.
Before I could get out to inspect the damage though, I heard a squeaky, irritating laugh. There, standing near the rear fender of the car, was Cindy Reid. Her cheeks were rosy with glee, and once she saw the mortified look on my face through the window, she raised her shoulders up and cackled even louder. To demonstrate her prank, she banged her hand against the trunk, creating the same hollow sound I’d heard only moments ago. I went from total shock to seeing red in less than a second.
“Oh my!” she said, barely able to contain herself, “That was too much. We jus’ keep runnin’
into each other! Did you think you had another traffic accident?”
“Just what the hell are you doing? I thought I crashed into something!” I could feel my pulse pounding in my head as I climbed out of the Buick and slammed the door behind. The desire to leap over the hood and strangle her was overwhelming.
Cindy shook off her cackling and said, “I was in the neighborhood for the trial. You know, just showin’ my support for Daddy and all those poor workers that might lose their jobs. When I saw your Momma’s beat-up ol’ car pullin’ in, I knew it had to be you. What brings you all the way down here and off the farm?”
“You scared the life out of me, Cindy.”
“It was just a joke, Kat. For goodness sakes, you’d think I’d put a dent in this ugly ol’ thing? Maybe with a sledgehammer-”
“It wasn’t funny. You could have hurt someone.”
She waved me off. “You really need to lighten up. I ‘member when you used to think this kind of thing was hilarious. Did seein’ me with Hale upset you so much that you lost your sense of humor?”
And then, I kind of lost it. With a quick flick on my wrist, I tossed my purse back through the open driver’s side window and stormed around the front of the car. Cindy took a step back and the smirk on her face melted away into a look of dread. My fists were balled up so tight that my knuckles had turned numb and white, but they remained stiffly down by my sides. So help me, I was going to rearrange her pretty little face if someone didn’t jump between us.
“Bitch!” I cursed loudly, and Cindy stumbled backwards at my sudden, angry approach. It was doubtful that many people, if any, had ever spoken to her like that in her entire life.
“T-take it easy, Kat.”
“You think you can push the poor little farm girl around? Is that it?!” I was trying really hard to keep from shouting, but it only mostly worked. “You can’t mess with people like that!” I got so close that I could smell the sharp scent of designer hair spray coming off her long blonde tresses. “You make me sick, do you know that? Sick, Cindy.”
“What is wrong with you?!”
“You’re what’s wrong.” I jabbed my finger out right at her nose, only missing by a few inches, and she flinched and cowered away timidly. “Hale doesn’t even like you. He’s just hanging around with you to try and make me jealous, and it isn’t going to work.”
“You’re…you’re c-crazy,” she stammered, and took another step back.
Maybe so, I thought. What the heck was I doing? Had I lost my mind?
I swallowed hard and felt myself relax just slightly. The fire went out inside me and receded to a slow smolder. Seeing this, Cindy must have realized that I wasn’t going to beat the living hell out of her after all and she began clumsily retreating down the sidewalk. The look of nervousness in her eyes was almost comical. Thankfully, and not too surprisingly, she kept her trap shut this time.
Before Cindy had stepped off the curb and started making her way back in the direction of the courthouse, I heard the shop door open behind me with a jingle followed by Shane’s familiar voice, “I think you really got through to her.”
Embarrassment flooded me, replacing any of the leftover anger.
“Oh my God…I can’t believe you saw that. I am so sorry, Shane. I don’t know what to say.”
He stepped out and wrapped one arm over my shoulder, escorting me inside. “I wasn’t going to do anything unless I thought you were really going to hit her. It was close, though. I was on the edge of my seat. I even put my coffee down.”
“I feel like such an idiot. That girl knows how to push my buttons.”
“She’s like that with a lot of people, I’d guess.”
We walked inside the café and Shane showed me to our seats. He’d already taken the liberty of ordering a large mug of something for me that smelled delicious.
“Chocolate Mocha, with whipped cream and a shot of espresso,” he said, and took a sip of his own cup. Then came his familiar, charming smile. “I figured you might like it, Kat. Although now I’m thinking I should have ordered you something a little less…caffeinated.”
“You probably should have.” The embarrassment was leaving me finally. I blew out between pursed lips.
He stirred the mixture and asked, “So I take it you’re familiar with Patterson Reid’s daughter?”
“Um-hmm. We went to high school together. That’s the third time we’ve crossed paths since I got back into town.”
“I see,” Shane said, examining me. “You two have a, uh, rough history?”
“Something like that. She’s been after my ex for as long as I can remember. Now that we broke up and she’s got him, she’s taken every opportunity to throw it in my face. Her little practical joke out there sort of just…pushed me over the edge.”
“Oh.”
“I’m over him,” I quickly added.
“Ok.”
“You know what he did. I told you what he was like.”
“I believe you, Kat.”
I swirled the thin red straw in my mocha and watched the white whipped cream form long sugary trails in the dark, chocolate-laced coffee. “You still coming to the farm this weekend?”
“Of course. I can’t wait.”
“I really am sorry that you saw me acting like that. I promise you that I’ve never done anything like that before, Shane. I don’t know what got into me, exactly.”
“Don’t worry about it. Like I said, I have a feeling she’s like that. Before you showed up, she was in here, telling me how her father would have my job before everything was over and done with.”
“Really?”
“Oh yeah. She said I’d be lucky to get a job pumping gas by the time he was through with me. Probably my fault, since I started talking to her first. It was kind of, I don’t know, cathartic watching you let her have it out there. I couldn’t do it myself. People around here already hate me enough, I think.”
“Yeah well, she’s a bitch,” I said, almost whispering the last word.
“I heard.” Shane chuckled and took another sip of his drink. “So did a few other people.”
We both sat in silence for a moment, enjoying being there together. It was infinitely more comfortable than the silence we shared on the way home after our first date.
“So, how’s the case going? Cindy must think things are pretty bad for the Reid’s if she’s in here messing with you, too.”
“They are screwed,” Shane said thoughtfully. “Opening arguments are done. They pled not guilty, of course. We’ve already had one witness up, a man who worked at PCR for over ten years and developed some significant liver damage after being exposed to toxic dust on a daily basis. After that, we’ve got nearly a dozen others; people that worked there, a man that lost his livestock, a couple that lived nearby and had to vacate with their baby-”
“The Morris family,” I said. “Everybody in Kirkland knows about them.”
“Right.”
“Part of the mine collapsed on their property and their well was filled with whatever nasty stuff that place digs up.”
“And it had probably been contaminated for years before that,” Shane added. “All the environmental data from back then was handled by PCR, so naturally, everything looked kosher. The EPA had two surveys done back in the late eighties that said otherwise. Our newest survey was taken last year, leading up to the lawsuit.”
“Why didn’t the EPA sue them back in the eighties, then?”
“Bureaucracy. Red tape. Whatever you want to call it. The truth is, Patterson Reid rubs elbows with a lot of rich and high-ranking people so he was able to keep things under wraps for a long time.”
“He came to our church on Sunday. Got a bunch of people all excited.”
“He’s certainly doing a good job of it,” Shane said and leaned back in his chair.
“How could all those people out there support him? Can’t they see how much damage he’s done over the years?”
Shane shook his head. “I don�
�t know. Some folks don’t understand unless it affects them directly, I suppose. For some, it’s become this big thing they’ve got in their heads about the government coming to take away their jobs.”
Another moment of silence.
“So you think you’re going to win?” I asked.
“I hope so. I’m trying not to stress out over it too much, but you never know what kind of stunts might get pulled during a trial. Reid’s got one heck of a legal defense.”
“Tell you what,” I said, leaning forward and staring into his beautiful, amber eyes, “After you come visit me on Saturday, you’re gonna be too tired to even think about being stressed out.”
“Is that right?” Shane lifted one brow and leaned in as well. “What did you have in mind, Miss Atwater?”
“All sorts of physical activities. Farm life is strenuous.”
“You’ve definitely gotten my attention. I’ve already forgotten about that troublesome court case.” Shane’s grin stretched even wider and I plunked his nose with the end of my finger. Warm, bubbling heat seemed to tingle up my spine and I squeezed my legs together to try and suppress it.
Mmm…he was doing it again.
“Oh, you have?” I asked with a smile.
“Definitely. Who was I suing again? Blatterson Smeid?”
The chimes on the shop door jingled and Shane suddenly looked up at the person who had just walked in. It was the woman I’d seen the protestor throw a sign at, and she was wearing the same peach-colored outfit she’d been wearing the day she stood behind Shane as he gave his press conference. Shane’s warm smile quickly tightened and gave way to a serious expression.
“The judge is calling us back,” she said hastily and slapped her hands flat against her thighs. The tone of annoyance in her voice couldn’t have been any more evident.
“Why? The recess isn’t over for another hour.”
“I don’t know, something about our last witness. Reid’s doing, I’m sure.”
“Damn.” Shane drained the last of his drink. “Kat, I hate to do this, but I’ve got to go.”
Shoot. Just when I was starting to have fun.
Ultimate Alphas: Bad Boys and Good Lovers (The Naughty List Romance Bundles) Page 23
