Shadow of Secrets

by Kacie Clement

  Handing Emma a cup of coffee and box lunch from the bag, he asked, "Say, you know Jack Jr's. Christening is Saturday, would you like to go together?" Emma giggled, "Like a date? You know that would be our official first date." A strong gust of wind rushed through the park, causing Grayson's leather thong that held his hair back to release and take flight. His waist-long hair began blowing forward, surrounding his face. Raising his hands to push his hair back away from his face, Emma felt a rush of heat through her body, she picked up her bag and said, "Here turn around, I have an extra pony holder, I will braid your hair for you, and yes I will go with you."

  Pulling out a pony holder from her bag, she took Grayson's arm, encouraging him to turn around. With Grayson's back to her, she began to braid Grayson's long black hair. Feeling the electricity of Emma's touch, Grayson sat still closing his eyes. Neither one saw the man sitting across the park taking pictures of them.

  Martin stood up from his desk and began walking to the window, thinking he should go across the street to the Pub and have a drink. Before turning, to leave his office, something caught his eye, his head came to a stand-still. Watching Emma braiding Grayson's hair below, his stomach began to churn. Great, her and Grayson look awful cozy. When did this happen, and why did those two idiots not tell me about this? I should have just handled this myself.

  Continuing to watch, Emma finished the braid and lightly kissed Grayson's neck. Disgusted, Martin turned, and headed for the door, he needed that drink now, maybe three, he needed to come up with a plan and make a phone call.

  Riding down the elevator to the lobby area for the short walk across the street to the pub, Martin angrily, left a voice mail for his brother in law Artie McDonald, "You need to call me, we have a problem." Martin walked into the pub and ordered a bourbon straight up on the rocks.

  Grayson walked Emma back to her office, opening the door for her. His attention focused solely on Emma; he saw the look of confusion on her face and asked, "What is it?" She walked past him into her office to see the entire office filled with boxes stacked to the ceiling.

  Grayson stunned, said, "What the hell is this?" Emma knowing the reason deep in her stomach, thinking about her early morning meeting with Steve and Wesley and her upcoming meeting at five with Martin. Emma looked around the room thinking, So there is something behind this Clean Energy Solutions, Inc. She wondered if she should tell Grayson about this morning's meeting with Steve and Wesley and whether it made sense to inform him about her scheduled meeting with Martin for later in the day. She decided maybe after the meeting with Martin; she would know more. Feeling a wave of guilt, for having that shred of feeling mistrust with Grayson yet, she said, "Looks like more work, I better get started, call me later?"

  Grayson still gazing around the room with a concerned look, said, "I have to attend a tribal conference for the next few days and won't return till Friday night. I got a call from the Chief this morning they need me to be there. Pick you up at noon on Saturday?" Emma, smiling turned toward Grayson, "Four days of eating lunch on my own? I may starve to death".

  Laughing, she pointed to the boxes, "Well, I better get busy. I will be awaiting your return, sir." Giving him a quick kiss, she pointed out the door, "Now be gone; I have work to do." Laughing, she closed her office door behind him. Turning back to face the multiple boxes in her office, Emma thought, So this is how we are going to play this, hmm, I must be on to something.

  Grayson, reaching the elevator, opened his phone to call Jack, "Jack, where are you right now?" Jack responded, "I'm down in the filing room, looking for those invoices." Grayson said, "Meet me in my office now. I need you to do something for me." Jack replied, "On my way."

  Jack walked into Grayson's office, seating himself in the leather chair across from the desk. Jack kicked his feet straight out and crossed his arms over his chest. "What's up? I thought you were leaving this afternoon for the conference.”

  Grayson with a frown responded, "I am, look Emma and I just had lunch, and when we got back to her office, at least another two hundred or more boxes were delivered. That has me concerned, and I need you to keep an eye on her while I'm gone to make sure she doesn't get herself into trouble." Jack sitting up in his chair with an astonished look on his face, looked at Grayson while saying, "Whew, another two hundred boxes? What the hell? Do you think she found something causing Steve and I'm sure Wesley to load her down with boxes to keep her busy?"

  Looking concerned Grayson, responded, "I don't know, but we need to watch out for her." Jack shook his head said, "You care for Emma, don't you? " Grayson responded, " I do, I think she may be my intended soulmate." Laughing, Jack said, "You are out of your element, Grayson, think you can handle that little piece of dynamite now do you?" Grayson glared at Jack, making him suddenly feel he might have gone too far. Jack said, "You’re right, she needs watching; I will keep an eye on her and make sure she doesn't get into or cause any trouble."

  Grayson stood, "Thanks, I got to go if I am going to make it to the conference tonight." Shaking Jacks hand, they walked out of the office together.

  In New York, Carmine DeLuca was sitting at his Italian marble desk. Checking his email, he opened the email from his man whom he assigned to protect Emma. Looking at the photos attached, he grinned, Emma was moving on from Antonio from the looks of it. With a sudden feeling of grief and sadness, he thought, "She should have been my daughter."

  He remembered the numerous occasions when he would spend afternoons pushing Emma in her swing as a child, of her loneliness at not being able to have any friends. He thought I need to contact my man to get an update on the progress of finding that damn contractor who had my son killed. He then laughed loudly, thinking, "Howard is not going to be pleased about his little girl taking up with the likes of Grayson Blackfeather.

  Howard needs some stress in his life, trying to hide the fact he is sleeping with my sister. We don't need Emma to marry another of my sons. Howard needs to marry my sister, and then the families will bond by blood. The photos he had received from his men whose job it is was to protect his sister showed Howard and Vittoria hand in hand walking nude in the ocean. The pictures would come in handy when the time came for him and Howard to talk about Vittoria. Feeling satisfied, Carmine continued to answer the multitude of emails he received that morning.

  At four thirty that afternoon, Emma standing at the copy machine scanning another set of documents, heard the reminder tone from her phone about her meeting with Martin. Stretching, she thought, I need to get through this meeting, and I can go home, relax and open a bottle of wine.

  As Emma approached Martin's office, she heard voices coming through the door that was slightly ajar, she hesitated. Not intending to eavesdrop she listened to a voice say, "Martin, I need payment by Friday, it's up to a million you owe me now with interest, and I have let you slide on the last two payments, that is not making me happy Martin. You know what happens when I am not happy." Martin showing a brief glimpse of fear, responded, "You will have it, now you have to go, I have a meeting."

  Hearing a small knock on the door, he looked at the man standing in front of him, Vito Marino, his bookie. Martin glanced at the door and said, "Be quiet." Walking to the door, he opened it to find Emma standing there, Emma looked up at Martin and said, "Sorry I am early, the thing is someone delivered another batch of boxes to my office and I am having trouble finding my doorway, so it takes a bit of time to find the door. With that, I plan ten minutes ahead of time, so I am not late for any meetings."

  Walking past him into his office, she came face to face with Vito Marino. Emma looked at him, he couldn't be more than an inch or two taller than her, and where did he get that tacky suit and hat? He reminded her of one of Carmine's sleazy henchmen. Holding her hand out towards Vito, she said, "Hello, I am Emma, and you are?" Vito taking Emma's hand in his crookedly smiled as he was about to respond Martin stepped in-between them saying, "He was just leaving, take a seat, Emma." He showed Vito the door, while quietly sayi
ng, "You will have your payment on Friday."

  Emma took a seat. Wiping her hands with the sanitary gel from her bag, she said, "You wanted to meet? I'm a little busy considering the increase in the number of boxes and the time it is going to take to sort through the boxes, what can I do for you?"

  Martin sat at his desk, with a stern look said, "Emma, I understand you had a question about the projects Power Purchase Agreements and Clean Energy Solutions. I wanted to assure you it's nothing for you to be concerned with for this project. Often on projects such as these, we need construction consulting services, and the way to bill them is to separate their services by site project. Now tell me how are you coming on getting those files organized? I expected an update from you before now."

  Emma's eyes turning icy looked Martin straight in the eye, "So why would you bill them through twelve sites and not divide it up between all twenty-five sites? I also can't seem to find the contracts put in place with this project for their services, would you possibly have a copy of them? Along with that, I also have not come across any of the invoices for the materials ordered for the sites."

  Martin's eyes taking on a hard glint, looked back at Emma saying curtly, "Your job is not to question the validity of this project, your job is to organize and scan those files into the server. I expect you to do the job you were hired to do. Currently, the contracts are in the review process on the tribal level. I am sure you are aware Grayson Blackfeather has left for the reservation to cover that issue for us ensuring everything is in proper working order. As far as the materials go, we haven't ordered them yet, but when we do, you will receive the invoices."

  Emma keeping her face straight thought, he doesn't know I have already seen the sites, and the materials are there. Interesting. Emma stood thinking, what an asshole he was. She lowered her head in a show of the submission as he would have expected, and said, "Yes sir, I will watch for those files then. It's been a long day, and I think I will take off now." Martin escorted Emma from his office, closing the door behind her. His thoughts turned to the fact that he needed another drink and to figure out a way to come up with a substantial payment by Friday for Vito. Maybe he could get accounting to pay for those material purchase orders. They would have to pay Clean Energy Solutions as they were the ones who ordered the materials and it would be reimbursement to him for the order. That should cover two payments.

  That only left the problem with Miss Graystone. The boxes should keep her busy and out of my way. Thinking back to earlier in the day when he saw Emma and Grayson on the bench in the park, he wondered, If she had shared her concerns with Grayson, he could become a significant problem.

  7

  After spending the last two evenings in Emma's office going through the boxes, Jack stood and stretched; it was 2:00 am, and if he didn't get home soon, his wife was going to choke him. Reaching for another box, he thought “one more and, I am leaving for the night.” Opening the box, Jack began going through the files. Halfway through the first box, he found a folder marked, purchase order copies. Opening it, Jack found the missing purchase orders. Stuffing the papers in the back pocket of his jeans, he decided he would look them over in the morning when he wasn't so tired.

  Turning off the light and shutting the door to Emma's office, he went home to get at least a few hours of sleep before he had to be on site. They were beginning to erect the turbines tomorrow morning.

  The next morning, Jack arrived on site and helped to organize the construction workers starting the erection of the first turbine on section one. Grabbing a cold cola from the small refrigerator in the construction office on-site, he sat down at one of the desks, pulling the purchase orders out he had found the night before.

  Looking through the files, Jack was relieved to find each site had its purchase order. He began to read through the list of materials ordered and delivered. With a look of confusion, Jack picked up the purchase orders and headed out to the site to conduct an inventory of the equipment.

  Walking out to the first site, Jack found the construction manager, Artie McDonald, saying, "Can you hold up, I need to double-check the equipment." The manager responded, "Sure, Jack, let me know when you are finished." Walking around the first site, Jack inventoried the materials checking each piece off on his list. With a wave to the Construction Manager to go ahead, he walked the quarter of a mile to the next site.

  Again, checking off the materials on his list, he stopped. Wait a minute this is a 1.8- megawatt generator. Looking back towards the first site, Jack quickly looked through the purchase order for that site finding the generator size was 1.5 Megawatt. Reaching into his tool belt, he took his measuring tape and began measuring the first of three blades. Well, that's the right blade size, should be four hundred and 10 feet tall when completed.

  Looking at his cell phone, he typed in the Construction Manager Artie's number. "Artie, check your sheet for the megawatt of the generator for the first site for me and the length of the blades?" Artie picking his clipboard up from the desk responded, "Jack, the generator is 1.5 megawatts, and the blades are 116 feet, that baby should stand three hundred and twenty-eight feet tall by the end of the week."

  Frowning Jack said, "Thanks, Artie, hey, can you send someone to drive me around the sites?" Jack laughed, "This heat isn't good for my skin. I don’t need a tan." Artie, laughing, responded, "Sure, they will be right there."

  Jack saw the pickup headed his way, flying across the landscape bouncing off the ground at every bump. Taking two steps back when the truck came to a stop, he opened the passenger side door to find Emma at the wheel. "Emma, what are you doing here?" Jack asked as he jumped in the passenger side of the pickup. "Good morning Jack, I came to find you. Mind explaining to me what you have been looking in my office for the last two nights?"

  Jacks jaw dropped in surprise, "How did you know?" Emma took her cap off looked at Jack with all seriousness saying, "There are these things called game cameras Jack, and they clearly showed you going through the boxes in my office in the middle of the night, now would you like to explain what you were doing in my office?" “Game cameras?" Jack said, "You planted game cameras in your office. Maybe you should explain that one, all though I find it to be quite ingenious. So Emma, if your planting cameras to watch your office, then it's time we talk. I think I have found something that needs figuring out, let's go to the next site, and I will show you."

  Driving to the next site, Emma and Jack hopped out of the truck, and Jack walked over to the sites' generator. "Here look at this Emma, this generator has a 1.8-megawatt generator". Handing Emma the clipboard, Jack, who began talking to himself, said, " The first site has a 1.5-megawatt generator. That means the blades are only one hundred and sixteen feet. The next site’s generator is 1.8 megawatts, which means the blades are one hundred and forty-eight feet. The 1.5- megawatt turbines will stand three hundred and twenty-eight feet when erected, and the 1.8- megawatt turbines will stand at four hundred and ten feet. There has to be a mistake, the 1.8- megawatt generators will produce twice the amount of power than the 1.5-megawatt turbine."

  Waving his arm around the air, he continued, "I didn't order this equipment." Looking again at the purchase orders, he thought out loud, Who the hell is Clean Touch Solutions? Why the difference in generator size, it doesn't make sense. With the environmental study, the extra height of the 1.8-megawatt turbines was not part of the migratory research of wildlife. Grayson would have questioned this when he did the research. Emma, who had been listening carefully to Jack's discussion with himself, asked, "Jack, is there a problem with the equipment?"

  Looking at Emma with concern, he said, “Let’s check out the remainder of the sites.” Walking back to the truck, Jack looked at Emma and said, "I'll drive." Emma laughed, and they continued to visit each site, noting the size of each generation. Two hours later, at the last place, Jack glanced at his watch. Sitting on the tower of the turbine on the final location, Jack said, "I don't understand this, twelve of the twenty-five sit
es have the larger generator, maybe Martin just made a mistake." I should call Grayson."

  On the drive back to the office, Jack, who was feeling hungry, asked Emma, "Emma, are you hungry want to grab some lunch before heading back to the office?" Emma smiled and replied, "Well yes I am, I thought about going to that new pub up the block from the office and having one of their Juicy Lucy's." Jack laughed heartily and said, "You're going to eat a Juicy Lucy? I have to see this."

  After parking in the office parking ramp, and getting out of the truck, Jack took Emma's arm, as they strolled down the block to the pub. They had just gotten seated when Emma looking at Jack, made the decision it was time to trust Jack with what she found in the Power Purchase Agreements. Looking at Jack, Emma said, "Jack, let's get that Juicy Lucy to go, I have something important to show you. Let's go back to my apartment, and I will show you why. My friend Amelia is due to skype with me in a few hours, and I want you to be a part of the call." Confused, Jack was about to ask Emma what this was all about, when he heard, "Jack, we must think alike. Are you here to enjoy a Juicy Lucy? I hear they are great; I thought I would try one myself." Glancing up, Jack saw Artie MacDonald standing beside the table.

  Turning towards Emma, Jack said, "Emma, I want you to meet my construction manager, Artie McDonald, he is Steve Martinson's brother in law. Artie this is Emma Graystone, the projects business consultant. Say, Artie, listen I have some questions I need clearing up on the equipment before you start erecting any remote sites."