Page 3 of My One and Only (Blackhawk Security #10)

C am studied Jo, sitting up straight on his uncomfortable couch. He’d thought about Jo off and on since she’d left Ogden, but he’d never heard where she’d ended up. Her brothers were older than him and already out on their own, and as far as he could tell, Jo never visited her parents.

Then he’d moved to Geneva to start his business and lost track of pretty much everyone from Ogden, even though it was only twenty-five miles away. His parents had moved to Geneva several years ago, and the only other person he kept in touch with was his foster brother Donny Kincaid. Or Don, as he preferred to be called now.

He and Don had grown up together, after Donny moved in with Cam’s family after being abandoned by his druggie parents. He and Don had been close, and Cam knew Don had spent a lot of time sitting beside his hospital bed. Don had been swallowed by grief and sorrow because he hadn’t been able to stop the attack on Cam. He’d found him after his attackers had run away, and he’d called an ambulance and stayed with him until the EMT’s and the police had arrived.

At least that’s what the police had told his parents. Cam had been unconscious. Back then, he had no memory of the attack, and no idea who’d beaten him nearly to death.

He hadn’t thought about that night for a while. But Jo brought all those memories roaring back. She was supposed to meet him at that park, but he had no idea if she’d ever shown up.

“So,” he finally said. “Where’d you go to college? I always figured that you’d get a bunch of scholarships.”

Jo shook her head slowly. “Nope. Didn’t go to college.”

Shocked, he stared at her. “Really? That’s a damn shame. You were the smartest kid in our class. I always figured you’d end up as a doctor or a lawyer.”

“Plans change,” she said. She sat on his couch, upright, her back barely touching the back cushion.

“I guess they do,” he murmured. His certainly had. He waved his hand around the room. “I started Pierce Construction about ten years ago. Worked as a carpenter before that, then finally decided to open my own business.” He stared out the window. It wasn’t the furniture company he’d planned on starting, but he hadn’t had a choice. His life hadn’t gone the way he’d expected it to, but Fiona was worth everything he’d sacrificed.

“You remember Don Kincaid? My foster brother?” he asked, trying to push the conversation away from dangerous waters.

“Of course I do,” she said.

“He’s my partner now. Brought in an infusion of cash when I needed it. The company’s doing well.”

“I’m happy for you, Cam. I figured you’d end up making high-end furniture. You always made such beautiful drawings of the pieces you wanted to make.”

Her off-hand words squeezed his heart until it ached. He took a deep breath. “I guess neither of us took the road we expected to take,” Cam said.

Jo looked down at her hands, twined together in her lap. “Guess we didn’t,” she said quietly.

He’d been pissed off when she said she’d been married. Jealous. What was wrong with him? He’d been married, too. And it had been a nightmare.

Except for Fiona. The one good thing to come from his marriage to Ashley.

“So what brings you to my office?” he asked.

She drew a deep breath and lifted her head. Stared directly at him. “It was nice to catch up, but this is a business visit. My mom is having a house built in your subdivision near Elburn.”

He nodded. “The Gardens.”

Jo shrugged one shoulder. “I didn’t know what it was called. Mom just told me where it was. Anyway, I drove over this morning to look at her house.”

She pressed her lips together, and Cam knew that expression from their high school days. Pressed lips were not a good omen.

“What’s up, Jo? Is something wrong?”

She tilted her head as she studied him. “I’m not sure, Cam. Maybe you can tell me.” She drew a deep breath, then leaned forward, putting her elbows on her knees. “When I pulled up at the address my mom gave me, there was a truck parked on the street. I pulled in behind it just before a man got out of the truck. He walked up the driveway, and the guy working in the house came out to meet him.”

She swallowed and looked uncomfortable. “The guy from the house offered the man from the truck a pack of cigarettes. And it looked like truck guy was taking one, but instead he pulled a wad of cash out of the cigarette pack. Truck guy looked at it, flipped through it as though making sure it was all there, then folded it and shoved it into his shirt pocket. Then he got into his truck, turned around and drove past my car. The truck was from the City of Ogden. The Building and Permits department.”

Cam frowned. “And you saw the workman hand him cash.”

Jo nodded. “I didn’t see it up close, but pretty much nothing else it could have been. Pretty hard to mistake cash for anything else.”

“You’re saying the workman in the house bribed the inspector.”

She was shaking her head before he’d stopped speaking. “I’m simply telling you what I saw.” Her steady gaze drilled into him, and Cam wanted to squirm. “If that’s your conclusion?” Jo shrugged. “It’s probably a good one.”

“What the hell do you know about bribes, Jo?” he asked, anger stirring in his belly.

“I happen to know a hell of a lot about bribes, Cam,” she said, her voice that cool tone that he remembered all too well. It said she knew what she was talking about, so shut up and listen instead of giving her shit about it.

“How the hell would you know about bribes and bribery?” he asked.

“Learned more about it than I cared to know in my previous job,” she answered, her voice a cool counterpoint to his hot tone.

“And what was your previous job where you learned so much about bribery?” He scowled at her, daring her to answer him.

To his surprise, she sat up straight. Stared him in the eyes. “In the U.S. Army,” she said. “In the Middle East. Bribery is a way of life over there. I became an expert in bribes. How much was appropriate. Who was the best person to bribe. What was the right time to offer a bribe. How to do it so the recipient was flattered and not insulted.”

“What the hell were you doing in the Army, Jo? A smart woman like you didn’t belong in the Army.”

“Smart doesn’t get you money to pay for college,” she said, her voice sharp. “I figured I’d go to college on the GI bill after I got out of the Army.”

“So why didn’t you?” he asked.

Her eyelids flickered, but she didn’t look away from him. “Life got in the way, Pierce.” Her mouth tightened. “Probably just like it did for you. Never thought you’d go into business with that worm Kincaid. But here you are.”

He sank down onto the edge of his desk, holding her gaze. “Don’s not so bad,” he said. “He grew up. Like all of us did.”

She opened her mouth like she had something to say about his cousin, then pressed her lips together. “Glad it’s working out for you.”

“Is that the reason you came by, Jo? To warn me that one of my workmen was paying a bribe?” He crossed his arms over his chest. One thing about Jo Finster hadn’t changed -- she didn’t let anyone jerk her around.

“Nope,” she said, leaning toward him. “Seeing that exchange of money was just a bonus. I came to talk to you because I’m concerned about the quality of the materials you’re using to build my mom’s house. I’m guessing she didn’t agree to number two or three quality wood studs. The ones I saw were full of knots and defects. A lot of them weren’t even straight. And that’s not all that looked wrong. The plumbing pipes were crooked. Dented. Don’t look like they’re going to last for more than a few years. Same with the electrical service. The boxes were dented. Flimsy-looking.”

She took a deep breath. “My mom is stretching to buy this house, Cam.” She leaned closer to him, and those amazing green eyes of hers drilled into his chest. “She doesn’t have a lot of money, but she was excited that she was buying a brand-new house. Said she’d never lived in a brand-new house before. I don’t want her to get two or three years down the road in this house and start having all kinds of problems with it. I don’t wanna hear about pipes bursting. About walls sagging. About the smell of something burning behind the drywall. And right now? That’s what I’m seeing out there.”

“I’m damn sure you’re mistaken, Jo. Those aren’t the specs we use when we build. I pride myself on the quality of our work.” His face heated with a flush of anger. He wanted to attack her for implying he was cheating on the houses he was building.

“Then come with me and take a look at my mother’s house. Before everything gets covered up with drywall.”

Cam tapped one foot on the floor as he studied Jo. She looked as if she believed everything she was saying. “Tell me this,” he asked. “Did you see the building inspector come out of the house?”

“Hell, no,” she replied immediately. “He never went into the house. I pulled up right after he did. He got out of his truck, walked up the driveway and the carpenter came out of the house. Met him on the driveway. Handed over the money, the inspector rifled through it, then got back in his truck and drove away.”

“And how do you know about all the so-called defects in this house,” he asked.

She shot up ramrod straight. “Because I walked through it. Looked at everything. The defects weren’t minor, Pierce. They were very obvious. Blatant.”

“Did you sneak in behind the carpenter’s back?” he asked, scowling.

“Of course not.” She gave him that cool smile that had driven him crazy in high school. “I talked to Billy Simms, told him my mom was buying this house, and she wanted me to check it out. Make sure everything looked good.” She shrugged. “I figured, why not? I wasn’t expecting to find all that shoddy work.”

A knot of unease twisted in his stomach. He had a carpenter named Billy Simms working for him. But instead of telling her that, he lashed out at Jo. “PK Construction doesn’t do shoddy work,” he said, anger flaring.

She tilted her head. “Do you check every house that’s built?”

“No, I don’t. That’s what my foremen are supposed to do.”

“Well, they’re not doing their jobs, then.” She jerked her head toward the door. “Come with me and look at my mom’s house and tell me those are your company’s standards.”

He wanted to blow her off. Tell her he’d check later, or that he was certain everything was fine. But he knew what he’d see if he said that. Pity and scorn. And he didn’t want to be a person Jo pitied and scorned.

“Fine. Let’s go right now.”

“Great.” She bounced up from the couch. “I’ll show you which house my mom is buying.”

He wanted to tell her that he knew, but he’d had no idea that Mrs. Finster had bought one of his houses. He wasn’t in the field. He ran things from the office.

Maybe that was a mistake. Maybe he needed to get into the field more often. Be more ‘hands on’. Like he was when he’d just started the company.

But he couldn’t do field work anymore. He needed more stability than that allowed. He needed a nine-to-five schedule.

He opened the door for Jo and waited for her to walk through. Then he closed it and steered her toward the employee parking lot.

“I’m parked in the visitor’s lot,” she said.

“We’ll take my truck. I’ll bring you back afterward to pick up your car.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “Wouldn’t it be easier for us to drive separately? Then we can both go our own way after you look at the house with me.”

“The fewer cars driving through the building area, the better. I don’t want you to get a nail in a tire.”

She sighed. “Fine. I don’t want that, either. Especially since it’s a rental.”

The truth was, he was reluctant to let Jo go. The last thing he’d ever expected was having her come into his office. Take him to task for the quality of the work on his houses.

He’d had a massive crush on Jo in high school. Back then, he’d dreamed of a happily-ever-after for them. But those had been the dreams of a kid. Jo clearly hadn’t felt the same way, since she’d taken off right after graduation and joined the army. She’d even gotten married, for God’s sake.

So had you , a tiny voice reminded him.

He stepped into the frigid air, letting it cool his face, and held the door for Jo, then pointed to his truck. A big, red Ford with a covered bed and a cab that could seat five.

Jo glanced at him and raised one eyebrow. “Fancy ride.”

“I’m in construction,” he said, shrugging. “I need to be able to carry stuff in my vehicle.”

She nodded. “Makes sense.”

He unlocked the truck and reached to help her up. But instead of waiting for him, she swung herself onto the running board and slid onto the passenger seat. Pulled the door closed.

He stared at the closed door for a long moment, then shook his head as he rounded the front of the truck and swung into the driver’s seat. Jo had always been independent. She’d never expected anyone to take care of her. Jo had been as competent as anyone in their class.

He’d always liked that about her.

Fifteen minutes later, Jo pointed out the house and he pulled up in front of one of their most popular models. The carpenter’s truck was gone, and Cam was relieved. He didn’t want to tour the house with Jo when the carpenter was there to hear all her criticisms of the building.

By the time he got around to the other side of the truck, Jo was standing in the frozen mud of the driveway. He took her elbow to help her over the uneven ground, and she rolled her eyes at him, then extracted her elbow from his grip. She stepped carefully over the muddy ruts in the driveway, and his hand hovered close to her arm. Just in case. He didn’t want her to get hurt on his building site. He didn’t need the headache of a lawsuit.

She stepped up into the house, and he jumped up behind her. They hadn’t gotten far on this house -- just the studs and the beginnings of the electrical and plumbing work. Jo walked over to the right wall and ran her hand down one of the studs. His heart sank when he saw the two-by-four. It was definitely not a number one two-by-four. She’d been right -- it was a 3 or a 4.

Anger curled in his belly as he inspected the rest of the two-by-fours and found most of them were exactly as she’d described. Full of knots and other defects. Crooked. One of them even had a gouge in it, as if someone had started to make a cut and realized their measurement was incorrect.

After scoping out the two-by-fours, he said, “Show me what else you noticed.”

She took him into the kitchen area. Jo hadn’t been exaggerating. The electrical boxes were sloppily installed. So was the plumbing. The joints weren’t solid. The pipes weren’t straight.

He walked through the rest of the house and found that everything was below PK Construction’s standards. Poor quality material. Shoddy workmanship. Sloppy fittings.

Everything he’d sworn he’d never do when he’d gone into the construction business.

Anger a red haze, he bit out, “I’ve seen enough. Let’s go.”

He helped her down from the floor to the dirt beneath the entryway and tried to hold her arm as they walked back to his truck. She drew her arm away, rolling her eyes at him again. When he tried to help her up to the running board, she swung onto it easily by herself. Opened the door and got into the truck without his help.

After he swung himself into the driver’s seat, he glanced at the house they’d just inspected and punched the steering wheel with a silent curse. Then he backed down the driveway and headed to the office.

Once they were in the parking lot next to her tiny car, he turned off the truck and swung around to face her. “You were right. About all of it. I promise you that we’ll replace all the shoddy material and wood in your mother’s house. I’ll personally ensure it’s done the right way.”

“Thank you,” she said, turning to study him. “I appreciate that. But what about all the other houses you’ve built that are finished, or almost finished? All the things you saw today in my mother’s house are probably in everyone else’s house, too. How are you gonna fix that?”

He ground his teeth together. That was the first thing he’d thought of when he’d seen Mrs. Finster’s house. “I’ll buy them home warranties that cover all the possible problem areas. So if there are problems, they’ll be fixed.” It would seriously cut into his profits on those houses, but what choice did he have? It would cost far more than the warranties to rip the houses apart and start over.

She tilted her head as she studied him. “That works,” she finally said. “But what are you going to do about the quality of your work going forward?”

“Believe me, Jo, this will stop. Immediately. If I have to fire every foreman I have, I’ll make sure that these houses are being built the right way.”

Jo nodded slowly. “Okay, Cam. I hope that’s what you do, but I’ve always been a big believer in trust but verify. I’m going to be your worst nightmare. You’re gonna get really tired of me.” She swiveled to face him. “Any idea who’s behind this shoddy work?”

“I’ll talk to all my foremen tomorrow. Fire any of them who’re involved.” And he’d talk to Don. His partner was supposed to be supervising the foremen. Cam didn’t think Don was involved, but his partner needed to know what was going on. And Don needed to watch them more closely. Make sure none of them were paying bribes to pass the inspection.

That wasn’t the way PK Construction did business. And he had to make sure Don and all the foremen knew it.

Jo began to slide out of his truck, and Cam put his hand on her arm. She froze. “Will you give me your phone number?” he asked. “So I can update you on what’s being done?”

She turned to look at him. Searched his eyes, as if looking for a sign he was telling the truth. Finally she nodded. Rattled off her phone number, then slid to the ground. Looking up at him, she said, “I’ll expect regular updates. And I guarantee you I’ll be checking my mom’s house regularly.”

“Exactly what I’d expect you to do, Jo.”

She held his gaze for a long moment, then turned and walked to a tiny, crappy little car, crawled in and drove away. Jo Finster was back in his life. Jo Hatch now. And she’d come to him because his company had screwed up the house they were building for her mother.

Cam clenched his jaw. He needed to talk to Don and his foremen. He glanced at his watch. He had time to talk to Don before he had to get home. The foremen could wait until morning. They were probably all gone by now anyway.

This was a disaster, and it was going to stop. Right now.