Chapter Thirty-Eight Harriet
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Harriet
I give myself a little pep talk on the way to Nic’s apartment.
I can do this! I can handle a little face-to-face conflict. I’m twenty-six years old. When my grandfather was my age, he was fighting in Vietnam!
My grip tightens on the wheel as I pass the coffee shop where Nic and I first agreed to work together. Where this all began. I tell myself again: I can do this. I can. I can’t lose him.
I can’t.
I won’t.
I park and walk over to the call box. I’m scrolling through the names, practicing what I’m going to say in my head, when someone says, “Harriet?”
I turn to find Mindy Washington, her eyes puffy and red. She’s clutching a black binder against her chest.
“Hey,” I say.
“Are you trying to find Nic?”
I glance at the call box. “Yeah. Why, are you?”
“I am. I…” She gestures with the binder. “I actually have something to show him. Is he home?”
“I actually just got here. Lemme see.” I press the button.
We wait, but he doesn’t answer.
“I guess he’s not home,” Mindy says.
“Maybe…” I buzz again.
Nothing.
Where could he be? It’s been over an hour since I left him. Did he decide against getting an Uber because of the expense? Why isn’t he answering his phone? What if something happened to him?
I shake myself.
I’m overreacting. There was probably a long wait for a car so he went straight to his parents’ house.
“I guess he’s out?” Mindy asks. She joins me on the building’s stoop.
“I guess. He’s having dinner with his parents, so maybe he’s there?”
“I’ll call him.” She tucks the black binder under one arm and puts her phone to her ear. After a beat, she says, “Voicemail. Darn! I really needed to talk to him about something.”
I point to the binder. “That?”
She hesitates, then nods. “I…I found it on Barbara’s—” Her voice breaks, her eyes filling with tears.
“I’m so sorry about Barbara,” I say. “It’s horrible.”
She wipes her cheeks with her shirtsleeve, sniffing quietly.
“Thanks. I’m having trouble accepting it’s real.
When I got to work today, I expected her to be there, working in her office.
But…” She sniffs again. “Never mind. I’m sorry.
I should go. Can you tell Nic I stopped by if you find him?
It’s important. I…I think I found something that might help his sister. ”
She starts down the steps.
“Mindy, wait!”
She turns. “Yeah?”
“What do you mean that you found something that might help his sister?”
She eyes me with suspicion. “I don’t know if I feel comfortable talking about it with you, Harriet.”
I suppose I can understand that. Our last interaction wasn’t particularly pleasant, what with me accusing her boss of murder and all.
“Fair enough,” I say. “Look, the last time we talked—I shouldn’t have implied that Barbara had any part in George’s death and—”
She interrupts. “You didn’t imply it. You flat-out said it! I’m a librarian. I believe words matter.”
She’s not going to let me off the hook as easily as I’d hoped, and I actually admire her for it. “You’re right. I said that. I was…” The word is sticky in my throat. “Wrong. And I’m sorry.”
She glances up at Nic’s building. “He really isn’t home?”
“I mean, I don’t think so? Unless he’s just ignoring us.” Which, come to think of it, is a possibility. “But I’m here.”
Mindy chews on her lower lip. “I don’t know…”
“I’m trying to help Sara too. The issue is there’s a ticking clock.
Sara’s set to be transferred to the jail over on the mainland soon, and that place is rough.
We need to figure out who really killed George before that happens.
If you have something in that binder that might help, please—show me.
I promise, Nic would want you to. He and I are partners. ”
“Oh.” Red splotches bloom across her cheeks.
“Right. I know you’d said you guys were working together, but I thought…
” She shakes her head. “It’s obvious he likes you as more than that.
I mean, I knew he wasn’t interested in me, but I still couldn’t help but hope…
Never mind. I’ve been doing what I always do, living in the fantasy I created in my head instead of accepting reality.
Barbara is always telling me—was always telling me… ”
She closes her eyes and sucks a deep breath through her nose.
“But that doesn’t matter!” she says as she opens them again.
“What matters is helping Sara out of this mess.” She taps the binder.
“I found this about an hour ago, buried in Barbara’s desk drawer.
I was going through her things to make sure there wasn’t anything private in them, or, you know—anything embarrassing.
Stuff she might not want other people to see. ”
I nod.
“Well. As you probably know, Barbara was the founder of the Logan Island antidevelopment movement, which she created after jerks like George George—” She cringes. “Sorry.”
I wave off her apology. “It’s fine. Continue, please.”
“Which she created after people like George started trying to build up the island. Recently, she had been digging into the sale of the Windswept Motel property. I’m sure you know that your stepfather had been after it for years, but the Lewes family kept turning him down?”
I nod. “Yeah. And then it conveniently burned down, and they changed their minds.”
Mindy’s button nose wrinkles. “Barbara had her suspicions about that fire.”
“We do too! We think George set it.”
Her eyebrows jump. “That’s pretty much what she thought too. Here—” She flips open the binder to a piece of notebook paper with handwriting scrawled across its face.
Talked to JZ. Said he was surprised about “faulty wiring”—when he was on site, it looked like the fire had started in two separate places.
I look at her. “Who’s JZ?”
“I can’t say for sure, but I dug around a bit. I think it’s Jason Zimmerman. He was the junior fire inspector last year, but he left a couple months after the fire. His boss, Michael Krischer, is the one who signed off on the report.”
“Shit, that’s pretty damning.”
“Yeah. But not damning enough. So back to the property. You know about his plans to build a huge luxury hotel there?”
I nod. “Of course, it’s all he talked about.”
“Well…” Mindy holds out the binder to me. “Look what else is in here.”
I take it from her. Inside is a mess of papers—news articles, printouts with scribbles across them, hand-drawn maps, a blueprint.
I look up at Mindy. “What is this?”
She leans in. “Well, from what I can see, it looks like Barbara uncovered evidence proving the hotel wasn’t really George’s end goal. He wanted to build a casino.”
“A casino?” I almost drop the binder in my surprise. “How was he planning to do that? Casinos are only allowed within the Atlantic City borders.”
Mindy takes the binder and flips to a hand-drawn map.
“Exactly. Which means to do to it, you’d either have to blatantly ignore the law, which would be obvious to any outside observer, or find a way around it.
Barbara thought George had done the second.
” She turns the book toward me. “Look at this map she drew. There’s Atlantic City.
” She taps the top of the page. “That’s the property where the motel used to sit—on the southernmost tip of the island.
They’re separated by less than a half mile of water. ”
I realize what she’s saying. “Oh my god. So if those borders were just expanded—”
“Building a casino would be perfectly legal,” Mindy finishes. “Yup. Which would mean huge money for everyone involved.”
“Changing the borders of a city can’t be easy though, right? Or someone would have done it years ago.”
“Yeah. It’s not. It’s also supposed to be put to a vote.
But like I said, Barbara thought George had figured out a way around it.
” Mindy lowers her voice. “A little over two weeks ago, she went down to town hall and requested the plans for the site that the new zoning board chair had just approved—”
“Mayor DiPetrio’s cousin?”
“Yup. Convenient, huh? And—” Mindy flips a few pages. “It seems like Barbara found features on the blueprints that didn’t add up. A heavy-duty HVAC system that was well beyond what a hotel normally needs, a layout that matches casino floor plans she found online.”
“Did she think DiPetrio and her cousin were involved?”
Mindy leans in, her eyes widening. “Actually, Harriet, I think—and Barbara thought—that far more powerful people than DiPetrio’s family were involved.
Annexation is an incredibly difficult process.
Like you said, if it was easy, people would do it all the time.
Barbara’s notes included the fact that, according to New Jersey state law, annexation can only occur where land is contiguous…
or if a property owner gives their written consent. ”
Puzzle pieces are slotting into place in my mind. The motel. Why George needed it. “Which means once the motel burned down and the Leweses sold their land—”
Mindy finishes my thought. “The process could start. But the thing is that just makes the property eligible for annexation—it doesn’t automatically happen.
Atlantic City would have to pass an ordinance agreeing to it.
Same with Logan Island. And then, since it was likely to be controversial, state legislators might have gotten involved, and they could have blocked it on their end too.
But if they were involved in George’s scheme then… ”
Jesus. My breath catches. “Then they wouldn’t have blocked it. You guys think it goes all the way to the state senate.”
Mindy nods. “That was Barbara’s suspicion, yes.”
I can barely breathe. We were right. George was wrapped up in something huge and corrupt and potentially very, very dangerous. And we still don’t know if Luke was involved.
I left Nic all alone in that office. My hands start shaking. What if Luke showed up? What if…what if the reason Nic isn’t answering his phone is because he’s in trouble?
Mindy must see something change on my face. “What?”
“I have to figure out where Nic is. Hang on.”
I bring up our text thread on my phone. Martin said to talk to him in person, but since I can’t find him, this will have to do for the moment.
I’m sorry. Please call me. I’m worried.
I send it and wait.
Nothing.
My heart sinks. Where is he?
Maybe Martin’s heard from him.
I punch out a text to Steven.
Nic’s not at his apt. Have you guys heard from him yet?
A second later, my phone rings.
“Hey,” Steven says. “Martin wants to—” There’s a scuffling sound, then Martin’s voice comes down the line.
“Hey, Harriet. Nic’s supposed to be at his parents’ house right now.
I just sent his mom a message. She said he hadn’t arrived yet, so she called him.
He didn’t answer.” Martin’s voice is tight with worry.
“His mom’s been really freaked out since Patterson died.
I don’t think he’d skip out on dinner without at least texting her. ”
“Where could he be?” I’m trying to keep the shake out of my voice, but panic is chewing away on my insides. This is all my fault. I need to find him. Tell him how much I care. Tell him I did all this for him.
“I think we should head to that office,” Martin says. “Just to make sure he’s okay. Don’t you?”
“Yeah. Maybe he just lost track of time,” I say, even though I don’t believe it. If something happened to him, I’ll never forgive myself.
“Maybe…” Martin sounds skeptical.
I call up to Nic’s apartment one last time.
There’s no answer.
“Harriet?” Martin says in my ear.
“I’ll be at Steven’s in five,” I say. “Be out front.”
We hang up.
“I’ve gotta go,” I tell Mindy.
“Who was that?”
“Martin. Nic’s not at his parents. Not answering his phone. We’re worried, so we’re heading to the last place we know he was.”
Mindy’s mouth hardens. “Then I’m coming with you.”