Page 5

“Appreciate that,” Simms said with a nod. “Hate to have to fill out the paperwork if you hurt yourself.”

He watched Jo as she wandered over to what looked like the kitchen. When she no longer felt Simms’ gaze on her back, she checked the studs in front of her.

Full of knots and other defects in the wood, they looked substandard. Jo frowned at them. This couldn’t be the standard for the construction of these houses. The knots and defects made the wood less strong. She was pretty sure no one wanted that in a house they were building.

Some of the electrical boxes had been installed. Almost half of them were crooked. Some of the plumbing pipes had been installed in the kitchen, and they weren’t straight. Jo frowned as she studied them. Maybe they’d be tightened at a later point. But she suspected they wouldn’t be. After all, the drywall would hide them. No one would see the pipes or the studs.

Her neck tingled, and she turned to see Billy Simms standing in the doorway behind her. “Did you have a question, Mr.Simms?”she asked.

He shrugged. “Just looking out for you. Hate to have you trip over something.”

“Neither of us wants that,” she said, forcing a smile for the carpenter. “Everything looks good. My mom told me the name of the company who’s building these houses, but I don’t remember it.”

“It’s PK Construction,” Simms said. “Been in the area for a while. We’ve built a lot of houses.”

God help the people who’d bought them.“Thanks, Mr.Simms. I’ll tell my mom everything looks like it’s moving along well.”

He studied her for what seemed like a long time, then nodded at her. “Thanks for stopping by.”

Jo picked her way out of the house, conscious of Simms’s gaze boring into her back. She shivered and walked too fast down the rutted driveway. She stumbled once but caught herself. As she reached the end of the driveway, Simms was still in the door. Still watching her.

Giving him what she hoped was a friendly wave, she slid into her car. She felt his gaze on the back of her neck until she’d turned a corner and the house disappeared behind her. She drove until she found a nearby strip mall, where she parked and pulled out her phone. Searched for PK Construction. Found the address of the company headquarters. Geneva. Not too far away.

Squaring her shoulders, she entered the address in her mapping app, plugged it in and saw the company headquarters was only fifteen minutes away. Then she turned onto the street in front of the strip mall and headed for Geneva.

When she reached the office, which was in an office park, she studied the sprawling two-story building. It looked prosperous enough. Unlikely that the company had to skimp on the building materials. She parked in front of the building, locked her car and went inside.

A woman sitting at a desk looked up and smiled as Jo walked in. “May I help you?”

“Is the owner of the company here today?”Jo asked, forcing herself to smile.

“Mr.Pierce is here, yes. Do you need to speak to him?”

“I do,” Jo said.

“May I have your name? I’ll see if he’s available.”

“Thank you. It’s Jo. Jo Hatch.”

“I’ll be right back, Ms.Hatch.”

The woman disappeared into the door behind her, and Jo looked at the photos hanging on the walls. They were mostly houses of various sizes and designs. A few of the photos were commercial buildings. She assumed these were buildings that PK Construction had built, and she wondered if their work was as sloppy as the work she’d seen in her mother’s house.

Several minutes later, the receptionist stepped through the door. “Mr.Pierce has time to talk to you now. If you’ll follow me?”

Jo followed the woman through the door and down a corridor. She saw a few more offices, with men and women working at desks. A few of the offices had large desks tilted at an angle. She wondered if those were the architects who designed the buildings.

Finally, the receptionist stopped in front of a door. She opened it, revealing what looked like a small waiting area, and stepped to the side. “Go on in, Ms.Hatch. He’ll be with you in a few minutes. He’s just finishing a phone call.”

“Thanks,” Jo said with a smile. “I appreciate it.”

“Mr.Pierce makes an effort to talk to his customers,” the woman said brightly. “He’s always happy when people stop by.”

Jo dropped her smile as she slid into a chair. She wasn’t so sure Mr.Pierce’d be happy about her visit.

She picked up a battered, six-month-old copy ofPeople Magazineand began paging through the dated stories. After about five minutes, the door opened and she set the magazine on the table beside her chair. “Ms.Hatch,” an oddly familiar voice said. “Come on in.”

She looked up at the man speaking. He was tall and broad-shouldered. Well-muscled, with impressively big arms. A wide chest. And his face was familiar. Too familiar.