Page 24 of The Interns

Reed caught Maya’s eyes bouncing between the two of them as he nodded knowingly.

“Does Johnson have any idea what’s going on?” she asked.

“That I don’t know.” Al stood from his chair and came around to the front of his desk. “You two now know more about the case than I do, but I’d say that’s probably your next step. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to run across town for a meeting,” he said with a smile as he began to walk out of his office. Just as he reached the door, though, he turned around as if he’d forgotten something. “Nice work you two. I told you I had a good feeling about this summer.”

Before either one could respond, he was off again, leaving them sitting in his office, quietly basking in the praise for a moment and catching their breath from the whirlwind seventy-two hours they’d just had. Reed glanced at his silver watch, then at Maya who was staring absently out the window, though he was sure her mind was working on something.

“It’s only nine-thirty,” he said.

She turned and looked at him with a gleam in her eyes.

“You up for another road trip to Corinth?” he asked.

“You read my mind, Stanton.”

* * *

“For Christ’s sake. It’s not Tuesday yet…is it?”

“No.” Reed braced his hand on the door before Mr. Johnson could shut it in their faces. “It’s Monday. I know we’re a day early, but we need to talk to you.”

“Do we have to?” Johnson groaned through the small crack he peered through. “I’ll plead guilty, pay a fine, whatever it takes to make you two go away.”

“You might not want to do that,” Maya suggested, meeting his agitation with calm. “May we come in?”

Johnson eyed them both with a pained look on his face. He must have known that they weren’t going to take no for an answer because he stepped aside and walked back over to his blue recliner, leaving the door cracked. Not exactly a warm welcome, but they’d take it.

Maya walked in and stopped in the middle of the living room, giving Johnson his space, while Reed headed for the kitchen table looking for the tool she had spotted on their last visit. He didn’t have to look long, however, since it was sitting in the exact same spot it had been before. He picked it up, turning the unrefined mass of mismatched metal, fasteners, and coils in his hand while examining it in person for the first time.

“You made this, huh?” Reed asked as he held the tool up for Johnson’s perusal.

Their client nodded and leaned forward in his chair, tensing up as he eyed Reed from across the room.

“Impressive.”

“You even know what that’s for?” he asked through clenched teeth.

“Crimps pipes,” Reed answered easily. “How’d it come about?”

Reed’s knowledge must have disarmed him because the tension in his jaw eased. He put the tool back down on the table which made Johnson abandon his position on the edge of his seat and relax. Reed walked across the room to join Maya.

“Plumbing is hell on the body.” Johnson held his calloused, knotty hands up for them to see. “I got the hands and knees of a man twice my age, and all the fumes were givin’ me breathin’ trouble. My doc said I’d be on oxygen in the next few years if I kept it up, but it’s all I know how to do, so I made the tool so I could keep workin’.”

“How does it help you?” Maya asked.

“The lever makes it so that I don’t have to use my hands as much, and the crimpin’ saves me from havin’ to weld the pipes. Turns out it’s faster than what we were doin’ before. I’m gettin’ older and slower, but I was finishin’ jobs two or three hours ahead of schedule.”

“Sounds like a tool everyone could use then,” Reed said. “You ever make any more of these?”

“That’s the only one,” Johnson confirmed as he nodded toward said tool. “I made it out back in my shed last winter. Took me a month to finish.”

“Anyone else ever use it? Or ask you to make more?” Maya asked, deftly steering the conversation toward the reason for their visit.

“Can we cut to the chase?” Johnson asked. “It’s pretty damn obvious the Prescotts had their eyes on it. They tried to keep it after they fired me. I got it back, and that’s all I care about because if I can find work again, I’m gonna need it.”

Maya and Reed exchanged a quick look, questioning who would break the news to him. She gave him a small nod to go ahead.

“Mr. Johnson, that’s not all there is to it. We believe they kept your tool because they had plans to manufacture it. They were shopping it around to plumbing companies across the state.”

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