Page 28 of The Fixer

“Um, no big cats. It has working utilities, a foundation, a roof, no major holes in the walls that I’ve found. My mother lived there for decades. Helene Holiday?” Joy paused, looking for a flicker of recognition in the woman’s suspicious gaze. She reminded Joy of a mama bear protecting her cubs, though Joy wasn’t exactly clear on who the young were.

“Doesn’t matter who owned it or what the name is. Rules are rules. You can’t just tear down a building on a whim.”

“But it’s not a wh—”

“My advice is to find yourself a contractor who’s familiar with our building codes and have them explain what you can and can’t do in our town.” Bea didn’t bat an eyelash as she ran over Joy. “The one I recommend most is Past Perfect Restorations. The owner’s name is—”

“Charlie Hunnicutt,” Joy finished for her, then let out a frustrated sigh. “He works for me.”

Bea’s gray brows hit her permed hairline. “Does he know you’re here?”

“Well, no, not exactly.”

Bea wagged her head in one of those schoolteacher ways that told a kid they were a screw-up without the teacher having to verbalize it. Then her features softened. “You let him handle this, deary. Charlie is very familiar with our rules and regs. He was on the committee that wrote them.” Bea’s mouth curved in a proud little smile.

The town should have been named Hunnicutt for all the adoration people bestowed on its friggin’ favorite son. Then they could erect statues of him and have “Charlie Hunnicutt Biscuit Day,” where fire trucks and kids paraded by with Charlie doing the queen’s wave from a rose-festooned float.

Joy shook off the image. “Isn’t there someone else I can speak to about the possibility of taking it down? Some higher authority?”

Bea’s expression turned sour. “Young woman, Iamthe authority, and if you’re trying to pull an end around, it will not go well for you.” Sheclasped her hands on the counter. “Now, is there something else I can help you with today?”

Joy wasn’t used to getting stonewalled, but she also wasn’t used to dealing with municipalities and their nonsensical building regs. She tried approaching the problem from several other directions, but each time she tried, she got a stern glare and another not-so-helpful offer to help her with something besides the very thing she wanted answered. She had her answer, but she didn’t like it. Surely there had to be another way to get the building torn down.

“Is there a different authority I should be speaking to? The county? The state?”

Oh, that was the wrong thing to say. Bea’s eyes narrowed to malevolent slits. “Young woman, as I’ve already explained, youarespeaking to the authority. I run the town’s and the county’s building department.”

“B-but it didn’t say that on your name tag,” Joy stammered. A hush blanketed the entire workspace, and her lame words bounced around the walls for all to hear. Soon every pair of eyes was pointed in her direction,

“Didn’t say what?”

Joy dropped her voice to a hiss. “Um, I would have thought it would list your title on there.”

Another woman stepped up to the counter. “If you’re looking for something that says Grand Pooh-bah on it, you won’t find it. That may be difficult for you city types to understand, but trust me. Beaisthe authority around here. Theonlyauthority. What she says—and doesn’t say—goes.”

Joy cocked an eyebrow. “And you are?”

“The attorney general for these parts. Now, unless you have another matter you need help with—besides a personality overhaul, that is—I suggest you let these ladies get back to the important work of making sure the building codes are adhered to for thesafety of the public.”

Joy inched up her nose. “No need to be rude about it.”

“Like you were, you mean?” the AG fired back.

Message received. “I can see that I’m wasting my time trying to find what I’m looking for here.”

“Because what you want is against code!” both women said at the same time, then turned to each other and high-fived.

Joy spun and walked out of the office with her head held high, but truly her tail was tucked between her legs.

God, small-town folk were touchy and completely unreasonable!

Charlie climbed to thesecond floor of the town hall. As he walked into the building department, he was greeted with a cock of the head from Bea from behind the counter. Normally, she greeted him with a smile, but that was missing this morning.

Shit. He knew why. Fall River had partnered with the deep pockets from Silver Summit, a nearby luxury resort, to restore the train that would bring free-spending tourists from the lower elevations to town. Bea, along with a handful of other townsfolk, had invested in the project. He had tried to talk them out of going all in, but they had ignored his advice. “As long as you’re handling it, Charlie, we know we’ll get a good return on our money.” Now they should be very worried, and that was on him.

The project was also one of the reasons for his visit. He needed updates on all things train-related—the tracks leading into town, the turntable, the engine house, the depot—all of it. He’d had no updates from the Silver Summit group, and every time he prodded, they put him off. He walked a fine line, trying to figure out what the hell was going on without pissing them off.

“Morning, Bea. How’s my favorite building department head?”

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