Chapter Nine
Clint
By the time we made it to the work site, I had finished the monstrous coffee Jessie had bought me and was feeling halfway awake. Her headlights illuminating a police car in the parking lot got me the rest of the way there. We jumped down from Jessie’s truck and were met by two officers.
“I’m Officer Rossi. This if Officer Keen. Are one of you in charge here?”
Jessie and I looked at each other.
“We both are,” she finally said.
I nodded and the officers shrugged before leading us towards the main site.
“Security company called us about a break in. Based on the graffiti it looks like it was people protesting the pipeline. Some of the equipment was hot-wired and crashed. With the site being so far up the highway, they were gone when we got here.”
“Was there a lot of damage?” Jessie asked.
“Unfortunately, yes. We will let you guys be the judge since you’re familiar with the site. We’ll put it into the report for the company’s insurance. Good thing no one was on site when they got those big machines moving.”
Jessie shuddered and I moved to walk closer to her side.
“So that is what you need us to do? Inventory.” I was no expert, but wasn’t this whole worksite a crime scene now? Why were we here?
The officer stopped to face us. He had wide set shoulders and his biceps strained against his police issue uniform.
If he didn’t have such a friendly look in his eye, I’d be intimidated as hell.
“We need to know what, if anything, is missing. You guys know what this place should look like so point out any damage or anything that is disturbed.”
“And don’t touch anything,” his partner added.
Obvious to see who would be the bad cop if we were being interrogated. I turned to face Jessie. “How do you want to handle this?”
She licked her lips. “Why don’t I go with one officer and check out the equipment. You go with the other and see if the office was messed with. Give me your phone.”
I gave it to her without question.
She typed for a moment and handed it back. “Now you have my number. Text me updates and I’ll do the same. Sound good?”
I nodded.
A pang hit my gut that had nothing to do with the beer. She was the right candidate for the job. It was as obvious as the nose on my face.
I made my way over to the office with the grumpier of the two officers.
Officer Keen carefully documented the scratch marks in the front door of the office and all around the exterior.
Someone had tried to break in, but didn’t seem to have succeeded.
I went inside and looked around just to be sure, but not a thing was disturbed.
“Let’s head out to the main worksite,” Officer Keen said.
I nodded and followed. I wasn’t overly familiar with the layout during the day, let alone at night and when the site was in chaos.
Swirls of spray paint marred the sides of the machines that were still lined up.
Several of the machines had been driven and crashed into other items on the site.
One was smashed into the side of the crane and another sat cockeyed with one of the front tires in the trench.
“Holy shit,” I said. I’d underestimated how much damage someone could do with a little privacy and the ability to hot-wire an excavator.
Officer Keen was busy taking pictures. I knew I should stick with him for the integrity of the crime scene but I spotted Jessie and the other officer examining the side of the crane. I walked along the edge of the trench, raising a hand to wave, when the ground shifted beneath me.