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Cam sucked in a breath. “Thanks for your honesty, Mr.Johnson. I really appreciate it.” He hesitated, then realized he needed to return the favor. “If you get applications from anyone who recently worked for PK Construction, please give me a call. We had a similar situation here, which is why we’re looking for new workers. Let me give you my phone number.”

Cam rattled it off, and he could hear the drag of a pen across paper as Johnson wrote it down. “Thanks, Pierce,” Johnson finally said. “Glad you called. Don’t take our bad apples, and we won’t take yours.”

“We won’t. Thanks again,” Cam said, then disconnected the call.

Jo swiveled to look at Cam. “Don was considering hiring people who were doing the same thing your employees were doing?”

Cam nodded once. “Yeah. To be honest, he probably didn’t call. I’m guessing he assumed that we’re heading into spring when construction really picks up, and the people who applied just wanted to move on.” He shrugged. “Happens every spring. Construction slows down for us in late fall, picks up again in March. We always get a lot of applications this time of year.”

“Good thing you called about those applications,” Jo said.

“Yeah.” His jaw twitched as if he’d clenched his teeth. “Now I have to tell Don we’re not hiring any of them.”

“Speaking of which,” Jo said. “I finally sent emails to the people I know from the Army, and I’ve gotten two responses already. A carpenter and an electrician. Both of them are interested in a job, if it comes with an apartment they can use. Neither of them live in Chicago.”

“These are good people?”Cam asked. “Did good work?”

“Yes and yes,” Jo said.

“Great. If you have their phone numbers, I’ll give them a call and talk to them.” He studied her, a tiny smile curving his lips. “Not only are you protecting me, but you’re bringing me new employees. Thanks, Jo.”

“Feels like a win-win,” she said. “You get reliable workers and my friends get jobs. Hard to argue with that.”

She scribbled something on a piece of paper, got up, walked to his desk and handed him the paper.

He glanced at it and looked up at her. “Your electrician is a woman?”

“Yeah, she is. Is that a problem?” She watched him for a long moment.

“Not at all. Just a little unusual.”

Jo shrugged. “The Army needed electricians. They trained her. She’s very good at what she does.”

“Thanks, Jo.”

“Hope you can convince them to come to Ogden. They’ll do good work for you.” A smile curved her mouth. “If they come to talk to you, take them to Francesca’s Mio Modo. That might be enough to convince them to sign up.”

Cam smiled. “You and I should go back there.”

Jo nodded. “Yeah, we could take Fiona.”

Cam’s smile fell away, and he grabbed his phone. “Let me talk to Don, then I’ll give your two people a call.”

He felt Jo’s gaze on him but picked up the phone and dialed Don’s extension. When his partner answered, he said, “Cam here. Can I ask you why you wanted me to take a look at these applications, Don?”

“You’ve read them over already?”he asked.

“I have.”

“What did you notice?”Don asked.

Cam clenched his fist, squeezed, then released it. Why had those men applied to PK Construction? Had they heard about the opportunities for making some side money at his company?

“All six of them left at the same time,” he began. “I thought that was odd, so I called the guy who was supervising two of them.” Cam took a deep breath.

“He told me that the two guys he supervised, as well as the other four, were doing the same kinds of things that our fired employees were doing. He was reluctant at first, and I didn't expect him to tell me what actually happened. But when I told him we’d had some problems with our men, he told me why his were fired. They were doing the same things as Simms and the rest of our guys were doing.”

“Wow,” Don said. “Really?”