Undeniably His(72)

Kalin shrugs. “It’s not really my forte, but I know that much of it is undisclosed. The industry uses some loophole to avoid disclosing the chemicals that they use. Why?”

“There’s a reason for that. These work sites can be highly toxic. Breathing the sand alone, or silica dust, can be deadly to the lungs. Throw in a toxic dust cloud that he was exposed to for two years, and you have the recipe for some serious health problems.”

I take a deep breath, and Kalin rubs his hand over his jaw and lifts his eyes back to Larry. “Like what?”

“Like silicosis, scarring of the lungs, and lung cancer.”

“No.” Kalin’s shoulders drop and his face loses some color.

“Dale was diagnosed with silicosis and lung cancer. He was insured, but it just wasn’t enough to cover the enormous medical expenses. He still had to pay out of pocket. Not only that, but there was no hope for him outside of experimental drug treatments. His insurance company refused to pay for them. He was in the hole hundreds of thousands of dollars for medical treatment. He was desperate, and he was dying.

“Desperate men do desperate things,” Larry continues in a drab tone. “Brian McMillan is a manager at ProEast Energy and gets wind of this while you’re in Europe. He offers to pay hire Dale and pay all medical expenses, including for experimental drugs. It was part of the employment contract when Dale was hired at ProEast Energy.”

“How generous of them. And convenient.” Kalin presses his lips together and glances down. “Please continue.”

“Shortly after this, they get a call from Jeff Corman, who is already on the board at TALVIS. He wants to bring both Brian and Dale over to TALVIS in your absence while you are still grieving over your fiancée’s death.”

Larry peers up from his notes and locks his gaze on Kalin. “Let’s just say the employment contract is rather…um…generous.”

Kalin strokes his chin with his fingers. “How generous?”

“Part of Dale’s employment contract, which I received from both companies, was to pay for his medical costs. That amounts to hundreds of thousands of dollars. It was worth many times his salary alone. In addition, it covered experimental drugs, which seemed to have been somewhat effective. It also included a one percent stake in the company.”

“One percent? Jesus. Dare I ask what the other part of the deal was?” Kalin asks.

“Let’s just say I don’t think they would put that part in writing,” Larry mutters.

“Why didn’t they just hire him at TALVIS directly if this is what they were up to all along, instead of hiring him at ProEast Energy first?”

“To cover their tracks. They wanted him to have a few months of management experience. He does have a business degree, and all three of them came from ProEast Energy Corp, so it looks ordinary. Jeff knew Brian there for many years, and hired him with a five percent stake.”

“He mentioned that at the restaurant,” Kalin recalls.

“Brian probably failed to mention that he hired Dale as a senior manager at TALVIS with a one percent stake in the company.”

Kalin stares ahead with an expression of disbelief.

“You think the unspoken part of this agreement was to hire Dale to kill Kalin?” I glare.

“Why else would they give a college grad with virtually no experience except for driving a truck a one percent stake in the company, not to mention all the paid medical expenses that bought him some time? The other half of the deal remained unwritten.” Larry folds his hands over his notes. “I think we can safely assume what the rest of the agreement was.”

“Yeah, to get me out of the way and buy out my interest. Son of a bitch,” Kalin fumes.





Chapter Nineteen


I walk into the office the next morning and retrieve Dale’s records. The last two companies he worked for were ProEast Energy and Troy Industries. His only management experience was a few months under the tutelage of Brian McMillan at ProEast Energy before being hired here with Jeff.

I am startled from my thoughts by a knock on the frame of my open door. “I hope I’m not interrupting anything. I could come back,” Madison says with a bright smile.

“Oh, hi Madison. No, I’m just getting updated on what’s going on.”

“Orange? Isn’t that an HR file?”

“Yeah. Kalin asked me to check up on a few of the changes taking place in the company since he left.”

“As soon as you’re done, we can get started on our secret plan.” She bunches her shoulders and claps with a wide grin.

I shake my head and grin. Her excitement is infectious. “Secret plan?”