4. Chapter 4
Chapter four
Greg
This wasn’t the way I wanted our new relationship to start with Anelya.
We hurried to the loading dock, and I pointed out the medical kit to her, at her request.
“I’ll be right there,” she called.
Burris was relaying the information to the dispatcher at the police station, who would page Rhonda, too.
Ted, Travis’ assistant on the security shift that night, was helping Tyrone Harris, one of our younger drivers, to a seat. I could see the lump growing on his forehead and wanted to hit something.
Rhonda had warned us that things might escalate.
“Harris!” Burris ended his call and we hurried up to our employee.
“I’m ok, Mr. Grockton. Both Mr. Grocktons.” He grinned a bit at his own joke.
I felt a bit relieved at seeing his trademark grin but then I noticed the blood on his arm.
“What happened to your arm?”
“I scratched it when I kicked out the window to get out. The door was pinned in from hitting the wall.”
Burris’s jaw looked even tighter than mine felt.
“I have an ice pack here, and that looks like a big bump,” Anelya knelt in front of Harris.
“I got this, guys, why don’t you go meet the police,” she motioned to where the police cruiser pulled up. An ambulance also pulled up.
“Please send them over here.”
I nodded, and squeezed her shoulder quickly.
She gave me a quick smile as she pulled out a small flashlight from her purse. It was part of her keychain.
“Harris, is it? Can you follow my finger?” She started evaluating him as we walked out to see the truck.
We used fleet services for some of our bigger orders, but employed guys like Harris for smaller deliveries that could be made within a day. It saved on shipping some of our larger, more valuable pieces, and let us employ some younger people in town.
But seeing the crumpled back of the truck from where he’d tried to back out of the port, made me wonder if we were putting employees in danger.
“No one else was around?” I asked, though it came out as a yell. I realized this when the men and women on staff who were looking at the truck straightened up.
“I was, Mr. Grockton,” Stephanie, one of our new mechanics, said. “Something sounded odd when he started up, and I realized it as I was checking one that just came back from a run. We are supposed to double check them all now.”
She looked from Burris to me, and I knew there were plenty of rumors about that new procedure. I just nodded.
“I didn’t like the way the gear shift sounded and headed over here, when I realized he couldn’t stop when he backout out of the port. As it was on a slope, he crashed into the berm.”
“He was lucky no one was back there.” Burris said.
We knew no one was supposed to be there, but on a fireworks night it was plausible that people would have been walking around or cutting through on their way home.
“I tried to crowbar his door open, but he couldn’t get out, and it smelled like gas, so I got an extinguisher, but he kicked out the window.” Stephanie explained.
“I’m sorry about that,” he called, from where Anelya was holding an ice pack against his head. Two local paramedics walked up to her to take over.
“It’s okay, Harris.” Burris called.
“Stephanie, do you know why it crashed?” I could see Rhonda approaching with two officers in uniform.
“I’d like to look underneath more, but I think there is leaking brake fluid under the truck. But the smell of gas was bothering me too, which is why I washed everything down.”
Was she destroying evidence? I hated that I now suspected all my employees, all the time.
“Did someone say brake fluid?” Rhonda stepped next to me, shaking her head. “This is really escalating. You may want to get someone you trust on staff to start looking every truck over before it leaves the garage.”
Burris and I thought we’d done that, by having our head mechanic know about what was happening. But he wasn’t there twenty-four hours a day, and clearly someone knew our routine.
“The interns could start tomorrow,” she said quietly.
I nodded. “That sounds good.”
“We should meet with our board tomorrow, too,” Burris said, joining us. “Some can call in, but we can have a quick call with them.”
“I’d like to join. Maybe someone would have ideas about who would do this.”
I couldn’t imagine Rhonda was right. This had to be about Burris or me. It felt personal. But now it was affecting our employees, and hurting them. Raymond had barely escaped with his leg intact, and Harris could have been badly injured.
“The kid has a mild concussion, but is okay,” Anelya said, joining us.
“Detective Rhonda Clayton, this is Anelya Conshon.” I introduced them.
Rhonda gave Burris and I each a quick glance, then smiled. “Anelya, you’re Carolina’s sister, right? Her pie is responsible for me gaining weight all the time. But you’re the one who helped with Raymond? How did you happen to be here tonight?”
I rubbed the back of my neck, feeling a flush creep up. Rhonda was worse than my grandma at times, who seemed to know things about me, or even Burris, though he wasn’t even her blood relative.
“We’d gone out to dinner, then were watching the fireworks,” Anelya said. “We were in Greg’s office when the call came in about the truck accident.”
“I went to high school with these two,” Rhonda continued. “They are good guys.”
Anelya nodded. “You should come have a pie flight with me at the diner sometime soon and tell me all about what they were like in high school.”
“I’d enjoy that. Give me your number and your statement about tonight and we will make a plan for pie in the future.”
“I’ll get statements from you two after I finish with the staff,” Rhonda said to Burris and I.
“Anelya, we can take you back to your car as soon as we’re done,” I said.
She nodded. “No hurry. I want to make sure everyone’s okay.”
We spent the next hour talking with our staff and contacting board members about a meeting the next day. My Dad and Rachel, my stepmom were on a cruise and we couldn’t reach them.
Burris and I kept our discussion on the night’s events when we were among the staff, but I couldn’t stop thinking about all the different events and what the pattern might be.
***
“That’s all I can think of,” I said to Rhonda in my office as Burris and I finished our statements. “I wish I could remember something helpful, or think about who is behind this.”
“We will figure this out,” she said, standing up. “I’ll send three interns here tomorrow to start, and your friend Bryan is coming tomorrow afternoon, too, right?”
Burris nodded.
“That’s good. New faces may be suspicious, but at this point stopping the escalation is the most important thing.”
I agreed with her but I wanted to catch the bastard threatening our employees.
“So, Anelya?” Her smile was bright as she stretched and put her ipad back in her bag. “I like her.”
“She’d be an asset to the paramedic unit,” I said. “We are hoping she will apply here.”
Rhonda nodded. “You know my cousin is one of the Captains over there. I’ll put in a good word. I’m impressed by her. We could use more women in the ranks here, and more younger people. Lots of people coming up for retirement in the next few years.”
As we walked out of the office, we saw Anelya heading towards us.
“This isn’t how I thought our first date would go,” I said to Anelya.
“It certainly wasn’t boring,” she said. “But I’m just glad no one got seriously hurt.”
“Rhonda, we will see you at the meeting tomorrow then, correct? Or do you want to call in for the meeting, too?” Burris asked her.
“No, I want to see as many faces as possible. I’ll come in for it.”
“So far nine of our twelve members are coming. I think many have heard about the accidents,” I added.
“I told you people would know more about this than you thought,” Rhonda said.
Burris nodded. “We know, you’re always right.”
She looked at Anelya. “Sometimes they can learn.”
Her laugh helped ease some of the tension that had grown inside of me since we’d first seen the lump on Harris’s head.
Anelya kept us talking about our work with the company and what we liked about the town all the way to her car.
She turned and gave each of us a quick kiss.
“Can we see you again this weekend?” I asked. I wasn’t used to feeling so unsure with women. Usually I knew when women were attracted to me, and my dates proceeded along an expected path with discreet dates, gifts, and overnights.
“That would be nice. Do you guys do normal things like bowl or mini golf?”
I didn’t know how to respond. I couldn’t even remember doing sweet dates like that, and then I realized she was teasing.
“Tell you what,” Burris said, chuckling. “You can plan any date you like, and we will be happy to attend.”
“Burris.” I wasn’t sure I wanted to relinquish total control.
“Deal.” She opened her car door quickly.
“Wait,” I said. “We will follow you. Give us a minute to pull out behind you. We have Burris’s red pickup tonight.”
“Carolina lives in those townhomes beyond the forest. It’s really not far.”
“That’s remote. Please humor us. Let us be gentlemen.”
Something in my face must have let her know I was serious, so she relented, nodding.
“Anything she wants, Burris?” I said to my stepbrother and best friend as we hurried to his truck. “What if she likes line dancing or something like that?”
“Then you’d better find boots, brother.” He pulled out and was soon near her car.
“This was a good idea,” he said, once we were following her. “I’m suspicious of everything now.”
I knew what he meant.