Kat paused. Her whole body was frozen from head to toe. Not even a stray hair moved. The only thing that pulsed within her was her heart. Its beat quickened and warmed at his words.
With his unbreakable gaze still holding her, she felt as if he was seeing into her completely. Though he joked and acted flippantly, mentioning her letters casually or ignoring Fayetteville completely, he was constantly watching her. He never seemed to miss anything she did or said.
She had a strong sense that all those perfected false smiles and cheery laughs would never fool him. He would see through that.
He would see her.
“Get in the truck,” Jason finally said gently. “You can have my fifteen minutes any day of the week.”
Chapter Ten
“Alright, here it is,” Mr. Rilkes said as he pulled out a stack of papers. He laid them facing Kat. With a pen he pointed at the fine print.
“As you can see here, the original property holders have sold to Brothers Construction and also the Carolina Society,” he said, sweeping the pen across the papers to point out the important names.
Carolina Society? Who was that?
Kat shook her head. “I don’t understand how a town can’t even own the land it sits on,” she muttered.
Mr. Rilkes shrugged. “Well that’s beyond either of our comprehension, Miss Ryans. Peytonville has had an interesting history and somehow it’s ended up where it has. All we can do is deal with its present situation.”
Kat carefully read over the paperwork. “‘…purchase of the lands surrounding property in question,’” Kat read aloud. She looked up in surprise. “So the buyers have bought the land around Doughy’s as well?”
Mr. Rilkes nodded in surprise. “Haven’t you noticed all the new construction going on?” he asked. He waved towards the front of the bank where the shiny new ATM machines stood. “Even in here?”
Kat nodded in confusion, wondering what that had to do with Brothers Construction or the Carolina Society.
“Well, that’s all them,” Mr. Rilkes said. “Brothers Construction has bought up nearly the entire town.”
Kat’s brow nearly hit her hairline in shock. “So Hoyt’s, the library, the bank, that’s all them?” she asked, her voice going up an octave or two in surprise.
Mr. Rilkes nodded. But unlike Kat, he didn’t seem particularly displeased by this new development. In fact, he seemed quite happy with Brothers Construction.
“These new buyers seem perfectly content in allowing Peytonville to operate just as it always had,” Mr. Rilkes said. “It really seems like a miracle, to be honest.”
After months of fighting for her town’s survival, Kat was less likely to believe in such miracles. She had a hard time believing a company would buy out a whole town just to be a good Samaritan.
Well, she wasn’t happy and she wouldn’t take it lying down either. The whole town can be wooed by another buyer but she wouldn’t. Just because Brothers Construction weren’t the New York buyers, it didn’t make them anymore trustworthy. No one knew what their plans were for Peytonville, despite what they claimed to say. The company seemed shrouded in mystery.
And it was time to pull the shroud off.
“Mr. Rilkes,” Kat started, her shoulder squared and ready, “do you happen to have the contact information for Brothers Construction? Where are their offices and how can I reach them?”
Mr. Rilkes rifled through his papers until he spotted just what he was looking for. “Ah, well it looks like they’ve set up temporary offices here in town. I guess that makes sense considering all the work they’ll be doing here now,” the banker said, as if speaking to himself. “Here’s the address.”
Kat took the offered slip of paper and tucked it carefully into her purse.
With the information in hand, Kat was about to stand when a thought hit her. She wanted to save Doughy Pop’s and she didn’t want to waste time messing around with red tape and run arounds.
She needed to try and reach the head of Brothers Construction immediately.
“Mr. Rilkes, I don’t know if this is information that’s available,” Kat said, making sure to add a little sweetness to her voice in case the information was available but not open, “but do you happen to know who is running this project at Brothers Construction? Perhaps the name of the project bidder?”
Mr. Rilkes pursed his lips as he thought. “Hmmm,” he said as he tapped the keys of his computer. “I might have that on file. I would think that the project manager would be the one heading the temporary offices here. It would only make sense. Ah! Here it is.”