As she neared her car, Depew appeared on the walkway, staggering slightly. It was nearly eight o’clock, which meant he was two hours drunker than usual. “Where you going?”
“I promised an interview with Minnesota Monthly. We’re meeting for dinner.”
“So that’s what it takes. How about I interview you tomorrow night over a steak?”
“I’m here to do my job, Mr. Depew. I suggest you focus on doing yours.” Without waiting for his retort, she got in her car and drove out. Less than a mile down the highway, she turned off on a county road that would take her into town on a roundabout route just in case he’d had her followed.
Stacie’s Prius was in the lot of the strip mall, and she waved from a table for two. “Sorry I couldn’t get away earlier. After we canceled our weekend at the hotel, I made plans with Jenn and Izzy and couldn’t run out on them.”
As Cathryn took her seat the waitress delivered two plates. Hers appeared to be chicken with broccoli.
“I hope you don’t mind that I ordered for you. She told me the kitchen got slammed with a bunch of takeout orders.”
“It’s fine.” Cathryn’s hands were shaking so badly she couldn’t manage her chopsticks. It didn’t matter since her appetite had vanished.
“You okay?”
“Stacie, I’m scared. Did you give those papers to Colleen?”
“Not yet. She’s working with copies of the stuff I gave her before the accident. This is a huge story, Cathryn, and it’s complex. I’m sure it’ll take her a while to put it together.”
“I’ve changed my mind. If that story hits the news, I know they’re going to trace it back to me.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure Colleen protects you.” Stacie nonchalantly continued eating, her expression giving away no sign she was concerned.
“It won’t work. There are only three people who saw those numbers, and the other two will know it was me.”
Stacie put down her chopsticks and gave her a skeptical look. “You told me this was about being honest.”
“It’s complicated.”
“Matters of conscience usually are. If they weren’t, everyone would always choose to do the right thing.”
“You don’t understand. Hoss just promoted me to vice president. Now I have a legal obligation to protect the stockholders. If I do anything to damage the company, they could sue me. Or worse, I could go to jail.”
“But in the meantime, your company gets to screw over the whole country. They used to call that a criminal enterprise. These days it’s just business as usual.”
“You don’t even care what I just said? I could go to jail for talking to you.” Cathryn pushed her dinner aside and leaned across the table, pressing her hands together as if she were getting ready to pray. “Look, I’m in a position now to change things from the inside. I have a seat at the table, and I can use my clout to push back against what they’re doing.”
“Seriously? How are you going to push back against this, Cathryn? Are you just going to let them get away with lying about what’s on the bottom of that lake?”
She resented Stacie’s holier-than-thou attitude. “I guess it’s easy for you to sit there in judgment when you get to go home to your privileged life. You’ve never known what it’s like to struggle, to wonder if you’re going to be able to hang on just one more day. I know what that’s like, and I’m never going to live like that again. You can sneer all you want about what other people do for money because you’ve never not had it.”
“How much is enough? Does Hoss Bower need more millions? What about Karl Depew? You don’t think he tries to have people killed for minimum wage, do you?” She waved her chopsticks in the air for emphasis. “Guys like that are never going to have enough money, and they don’t care who they hurt to get it. I know you’re not like that. You just want to be safe and secure, and I don’t blame you. Walk away while you still can. If this blows up in your face, you’ll be damaged goods. Hell, your bosses might even be marched off in handcuffs. You think anyone will hire you with that on your résumé?”
It was clear Stacie still cared about her, and it was the only leverage Cathryn had. “Please, Stacie. I made a mistake giving you those papers. I’m begging you not to give them to anyone. You’ll destroy me.”
Stacie sighed and threw up her hands. “I can’t believe you’re asking me to save a bunch of greedy bastards who don’t care about anything but their bank accounts.”
“I promise you the lake will be cleaned up. We’ve bought up all the property. Cleanup crews will be moving into those cabins by next week, and they plan on being there at least a year. Every square inch of that lakebed will be dredged, and then all those properties will go back up for sale and people will get their lake back. That’s going to happen whether you break this story or not.”
“And why shouldn’t Nations Oil be held accountable for lying in the first place about what was in the pipeline and how much was spilled?”
“Because it will hurt me.” She searched Stacie’s face for any hint of compassion. “I’m not negotiating with CLEAN on behalf of Nations Oil. I’m asking you on behalf of me. Just pretend you never got those papers.”
“Fine. The game’s over anyway. I took the samples down to the Department of Health and they came back proving it’s bitumen. They’ll be starting their investigation soon and all that money Hoss Bower paid the EPA inspectors won’t matter a bit. But you’ll be free and clear.”
Cathryn hardly cared about the bitumen being discovered, as long as it wasn’t traced back to her. “Thank you.”
The uncomfortable silence lasted a couple of minutes while a boisterous foursome was seated nearby. Stacie leaned forward and, keeping her voice low, asked, “Do you still love me?”
She wasn’t prepared for that, and instinctively answered, “Yes, of course I do, but…” Their feelings for one another wouldn’t be enough to overcome this rift. “After our event at the lake on Thursday, my work is finished. It looks like I’ll be going home to Houston on Friday. If we continued to see each other, we’d have to keep it hidden from everyone. My company could never find out. I’m just…I’m not sure I can handle living like that.”
Tears flooded Stacie’s eyes but she tipped her chin upward, defiantly refusing to let them fall. “That’s okay. I can always return to my privilege in Pittsburgh. Have a nice life, Cathryn.” She slapped a twenty-dollar bill on the table and lurched from her seat, knocking over a water glass as she stormed off.
* * *
“I heard you had an opening for a roommate,” Stacie said as she dropped her duffel bag on the floor.
Jenn was sitting up in bed typing away on her laptop. “This is a surprise.”
“I figured it was time to circle the wagons. Is everything still on track for Thursday?”
“So far we’ve got fifty-six commitments, and they’re all promising to bring three or four people each. That’ll give us a couple of hundred, but I think we can pick up a few dozen more by tomorrow. They’re going to muster at a couple of motels down near Carlton and caravan to the lake on Thursday morning.”
Only a handful of trusted locals knew of their plan, which gave them a good chance of keeping it under the radar until the last minute. If Marty had still been embedded as Jenn’s boyfriend, he’d have already alerted Depew and the sheriff’s department to what they were doing.
Even though Stacie had held off on handing over Cathryn’s explosive documents, the truth was coming out. By Thursday afternoon, everyone would know about Nations Oil’s extraordinary efforts to deceive the public. The outcry would serve its purpose, killing the Caliber Pipeline as it was heating up for a Senate vote. Cathryn, like all the others involved in the cleanup at Lake Bunyan, would probably be collateral damage.
Stacie sank to the floor with her back against the wall and stretched out her legs. “I’ve got something to tell you, Jenn.”
“The last time you said that, my whole life turned upside down.”
“The one who’s been keeping you busy on weekends?”
“Yeah, I didn’t know it at the time—and you’re just going to have to take my word for that—Cate was Cathryn Mack, the spokeswoman for Nations Oil.”
Jenn slammed her laptop and tossed it aside before jumping up to pace the room. “I can’t believe these assholes! They got to you too.”
“Not exactly. I met her through a dating website where most people are anonymous. I found out who she was when I saw her on the news that night we sprung the video. When I confronted her, she was just as shocked about who I was. She’s naïve…not stupid, though. She just didn’t want to believe her company was behind the raid or all the vandalism. After she saw my black eye, she started coming around, and when I told her what happened to Colleen, she gave me a file that proves Nations Oil dumped heavy oil on top of their bitumen to fool the regulators. But now she’s gone back over to the dark side.”
“They’re all snakes, every last one of them. They can shed their skin, but they’ll never be anything but cold-blooded reptiles.”
Stacie kicked off her shoes and pointed her toes upward to stretch her calves. A candlelight yoga session would feel great right now. “I’m really sorry about Marty. I should have been a lot more sensitive about your feelings when I told you the news. You loved the guy, and now I realize it must have felt like a kick in the gut.”
“It wasn’t your fault. Once I found out he was a bastard, I didn’t waste much time worrying about my broken heart.”
“I see what you mean. I wish I could say that about Cathryn, but I think deep down she’s a decent person, and I still love her.”
Jenn squatted down and patted her knee. “That’s because you’re a lesbian and you can’t help yourself. If you guys could just stop falling in love so fast, you wouldn’t have these problems.”
There was no denying Jenn was right this time. Stacie had led with her heart instead of her head, blissfully pretending Cathryn would be the one to give up everything. There was no scenario in which they both got to be happy.
“Speaking of Marty, I talked to Matt today,” Jenn said. “He sat in jail for a couple of days and then somebody bailed him.”
“I’m not surprised. He was in some pretty deep shit and they couldn’t afford to let him start singing.”
“Apparently he’s been turned over to his parents in Ohio, but he has to come back for trial in October. You don’t think he’ll make trouble for anyone in particular, do you?”
By anyone, Jenn obviously meant her. Stacie had thought quite a bit about that very question. It must be clear to Marty by now that she’d set him up, but by implicating her, he might call unwanted attention to his criminal activities with Depew. “Be careful what you say to Matt. I trust him totally, but he’s an officer of the court and we don’t want to put him in a bad spot. As for Marty, let’s just drop it and let those chips fall where they will.”
In hindsight, it might have been better to let Brian Murray handle him. She hated to think her rash action might somehow result in him making a deal that got him out of taking responsibility for Colleen’s wreck. That was way more important than bringing drugs into their house.
“We’re on the cusp of a big victory, Stacie. I think tomorrow, just to be safe, we should spread out…see if we can get some of the locals to take us in for the night. I don’t want any more SWAT team surprises.”
“Good idea.” They both knew it wouldn’t make any difference at this stage because their plan was already in motion and didn’t depend on any one person leading the way. Still, they both wanted to be there to see it go down. “We’ll have a lot more friends next week because people will see how effective we can be in fighting against Big Oil. When this is over, I want to take CLEAN up a few notches. We need offices and full-time staff. Health insurance, pension, the whole nine yards. We’re here to stay. And I want you to take over as executive director.”
Jenn slumped back on the bed shaking her head. “Not me. You’re much better at schmoozing than I am.”
“But you’re better at organizing and talking to the media. That’s what a good ED has to do. I still plan on schmoozing, but I want to do it on a different level. We need a national board of directors that’s so big and powerful that Congress has to listen to them. Those snakes in the oil industry aren’t going to just slither off in the grass after this. They’ll keep working under the table until they get more legislators on their side, and that’s where the next battles will be fought. I want to be ready.”
“I don’t know, Stacie. I wish I could say yes but…I just can’t see myself working in an office. This is going to sound weird, but I actually like the road.”
That sure threw a wrench into her plans. “I knew Izzy would say that but I was hoping you were ready for a change.”
“Maybe in a few years. I’ll take the health insurance and pension though.”
Chapter Fifteen
“Don’t bunch them all together,” Cathryn yelled, stomping through the wet grass at the park. “Three on each side. Didn’t you look at the diagram?”
Her event started in forty minutes and the contractors still weren’t finished setting up the stage. There were six chairs in all, left to right for her, Bryce Tucker, Hoss Bower, Senator Washburn, Bob Kryzwicki and the county administrator. The backdrop was the public boat launch and beyond it, Lake Bunyan, sparkling in the morning sun.
Why on earth had they chosen to hold this event in the morning? If they didn’t drown in the dew, they’d be carried off by mosquitoes.
Amy rushed over from the event truck. “He wants to know if you want a podium or just a standing microphone?”
“The podium with our logo on it, of course,” she snapped. How could someone who professed to be a public relations professional not realize you took every opportunity to promote your brand?
Cathryn had ordered one hundred folding chairs for the press and visiting dignitaries, which so far included every elected official in the county, and representatives from all the relevant state and federal agencies. Technically, the event was open to the public, but she didn’t expect much of a turnout among ordinary citizens. The people who actually cared came to rallies, not self-congratulating corporate ceremonies.
Citing security concerns over Senator Washburn’s presence, Depew had successfully lobbied officials for the establishment of a free speech zone, a designated area for protest activities. It was located at the far end of the parking lot, where the activists would be visible only as people arrived or left the event. Anyone who wanted to carry a sign or shout slogans had to remain inside the yellow tape, and violators would be arrested.
“I ordered two amplifiers, one on each side of the platform.” She couldn’t risk having the senator’s remarks drowned out by distant shouts of “Nations spoiled!”
Hoss and Senator Washburn were currently touring the spill site with the other officials. For the time being, the dredging equipment had been moved to the tanker lot well out of sight, and crews had collected the booms. To the casual observer, the lake was clean, though the cove in the distance that had borne the brunt of the spill was now stripped of its vegetation.
Already she was dead on her feet. She’d barely slept since her wrenching talk with Stacie, and got up each day half expecting to read a horror story on the front page of the paper. No news was good news, and it gave her hope Stacie would keep her word. Even if the story somehow broke, she was confident they would do everything they could to mask her identity as the one who leaked it.
Amy stepped away to answer a call on her cell phone, and then returned. “Some of our guests have started to arrive. Would you like me to stay here and supervise the crew, or should I go up to the parking lot and escort them back down here to their seats?” From her meek tone, it was clear she feared setting Cathryn off on another tirade.
“You shou
ld go meet them, Amy. You always make a great impression on people.” There was no excuse for Cathryn taking out her frustrations on others, especially Amy, who was already smarting over watching everyone else move up the corporate ladder.
Cathryn needed to get control of her faculties. Since her promotion five days ago, she’d been unable to meditate, and the muscles in her neck were so tight her head throbbed all the time. The worst part was the creeping feeling that getting this Lake Bunyan episode behind her wouldn’t be enough to settle her spirit. She’d still have to deal with the inner turmoil of her role in her company’s deception, and now the grief over losing someone she loved.
“The flowers?” A worker appeared before her with two arrangements.
“One on each side of the podium.” Nothing like waiting till the last minute.
Several TV crews were jockeying for the best position from which to cover the event. It wasn’t every day a high profile senator came to a community like Lake Bunyan, and the rumors were already percolating that Washburn would toss his hat into the next presidential ring.
Senator Mike Washburn, their key to the Caliber Pipeline. Just this morning, at Hoss’s “suggestion,” she’d written a personal check to his campaign fund, the maximum amount allowed under federal elections law. That nice raise would come in handy, considering she’d now be expected to spread it around.
With the stage finally assembled—and not a moment to spare—the event crew retreated with their truck to the parking lot and the gates opened to allow the general public to enter the park. The sheriff’s department provided two dozen deputies for security, and the state had sent ten uniformed troopers. Scattered among them, and apparently giving the orders, were Depew’s men, all of whom seemed dressed for Halloween in camouflage pants, black T-shirts and caps, and mirrored sunglasses. They’d swept the area several times, and were taking up positions by the stage and around the perimeter of the audience area.
Anyone But You Page 18
