Melinda’s Wolves(51)

Someone knocked on the door.

Melinda sighed as Keegan turned his head. “I have a meeting to get to.” He eased out of her embrace and left her standing there. With his hand on the door, he hesitated, but then he proceeded, leaving her once again alone in his office.





Chapter Sixteen


Keegan sat in the small conference room at the other end of the trailer from his office with his boss, Mitch Highland. Mitch held the email Keegan had printed out. Mitch reread it for the tenth time. “And you have no idea who this came from?”

Keegan shook his head. “Not a fucking clue.” He ran a hand through his hair and leaned back in his chair.

“Does anyone else know about this?” Mitch’s hand shook.

Keegan nodded at the paper and shrugged. “I can’t tell you who else that guy has spoken to, but no, not from me. Yet. I wanted to do an inspection of his specifics this morning and see for myself if there’s any truth to these accusations. If this is for real, there will be hell to pay. I’ve already gone through several files. I’m afraid the guy may be right.”

“No kidding.” Mitch scanned the page again. “The fucking foundation? That’s huge. And a serious accusation. If the builder used shoddy materials and subpar concrete, the casino might as well be built on sand.” He jumped to his feet, his chair screeching across the linoleum floor like nails on a chalkboard. Both hands in his hair, he paced. “If it hadn’t been for the earthquake setting this site back more than a year, that casino would have been open by now. People would have died in that quake.”

“Fuck, people could still die in another quake if this wrong isn’t righted.”

“Thank God the standards were changed.” Mitch stacked the pages in front of him and stuffed them in his briefcase. “Can I keep these?”

“Yep. I can always reprint if we need.”

“Right. I think we should keep this to ourselves for now. If we start spreading rumors, people will get nervous. The men working on this project are already scared out of their minds it could come to another halt if anything goes wrong. Most of them are just now getting back to work after the quake. They can’t afford to lose their jobs again.”

“Good point. I’ll start going down this list and see if there’s any validity to these accusations. No one will raise an eyebrow at me inspecting anything. After all, it’s my job. Hell, if I cried wolf for every email I’ve received threatening this job, we would all be running in circles.” Keegan grinned.

“True. We get dozens of emails. Hopefully this one is just blowing smoke like the others. I think I’d like a short tour now,” Mitch said.

“Thank God the reservation was so divided over this. Their stalling tactics could have saved lives.” Keegan stood as he thought of his mate down the hall. Perhaps there was something to that premonition she was having…

“Yep. Without the disagreement, the town council wouldn’t have insisted on extra building inspectors, you and I wouldn’t be here, and the casino could have been erected before anyone knew what might lie beneath.” Mitch lifted the strap of his bag over his shoulder.

“Why do you think this guy is just now coming forward?”

Mitch shrugged. “Maybe he was scared? Maybe he’s been watching the construction and hoping it wouldn’t progress. Now that it is, he’s fired up.”

“Or,” Keegan added, “maybe his entire email is a hoax designed by some environmentalist who wants to slow progress or stop the building altogether.”

“Could be, but either way our responsibility is the same. We have no choice but to take the threat seriously and look into it.” Mitch grinned, incongruent with the seriousness of the conversation. “Now, I believe congratulations are in order.”

Keegan beamed. “Yep.”

“When did you mate?”

“Yesterday.”

Mitch’s eyes went wide. “And you’re here?”

“Well, the job doesn’t do itself.” He opened the door and stepped into the hall.

“Huh.” Mitch followed behind him. “Your mate is also here. How did I miss that?”

Keegan turned around and walked backward, approaching his office. “One of them. You want to meet her?” He opened the door without waiting for a response.

Melinda stood at the window. She whirled around to face him as he stepped inside. He went right to her in two strides, pulled her into his arms, and kissed her neck. “Sorry, honey,” he whispered. He took her hand as he turned back around. “Mitch, this is Melinda. Melinda, my boss, Mitch.”