A Good Kind of Trouble (A Trouble in Twin Rivers Novel Book 1) (33 page)

"Is that still open?"

"Yes, but no one goes there. Go up to the sixth floor. Meet me there at seven o'clock."

"Wait—seven in the morning or the evening?"

A sigh.
 

"In the evening. I've got to go."

The line went dead.
 

She'd told Sam that she was going to meet the city employee who was sending her the contracts and invited him to join her, in case he'd had doubts about Lyle's credibility. But Sam had declined.
 

"You're not quoting him anonymously. He's a tipster, not a source at this point," he said.
 

A tipster who stood her up, Lindsey thought, walking down the empty row of parking spaces. The stairwell had opened up in the middle of the east side of the structure and Lindsey turned right and walked toward the north side, where she could look down on the street below. She was about twenty feet from the concrete half-wall when a figure stepped out from behind a concrete pillar.
 

"Eeek!" Lindsey's entire body tensed and she stumbled backward.
 

"Ms. Fox."
 

She stared at the man in front of her. He was wearing a tan trench coat and a fedora pulled low. Dark glasses obscured his eyes.
 

"Lyle?"
 

He took off the glasses and she took a deep breath.
 

"You scared the hell out of me!" she said, her hand at her chest. A decade's worth of adrenaline rushed through her veins.
 

Lyle glanced around the parking structure and then back at her. "Did anyone follow you?"
 

"No. I was very careful."
 

While she understood Lyle's paranoia, the disguise was probably more precaution than he needed. She couldn't be too annoyed with Lyle, though, since she herself was now a pro at spotting the cars that followed her and then ditching them.
 

Lyle nodded toward a secluded corner where they wouldn't be seen in the unlikely event someone bothered to drive up to the top floors. Lindsey followed him, looking back over her shoulder. The desolate meeting place gave her the creeps and having Lyle pop out from behind the post just made her even jumpier.
 

"Thanks for meeting me," she said. "I need to talk to you about the arena site selection process and some other matters."
 

Lyle nodded. "Sorry it took me so long to get in touch. I had to go get a burner phone."
 

Lindsey squinted at Lyle. "A burner phone?"

"Yeah, an untraceable disposable cell phone. You know, like on
The Wire
."
 

"Yes, I know
The Wire
," she said. "I'm pretty sure our phones aren't tapped. You could have just called from a pay phone."
 

He shook his head. "Couldn't take that chance. Are you writing about the bonds? Time's running out, Ms. Fox. The vote is Tuesday."
 

"Of course. It's just being vetted by my editors. It's complex, so it's taking longer than I'd hoped. And I'll be there for the meeting. Have you heard anything about the vote?"

Lyle glanced around the empty structure again, his lips tightening. His nervousness was contagious and Lindsey found herself scanning the garage again. They were still alone.
 

"Ms. Schulman has been meeting with the mayor and Councilwoman Waters. I don't know what they're meeting about, but it's been real tense in the office. The bond files were missing this morning and I saw that Ms. Schulman had them in her office."

"Is that unusual?"

"Well, no. I mean, the contracts are up for a vote, so of course she'd be making sure everything was in place," he said. "But it's much more hush-hush than usual."
 

"Does it sound like anyone is going to pull their support?"
 

He tilted his head, his lips pursed. "They were all pretty gung-ho on the project until this week," he said. "Now we're getting a lot of calls from the different members' staff wanting more details about the costs. But most aren't saying publicly how they intend to vote—at least not that I've heard."
 

Two council members had told Lindsey that they intended to vote against the contracts for EFB unless they were substantially rewritten, but others either ignored her calls or gave her a terse "no comment." It must be hard to back off after such enthusiastic support just last week.
 

"Anything else going on at City Hall?" she asked.
 

He snorted. "Other than Ms. Schulman's threat to fire anyone caught making unauthorized comments to the
press
?" He gave Lindsey a pointed look.
 

"She threatened you?" Like she needed that additional stress. Her story, if it even ran, was giving her an ulcer and she didn't want to be responsible for Lyle's unemployment, too. She already had one notch on that belt.
 

"Not me, specifically," Lyle said. "But since you've been calling around to talk about the bonds, she's made it clear that she is the only person authorized to talk to the media."

"She's not returning my calls," Lindsey said. "Any talk about EFB?"
 

"No, not that I've heard." Lyle shook his head. "That article in the newspaper about a sports team sure got a lot of people stirred up, though. We're getting lots of calls from people supporting the arena. I think the vote is probably five-to-two for the arena and seven-to-zero for the sewer bonds."
 

Lyle's estimate just made it more important to tell the public the true cost of the arena. If nothing else, the public would at least know more about the costs. Whether the city council would still approve the projects was up to the council members. But the information would be out and they'd be held accountable if the voters thought it was a bad decision.
 

If the newspaper would run her story, that is.

"Thanks for all your help," she said. "I was wondering if we could talk about something else. I'm trying to learn more about the arena site selection process."
 

Lyle shook his head. "Not my area, I'm afraid. That was strictly Ms. Schulman's baby."
 

"Who else was involved?"
 

He grimaced. "Like I said last time, I'm not entirely sure. I think the mayor had a representative on the committee, the planning department, probably someone from the police department to talk about traffic flow and law enforcement issues. But the actual locations are kept quiet until the committee makes its recommendation, you know, so investors don't run out and buy up the properties the city will need to purchase to do the project."
 

"So if someone did leak that information to an outsider, and that person then bought up commercial property around the site, would that be illegal?" Lindsey asked.
 

Lyle tilted his head, a thoughtful expression on his face. "It could be," he said slowly. "If a person with confidential information used that to make himself a profit, that would be bad. Plus, it might look like they steered the city into a certain site because of their outside influence and not because it was best for Twin Rivers."
 

"Has there been any talk in your office about that?"
 

Lyle shook his head. "No, but that's not exactly water-cooler talk. That's pretty serious stuff."
 

"What about the name Bear O'Bannion? Have you heard anything about him buying up property down here?"
 

Lindsey motioned toward the rail yard a block from where they stood. Lyle again shook his head.
 

"No, no, nothing. Just that O'Bannion will, of course, put in a bid to build the arena and he'll probably get it because he's always the lowest bidder."
 

"Have you ever heard of Vanda, LLC? Or Cattleya, Inc.?”

"No," Lyle said. "Sorry, I don't think I can help you there."
 

Lindsey sighed with frustration. "If Teri Schulman or her husband were investors in property down here, would they have to disclose that?"

"Yes, they would," Lyle said and Lindsey's hopes rose. "City employees have to disclose any financial interests, but they wouldn't necessarily have to give specific locations. Ms. Schulman would just have to file a disclosure that she owned shares in a certain corporation and the estimated value of those shares. Then if that company did business with the city, she'd have to recuse herself from working on those projects."
 

"Has she disclosed any financial interests?"

Lyle took off his hat and ran his hand over his glistening bald scalp. It was far too hot to be wearing a hat and trench coat, even in the shade of the parking garage.
 

"I'm sure she's filed her annual disclosures, but I never checked them. They're public documents. You can request them."

And then wait weeks for the city to comply. "You could get them more quickly, though."
 

"Probably," he said, a skeptical look crossing his face. "Do you think Ms. Schulman is doing something, uh, unseemly?"

An image of the city attorney and Gregory Stanton embracing in the window of the cabin flashed through Lindsey’s brain. Unseemly wasn't the word she'd use to describe it.
 

"Well..." she said. "Do you think it's odd that she's working on the site selection and her husband's client is probably getting the contract to build the arena?"

Lyle shrugged. "They're both lawyers and the legal community isn't that large, even in Twin Rivers. I don't think that alone constitutes any sort of conflict of interest."
 

"Has Ms. Schulman been acting differently lately?"
 

Lyle fidgeted with the collar on his coat. "There is something. I almost didn't come today because it made me nervous."
 

"What is it?"

"Teri Schulman has been meeting with someone at the newspaper. I think you have a mole. Did you tell anyone there that I was the one who sent you the contracts?"
 

That wasn't what she expected to hear. "A mole? At the newspaper? That's unlikely."
 

Lyle gave her a worried look. "Did you tell anyone there about me? You can’t tell anyone about me!"
 

"Just my editor, Sam Wagner, but not your name, just your position so he'd trust that you're credible and in a position to know what's going on. He's not going to tell anyone. Especially not Teri Schulman."
 

Lyle groaned and put a hand on his forehead. "Oh, man. Are you sure? Do you trust him?"
 

"Of course!" Lindsey said. She had trusted him after watching the showdown in the newsroom when he'd defended her. But now that he seemed to be caving to Lara Petrie's pressure, she wasn't quite as confident.
 

"Just be careful. I don't trust Ms. Schulman. She's up to something. I saw her drive off with that lawyer after work the other day and I don't think they're merely friends, if you know what I mean," he said, giving Lindsey a knowing nod and raised eyebrow.
 

Again, her mind went to the image of Ben's boss groping at Teri Schulman's backside at the cabin on Hunter Lake. "Yes, I know what you mean."
 

"And I don't mean to judge her, well, her alternative lifestyle, but I know she's married, you know, to a man," Lyle said. "It's not any of my business. I shouldn't be gossiping."
 

Oh, no, go on
.
 

"What do you mean alternative? Because she's having an affair? That happens all the time."
 

"No, I just meant—oh, you young people. Nothing shocks you. But I'm an old fart, I guess," Lyle said with a bashful grin. "When I saw her kiss that woman, it was just a little shocking."

"Whoa. Wait. What?" Lindsey squinted at Lyle. They weren't talking about Gregory Stanton? "Who did you see her kissing?"
 

Lyle blushed and it wasn't from the heat now.
 

"A few nights ago, I was leaving work late and saw her get into a car. She leaned over and kissed the driver. It was a woman. And it was not just a little peck on the cheek, if you—"

"Yes, I know what you mean," Lindsey interrupted with an impatient wave of her hand. "Are you sure it was a woman?"
 

She tried to imagine a circumstance where Gregory Stanton could be mistaken for a woman, but she couldn't come up with one for the life of her.
 

"Of course I'm sure," he said. "I know her, she's the newspaper's in-house counsel, Lara Petrie. She's a member of the local bar association and I've seen her at meetings. She's a little weird."

"She certainly is," Lindsey said, her head spinning. That explained the hostility toward Frank Derry during her contempt hearing, too. If Lara were having an affair with Teri Schulman, of course she'd hate Teri's husband.
 

"What day was it when you saw them together?"
 

Lyle tilted his head. "It was Monday night. I stayed late to finish the council agenda for the meeting because it had to be posted the next morning."
 

On Monday, Lara Petrie had just gotten a preview of the bonds story, Lindsey thought, her stomach sinking to her shoes. Is that why she had tried so hard to derail the article before it ran? Is this why she been kissing up to the editorial board for the last few months trying to gain their support for the arena plan?
 

"Lyle, this is important. Did either Teri or Lara see you?"
 

"No, I took the stairs down and was totally in the shadows. If she saw me, I doubt she'd have greeted her, uh, girlfriend so enthusiastically. Do you think she's your mole?"

Lindsey shook her head. "I think she's a rat."

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Sam closed the door to his office as Lindsey sat in the chair across from his desk. When he returned to the desk, his face was solemn. He picked up a pen and clicked the top several times before he started to speak.