by K C Gillis
She replaced the contents of the wastebasket and went back out to the marina grounds. From a distance, she could see that Francis was where she had left him. She returned to his table.
“You’re back,” Francis said. “Did you have any luck?”
Alice deposited the business card on the center of the table. “I think so. This card was in the trash. It’s from some lawyer I’ve never heard of. It must be the man who offered to buy the marina.”
Francis picked up the card. “Alex Koffman. I wonder who he represents. I’ve never heard the name, and I know a lot of lawyers.”
“Can you find out who he’s working for?”
“Absolutely. I’ll have my staff do some digging. I’ll know by morning.”
“And then what? Will you or Chris talk to them?”
“Talk to them? Hell no. Once we know who the potential buyer is, we’ll find a way to slow them down.”
“Oh. Can I do anything?”
“Yes. Don’t let Mike sell the marina. Not to them. Chris needs time.”
“I’ll do what I can.”
“Good. Now let me get the staff on this Alex Koffman so we know what we’re dealing with.”
“I did my part. Now tell Chris I want him to come up.”
Jordan observed Alice talking to the same man for the second time in an hour. Unlike the first time, Alice didn’t appear upset. Jordan saw the man pick up something small that Alice had set on the table. From the object’s size, it could have been a business card, but Jordan was too far away to know for sure.
If he’s important enough for Alice to talk to more than once, I better find out who he is.
The man made a call as soon as Alice left. Jordan took a moment to decide on a pretense for speaking to him. By the time the man had finished his call, Jordan had a plan. She pulled a small notebook and pen out of her bag and went over to the man’s table.
“Excuse me,” she said. “Could I join you for a minute?”
Jordan rarely encountered a situation where a man refused to grant her request, especially if it meant he would get one-on-one time with her. She wasn’t one to waste energy worrying about how good she looked, but she knew most men found her attractive. Wearing shorts and a tank top didn’t hurt.
The man’s smile indicated he was no different. “Why not? What can I do for you?”
Jordan sat down and opened her notebook. “I’m a reporter doing a local interest piece on Copper Lake. You know, remind people of what a great place this is, maybe encourage some folks to come up for a weekend. As part of the piece, I’m talking to people who come to the lake and the marina, to get some quotes I can use. I’m hoping you’d be able to help.”
“Gladly,” the man said, flashing his best politician smile. “What would you like to know?”
“How about why you come here, what you think of Copper Lake and the marina?”
“That’s easy. Copper Lake is a hidden gem. The lake is large, clean, and beautiful. And the marina here is by far the biggest and best one on the lake. I’ve wondered many times why someone hasn’t taken advantage of the full potential of the lake and surrounding area to create a real vacation destination. You know, one of those places that draws people from hundreds of miles.”
Jordan diligently took notes she would never use. “Wow. That was great. You sound like you have a love for this place. How long have you been coming here?”
“I first came here as a kid. My parents weren’t the boating type, but I had some boarding-school friends whose families had boats here, so I pretty much always had someone to hang out with.”
“Sounds like a great childhood experience. Would you mind if I quoted some of what you shared?” Jordan did her best to smile invitingly, leaning forward just enough.
The man hesitated. But once Jordan saw him look at her breasts, she knew she had him. “Sure. But I’d prefer not to have my name show up. Will that work?”
“How about just your first name? It helps the quotes hit home.”
“Sure. I guess there’s no harm in that.”
“None at all. But can I get your full name, just for my records? Also, if you give me your phone number or email address, I can send you a copy of the story once it’s published.”
“You’re not hitting on me, are you? Just trying to get my phone number?”
“That wouldn’t be very professional, would it?”
I don’t want your number. I want your name.
“I suppose that would be all right. My name is Francis Emberly. I’ll write my number down for you.”
Jordan handed him her pen and notebook, and he wrote a phone number.
“Thanks very much, Francis. Have a great evening.” Jordan stood up to leave.
“Wait. I didn’t get your name.”
“Oops. Excuse my bad manners. I’m Jordan Reed.”
Jordan saw his eyes widen at the mention of her name. It must not have been the first time he had heard it. He regained his composure quickly.
“Nice to meet you, Jordan. I hope our paths cross again.”
Jordan felt like he meant that in a way that wasn’t so nice. “One never knows.”
The chief entered the marina grounds looking for Nicky. They needed to come to an understanding that Punch Malone was his responsibility and that Nicky needed to stay the hell away from him. Rattling Malone would only make him more likely to screw up. That would do no one any good.
Nicky would have to wait.
Not more than a hundred feet ahead, he saw Jordan Reed talking to Francis Emberly. It almost looked like they were flirting.
The chief waited until Jordan left the table, then walked into the parking lot and called Emberly.
“Yes,” Emberly said.
“It’s Chief Foster. Come to the marina parking lot. We need to have a word.”
“Are you here?”
“Yes. How else would I know where you are?”
“Fine. I’ll come up.”
When Emberly emerged into the parking lot, he saw the chief standing next to his Explorer and walked over.
“What do you want?” Emberly said.
“We need to talk about a few things.”
“Go ahead.”
“I see you’ve met Jordan Reed. What the hell were you two talking about?”
“Oh, that? I didn’t know who she was. She said she was doing a story on Copper Lake and wanted some quotes. After I answered her questions, she told me her name.”
“Shit, Francis. You should have known better.”
“How the hell was I supposed to know it was her? I’ve never seen her before.”
“The fact that she was a reporter should have clued you in. I suppose you were too busy checking her out to think clearly.”
“Screw you. Is that all you wanted?”
“No. It looks like our little reporter is more resourceful than I thought.”
“How so?”
“I found a pair of sandals at the end of my driveway. I’m pretty sure they were hers.”
“Great. Dump them in the lost and found and pat yourself on the back.”
“Are you really that stupid? Why would her sandals be near my property?”
“Maybe she visited Derek.”
“They showed up sometime last night. I was home the entire time Derek was home. He didn’t have any visitors.”
Francis looked to be thinking through scenarios. “I can’t think of a reason that matters to me.”
“Let’s put our heads together, then. Where did she get the dead fish that she tried to send to someone at the CDC?”
Francis took a moment to remember. “Derek.” The chief could see the light bulb go off. “Did he have another fish?”
“He said he didn’t. But he also kept the whole thing from me in the first place.”
“You think this reporter came to your house? To get another fish?”
“That’s what I’m thinking. Derek must have had a second one and got it to her yesterday. Probably
last night.”
“That would be quite a feat, especially if you were home at the same time.”
“Damn right. But I had a signal that I missed. When I had Derek show me the freezer to prove that there wasn’t another fish, the basement light was on. Derek said he must have forgotten to turn it off. I didn’t think much about it, but I bet it was Jordan Reed who had left the light on.”
“If you’re right, what now? Do you think she tried to send the package again today?”
“Not if she’s smart. Based on what happened the first time, she shouldn’t have risked repeating the mistake. I bet she took it herself.”
“Today?”
“She was sending the package to Burlington, so she could get there and back in a day. I was at the marina this morning. Jordan Reed’s sister was there, but not her. I bet that’s where she was.”
“Then we have a real problem. One we thought you handled.”
“Don’t blame this shit on me. It was the idiot Chris has running that test site that fucked up in the first place. We were lucky it was Derek who found them and that he told me right away. If someone else had discovered them, it would have gone public.”
“Fair enough. There’s accountability on both sides. But we still need a solution. If this Jordan Reed gets the test results on what killed those fish and makes it public, the company could get exposed. Chris will lose investor backing. Not to mention this is the last year of your term. I’m sure you’d like to keep your job.”
There was yet another thing being held over the chief’s head. He just couldn’t make a decision on something without wondering what would happen to him.
“We’ll need an intervention with Jordan Reed,” the chief said. “At some point, probably very soon, she’ll get results back on whatever the hell it was that killed the fish. I can’t stop that. She needs to be convinced not to publish her story. Or she can’t be allowed to publish the story.”
“Hold on. There’s no need to go Wild West. I’m sure there’s some motivation that will keep Jordan Reed from writing the story. We just need to find it. No need to even mention a last-resort scenario.”
“Are you so sure about that? If Chris has to choose between letting a company he badly needs to succeed be taken down or arranging for Jordan Reed to have a career-ending accident, what do you think he’ll choose?”
The chief could see on Francis’s face that he knew the answer.
“Let’s find a way to convince her first. I’ll get my staff to see what they can dig up. They already did a basic background check on her, so they won’t be starting from scratch.”
“Fine. You do your thing. But I need something I can use. By tomorrow. We don’t have much time.”
29
Jordan’s day had started early with a swim in the lake. She rarely swam anywhere but in a swimming pool, so she dragged her ass out of bed to be in the lake shortly after sunrise. No one had been visible on the docks, and except for one boat whose occupants were fishing, Jordan had had the lake to herself. She had misjudged the distance to a convenient shore location, making her planned swim of a mile more like a mile and a half. In the end, the freedom of open-water swimming made the actual distance immaterial. The early-morning sunlight, calm water, and complete absence of noise had made for a glorious swim.
Her exercise in the rearview mirror, Jordan sat with Rachel and Travis at a table in the back of Mary’s Bakery. They had started their day early, hoping they’d be able to figure out a possible source of the growth hormone that killed the fish.
With the hypothesis that exposure occurred before the fish got into the lake, Jordan assumed whatever they were looking for would not be small. To grow and manage hundreds of fish would require a large tank. Maybe several. So it shouldn’t be so easy to hide, at least from someone who was specifically looking for it.
Travis had been researching potential sources, as well as working through different online mapping products to try to find potential sites remotely. Jordan ordered a pot of coffee for the table, expecting the work to take a while.
“All right, Travis,” Jordan said. “Let’s see what you’ve got.”
“Yeah, Travis,” Rachel said. “I want to see who’s the real brains of the operation here.” She flashed a smile at Jordan.
“If you two are going to tag team me the whole time, I can take my sorry ass back to Boston,” Travis said.
“Come on,” Jordan said. “You know you love it.”
“No comment. Let me show you what I’ve got.”
“Please. I can’t stand the suspense,” Rachel said.
“Let’s start with the dead fish. I looked for evidence of any kind of industrial, chemical, or biological company within ten miles of the lake. I figured that someone must either be manufacturing the stuff or somehow working with large quantities of it. Regardless, it made me think of something industrial or chemical.”
“Fine. Don’t forget that Charlie thinks they exposed the fish before dumping them on the shore, so what we’re looking for has to house large fish tanks.”
“Be patient. I’ll get there.”
“Yeah, Jordan. Give the man some space,” Rachel said.
“Thanks, Rachel,” Travis said. “As I was saying, I was looking for certain kinds of companies. There were only two that made me suspicious. One candidate is a company that packages and distributes food and animal medicines for farms. They’ve been around for decades, and there’s a good amount of information on them available publicly.”
“Did you figure out if they do anything specific with growth hormones?”
“Looks like they do. The description of their services specifically mentions provision of optimized quantities of growth hormones and antibiotics for commercial animal production.”
“Sounds promising,” Rachel said. “Should we check it out today?”
“Hang on. There’s a second candidate.”
“Right. Sorry.”
“Candidate number two is a bit of a mystery.”
“How so?” Jordan said.
“Well, as I was searching, I stumbled across some news headlines about a startup company that formed to develop new approaches to boost agriculture production. The company’s name is NeuSterone. They’re from Massachusetts and look like they have a small headquarters in Springfield.”
“What’s the connection to Copper Lake?”
“That’s the mystery. This company is private, so they don’t tell you shit on their website. But I got a hit where someone posted on their Facebook page that they got a job with this company. And get this. They said they’d be working in Copper Lake.”
“Shit. That sounds like a lead. How old was the Facebook post?”
“Eighteen months.”
“That’s a bit old. Did you find an address for this company around here?”
“Nope. Not a hint. There’s nothing called NeuSterone anywhere in Massachusetts outside of Springfield.”
“Did you search back in time to see if NeuSterone was here eighteen months ago?” Rachel said. “Maybe they came and went?”
“Yep. I looked at the county records of business names and found nothing for NeuSterone in Massachusetts besides the Springfield location.”
“What was the name of the guy who made the Facebook post?” Jordan said.
“Drew MacGregor.”
“Where does he live?”
“Everything I found says he lives in Dorchester, Massachusetts. No sign he lives anywhere around here.”
“So either the Facebook post was a mistake or somehow incorrect. Or the fact that he works for NeuSterone in Copper Lake is being kept secret.”
“This isn’t my area,” Rachel said. “But I’d bet on the first one. People don’t always post the truth on Facebook. Or maybe he didn’t really get the job.”
“You’re probably right, sis. But I think Travis has more to tell us. Something that puts Drew MacGregor and NeuSterone in Copper Lake.”
“Kind of,” Travis said.
“I don’t know about this MacGregor guy and if he’s actually here, but I found an interesting connection.”
“Spill it,” Jordan said.
“It took a bit of digging, but I found the names of some of the investors in this company. One of the investment firms is based in Stamford, and they list some key people in the firm on their website. One of them turns out to be from Copper Lake. Chris Chisholm.”
Rachel responded first. “Chris Chisholm? Why do I know that name?”
“He’s a state senator.”
“Whoa,” Jordan said. “So we have a Massachusetts state senator from Copper Lake, and he’s tied to an investment firm that invested in an agricultural company that may have some sort of site in none other than Copper Lake. That’s too much of a coincidence.”
“I know, right?” Travis said.
“It seems like you two have done this before,” Rachel said.
“Maybe once or twice,” Jordan said. “What do we know about Chris Chisholm?”
“That’s the best part. He went to high school with the local police chief and Mike Banfield. I’m not sure if they were friends or not, but they definitely graduated together.”
“Holy shit. I bet he keeps a boat here as well. Probably comes up every summer.”
“You can ask Derek or Mike. But there’s one more interesting fact.”
“What’s that?”
“His chief of staff. He’s here at Copper Lake. You met him yesterday.”
Jordan knew who it had to be. “Francis Emberly.” She drummed her fingers on the table. “Interesting that he’s here around the time of the dead fish being found. Makes me think he’s not here just for the holiday.”
“Did he give you any clues when you talked to him?”
“Nothing he said directly. But when I told him my name, it wasn’t the first time he had heard it. He knew who I was.”
“You said the chief figured out who you were,” Rachel said. “The chief knows Chisholm and that Emberly works for Chisholm. I bet that’s how he knows your name.”