Lauren turned away from Meg’s gaze. “I know. I’m sorry.” She reached for a wet cup and began polishing it with the dishcloth.
How well does Lauren know me? Meg wondered as she went back to washing dishes. And how well do I know her? As she had told Seth, they had been professional friends, but that had never really extended to their lives outside of work. She knew Lauren was driven and competitive and that the recent turmoil in the banking industry had probably unsettled her. Had she really quit, or had she finally been booted out by the bank? How much did this campaign job mean to her? Was it a simple stopgap or a diversion before she went looking for a permanent job? Or did she envision working for a charismatic congressman in Washington on a long-term basis?
And how far would she go to make sure that happened?
Meg, what are you thinking? It sounds like you’re wondering how much Lauren really knew about all of this. When had Lauren first known about the possible blot on Rick’s perfect record? And would she have tried to make it go away?
Lauren picked up a wet plate and started drying it. “Meg, I believe in Rick Sainsbury. He’ll be a good congressman. I don’t want to think that a mistake made by some of his employees over a decade ago can interfere with that.”
Meg kept her eyes on the dishes in the sink. “Lauren, I admire your loyalty. I also trust Detective Marcus to get things right. If Rick didn’t have a hand in these murders, he’ll be in the clear, and you can go on and get him elected.”
But Meg couldn’t help but wonder: could Lauren have manipulated Tom Ferriter into making the problem go away? Maybe. And Tom, Meg guessed, was dumb enough not to realize that he’d been used. She sighed. She’d probably never know—but she would probably never feel the same about Lauren.
“That’s exactly what I plan to do. Look, Meg, I think I’ll go back to my motel and wait for Rick to get back. You don’t mind, do you?”
“No, you go ahead. I’m sure you’ll have a lot to do.”
“We’ll talk, okay?” Lauren said as she gathered up her coat and bag. “I know this hasn’t been easy, but I’m so glad you found your killer. Bye, now.” And Lauren was gone.
31
Seth returned several hours later, but Meg was surprised to see a second car pull into her driveway, with Rick Sainsbury behind the wheel. They both got out and headed for the back door, and Meg opened it promptly. Seth let Rick enter before him, and he smiled at Meg and joked, “No, I’m not under arrest. I’ve told that detective everything I know, but I wanted to speak with you in person.”
Meg’s eyes darted toward Seth, and he nodded. She said, “Please, sit down. Can I get you anything?”
“Nothing for me, thanks. I’ve got to meet with my campaign committee to go over how we handle all this in the press, so I can’t stay long.” He sat. Seth chose to lean against a countertop, so Meg took a chair opposite Rick.
Rick cleared his throat. “Meg, I won’t play games, all right? I’m grateful you didn’t make this into a public confrontation. It’s bad enough that Tom has been arrested for the two murders.
“You know as well as I do that Granford’s a small town. I grew up here. When I heard about Joyce Truesdell’s death, I knew the property where she was running the dairy. I knew that Pioneer Valley had done work there, because it was our first remediation project. I’m ashamed to admit that I should have guessed that the job was incomplete.
“I’m not going to make excuses, but I’m just trying to explain. Back then—well, my father had been sick for a while, and he more or less ignored the business. Seth, you know what that’s like. I got my business degree and started working there, and gradually I got it back on its feet, and even expanded. That included diversification, and I was the one who added the site cleanup division. I helped them put together a proposal for the Granford site, and we won the bid.”
“What went wrong?” Meg asked.
“I can’t recall the details. I probably pushed the team too hard to get it done, and they may have cut some corners. I didn’t know at the time, I swear. Maybe I didn’t want to know. I read the reports, and they looked fine. The MDEP signed off on it. And we moved on to other things.”
“So you’re blaming your employees?” Meg asked.
Rick shook his head. “No, I’m not. I should have been more on top of it, and I should have asked more questions. But I was involved with the business side of the company, not the science side. I probably set unrealistic goals, and nobody disagreed with me. I realize now that I should have known that the results were too tidy. Seth, I’ll see to it that Pioneer Valley finishes what it started then, at no cost to the town.”
He turned back to Meg. “I didn’t make a point of telling my campaign staff about this particular connection to Granford, because I didn’t imagine it would come up.”
“What did you think when you learned that Joyce had been killed?” Meg demanded.
“I heard it was a tragic accident. It never occurred to me that her death had anything to do with me until you voiced your concerns to Lauren. And if you’re still afraid to ask the question, no, I did not ask, hint, imply, or suggest that Tom Ferriter kill anyone to save my political campaign. What kind of person do you think I am? I’m the head of a thriving company. I’m not running for office to prove anything. I certainly don’t need to kill anyone to get there.”
Rick turned to Seth again. “Seth, I didn’t want to bring this up at Marcus’s office, but I know you’ve been against me from the start. Why?”
“It’s personal, not political,” Seth said.
“Seth,” Meg burst out, “if you say that one more time I’m going to throw something at you. Will you just tell him?”
Seth looked Rick in the eye. “The last game of your senior year. Andy Petruzzi.”
Rick didn’t answer immediately but kept his eyes on Seth. “You remember that?”
Seth nodded, once. “You got away with it. He didn’t deserve what you did, and you didn’t have to do it.”
“Meg knows about it?” Rick gestured toward Meg. Seth nodded again.
Rick looked down at his hands on the table. “I guess it’s what I deserve. I’m not proud of what I did. It was stupid—I was stupid. But I was young and pumped up, in the middle of a game. It’s something that happened in the heat of the moment. I really was king of the heap back then, you know? I thought I could get away with anything, and I got kind of carried away. Afterward I did try to apologize to Andy, make it right. My folks even paid for his medical bills. I’d like to think he forgave me long ago. Why are you hanging on to that, Seth?”
“What you did told me something about what kind of a person you were, Sainsbury,” Seth said. “It’s going to take more than your word to convince me that you’re a better man now.”
Rick sighed. “Seth, Meg, I am not a violent person. Ask anyone who knows me—ask my employees, ask my wife. I rarely even get angry. I want to believe that deep down I’m an honest, moral person. I would not hurt someone just to get what I want—not in my business, and not in a political campaign.”
“Why should I believe you’ve changed?” Seth asked.
Rick sat back and looked directly at Seth. “Because it’s true.”
Seth’s expression did not waver, and Meg waited until the silence became unbearable. What had she expected? Hugs all around? “What about Tom? How’d he get involved?”
Rick smiled ruefully. “I thought I was doing a good deed. I have kept up with what’s going on in Granford, and with my old pals. Well, Tom was never exactly a pal—more like someone who followed me around in high school. I was flattered back then. I knew he’d been in his share of trouble since, and I knew he was out of a job. I really believed that if I hired him, even with a lousy salary, maybe it would give him the boost he needed to believe in himself. I was trying to help him out. And I do value loyalty. That’s supposed to be a good thing.
“Look, I know this all comes down to my word against Tom’s, but it looks like he’s confessed t
o the two deaths here. He claims that he honestly thought he was helping me—obviously I misjudged him. I will publicly acknowledge that the company I was running made a serious mistake with the Granford cleanup, and I will do what I can now to fix it. Will that satisfy you, Meg?”
Meg contemplated the man in front of her. Even in the midst of an apology, he still looked just a bit larger than life. She sighed. “Rick, I don’t know you, and I don’t have a long history in Granford. I trust Seth’s judgment, and I think I’ll have to wait and see if you live up to your promises before I can trust you.”
Now it was Rick’s turn to nod. “I understand. Just give me a chance, Meg.” He stood up, but before leaving, he said, “I may not deserve it, but I ask your forgiveness. Maybe I’m not ready for to run for office and I should just go back and look after my business—and try to do it right.” Then he let himself out the back door.
Meg remained at the table, feeling drained, and Seth dropped heavily into the chair next to her. “Well,” Meg said, “that was interesting. Do you believe him, Seth?”
He didn’t answer immediately. Finally he said, “You know, I think I do.”
Meg nodded. “All right. The facts, such as they are, can be interpreted in a lot of ways, and it may not be possible to prove anything.” She debated briefly about telling Seth what she suspected about Lauren, but in the end she decided that it still fell under the heading of “unprovable.” Maybe Rick was exactly what he said he was—and maybe Meg had lost a friend. “If Rick decides to go ahead with the campaign, even if he comes clean about the Pioneer Valley cover-up, he might still have enough charisma and backing to pull it off. I guess the only question we need to answer is, can we live with that?”
Seth sat back in his chair and rubbed his hands over his face. “Meg, let’s see how he handles himself from here. I’m not God, or even a judge. I’m willing to believe that Tom Ferriter may have acted alone. I think I’d prefer to give Rick Sainsbury the benefit of the doubt and believe he’s made some mistakes and will make up for them. Does that sound too soft?”
Meg leaned against him. “No, it sounds like the fair and decent thing to do, and I wouldn’t expect any less from you.” She glanced up at the clock. “Oh my goodness, is that really the time? Where has today gone?”
Seth stood up slowly. “I should go fill Mom in on what’s happened, and give Max a run.”
“Can I walk with you over to Lydia’s?” Meg asked. “After all this intense stuff I really need some fresh air to clear my head.”
“Sure.”
Meg retrieved a jacket and her keys before joining Seth outside the back door. April had crept up on her and was showing off: a gentle breeze riffled through the emerging leaves in the woods. Meg inhaled deeply. “I feel like we’ve been cooped up for days. At the risk of repeating myself, what a mess. Please tell me you don’t have any aspirations toward higher office,” she said as they set off up the hill behind her house.
Seth laughed. “Me? No way—I’ll stop at selectman. Even if you start out with the best of intentions, I think the political process changes you, and not for the better. I’m happy where I am.”
They were passing the new orchard, and they stopped to admire it. “Looks good, doesn’t it? I’m glad there are some things that don’t change. Not much, at least. I know there are new techniques for grafting and new crossbreeds and all that, but there’s something basic about growing food. And it won’t let you get away with lies and shortcuts either. It’ll show, quick enough. What’s going to happen with the Truesdell farm?”
“We take the town land back. I’ll make sure Rick follows through with his promise to clean up that acreage, so if someone takes it over they’ll have a fresh start. The farm? Depends on what kind of wills the Truesdells left. Actually there’s increasing interest in managing small farms these days, so I’d bet someone will want it.”
“That would be nice. And I’ll make more of an effort to get to know any new farmers who move in around here, and help them if I can.” Meg looked at the orchard again and leaned against Seth. “Seth, I’m glad we did this together. Right now it seems like the most real thing we’ve accomplished all week. I don’t know why I felt so reluctant to accept your offer to use your land. I guess it seemed like a big step. Like saying we’re going to be together for a long time.”
He turned her to face him. “Aren’t we?”
That was the real question, Meg realized. All her hesitations about putting in the new orchard—that had been just a smoke screen, hadn’t it? Planting trees was a long-term commitment, because they took so much time to grow and to produce. Maybe she had been afraid of making that kind of commitment to Seth, but she couldn’t find any regrets. “Yes, we are.”
Lydia could wait.
32
The unpredictable mid-April weather had cooperated for Rick Sainsbury’s Patriots’ Day press conference. A platform had been set up at the upper end of the Granford green, with Gran’s restaurant providing a scenic backdrop. Meg scanned the crowd: not huge, but a good turnout for midday on a Monday. Of course, not everyone in the audience was a Granford native, and the press—cameramen and newscasters—represented a substantial portion of the crowd, hoping to catch the noon news broadcasts.
The dais on the platform was empty at the moment, but grouped behind it Meg could make out Rick, his slender blond wife, Miranda, and their two towheaded children (one boy, one girl). Meg wondered if they had a dog at home to round out the wholesome picture. She flashed back to the first time she had seen Rick, when he and Miranda had worked the crowd at the Spring Fling. She’d labeled him immediately as a politician, and he still looked the part. Also on the platform were Lauren and a couple of people Meg didn’t recognize. Conspicuously absent was former campaign staffer Tom Ferriter, now awaiting trial on two counts of murder, although she spied a couple of other members of the Granford football posse—still loyal after everything that had happened.
Nicky Czarnecki came up beside Meg. “Hey, what terrific publicity for the restaurant! We’ll be on all the channels.”
“Shouldn’t you be in the kitchen getting ready for the lunch rush? Looks like you’ll have plenty of customers today.”
“Of course, but I wanted to see how we looked from out here—and get some pictures, of course.”
“Has Rick booked any events at the restaurant?”
“I am sworn to secrecy,” Nicky said and winked. “I’d better get back inside.” She trotted off toward the restaurant, and Meg turned her attention back to the dais. There was more bustle, so they must be getting ready to start.
Seth joined her. “Hey. Do you have any idea what he’s going to say?”
“Nope,” Meg replied. “But it looks like he’s about to speak.”
Rick Sainsbury stepped up to the microphone. “Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, and Happy Patriots’ Day. We celebrate this day because it marks the start of our nation’s history, the battles at Lexington and Concord in this commonwealth, when a group of brave men stood up against an overwhelmingly larger and stronger force and fought for what they believed in—and ultimately they won.
“When I and my staff originally planned this event, I had intended to announce my candidacy for the U.S. House of Representatives. Those of you who follow the press know that there have been a few stumbles along that path. A decade ago, the company that my father founded, and that I took over, failed to carry out a project we contracted for right here in Granford. Worse, we concealed the truth about it, which led to some tragic events. Two innocent people are dead. I could point the finger at those individuals directly responsible, but in the end, as the head of the company I am responsible. I accept that responsibility. There is little I can do other than promise that the land will be treated and the original error will be made right.” There was a smattering of applause. Rick raised a hand and went on. “And, as you may have heard, a member of my campaign staff—someone I counted as a longtime friend—has been arrested in connection to th
ose murders.” This statement met with an uncomfortable silence from the crowd.
“So far, he’s being much more up-front than I expected,” Meg whispered to Seth. “Now what?”
“I’ve wrestled long and hard with the question of whether I should continue with my political campaign,” Rick continued, “or whether my reputation in your eyes has been irreparably damaged. You should be able to trust your elected officials, and they in turn should act in the best interests of their constituents. What I have decided is that I should leave the decision up to you. I don’t need to file official campaign papers until next month. I pledge that over the next few weeks, I will spend time with the citizens of this district. I will listen to you, and I will answer your questions. If at the end of that time you believe I am not qualified to represent you, I will accept your judgment and support the candidate of your choice. All I ask is that you keep an open mind and look at the facts. My able assistants will distribute press packages now, and the information will be available on my campaign website.
“Once again, I apologize for any harm I might have done, and I ask you to believe that someone can learn from his missteps and become a better person for them. Thank you.”
The applause began again, urged on by the carefully distributed staffers. Rick stepped back from the podium without taking any questions, to stand with his picture-perfect family, framed by fluttering flags. Lauren nodded toward several volunteers, who moved among the crowd handing out stapled packets; she avoided looking directly at Meg.
Seth shook his head and smiled. “He’s good, isn’t he? He said he was sorry. He said he’d let the voters decide. What do you want to bet he ends up running?”
“I won’t be surprised. Is that a bad thing?”
“I don’t know. But people will be watching him closely, and it can’t hurt Granford to have a local person representing us.”
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