Page 623 of Cold Case, Warm Hearts

“Oh no,” Sydney’s hands flew to her mouth.

“By the time they got him out, he’d collapsed. He was rushed to Glendale Memorial and then released a few hours later.”

“Why wasn’t I contacted?”

“I was called.”

“Well, why didn’t you call me?”

He shrugged.

“I figured what was done was done. There wouldn’t have been anything you could’ve done about it over the weekend.”

Sydney cocked her head. “Well, why didn’t Crandell go out the escape door?”

Sean looked her squarely in the eyes. “The handle was broken, and if that’s not bad enough, there was a mountain of lumber piled outside the door.”

“What?”

“If the escape door had been working properly, he could’ve gotten out as soon as he got locked in.”

She shook her head. “What are you saying? That this is my fault? I talked to Buck. I told him to make sure it was fixed. I?—”

“Save it for the meeting.”

“What meeting?”

“The meeting I called this morning to find out how a blatant accident could occur right under our noses.” He looked at his watch. “It starts in fifteen minutes in my office.”

“Why wasn’t I informed?”

“Consider yourself informed.” He turned on his heel and walked out the door.

15

“BREAD OF DECEIT IS SWEET TO A MAN; BUT AFTERWARDS HIS MOUTH SHALL BE FILLED WITH GRAVEL.” —PROVERBS 20:17

The meeting began at 9:15 sharp. Sydney and Buck Gibson sat in the vinyl guest chairs opposite Sean’s desk, and a folding chair was brought in for Larry Welton, the shift supervisor. Sean was the picture of a hard-nosed general manager with his stony expression and hard jaw. He eyed his three subordinates. “You wanna tell me how this happened?”

Sean fixed his eyes on Larry Welton, who scooted forward in his seat. He was a frail man with red hair and a long nose that was dotted with freckles. His thin white shirt emphasized his sunken chest. “Well, um, Crandell was stacking lumber in the kiln.” His eyes darted around the room then down at the floor before continuing. “Um, we didn’t realize Crandall was in there. He was still in the back when we shut the door.”

Sean shook his head and his mouth twisted like he’d bitten into something rotten.

“He must’ve been in there for a while. One of the men happened to walk by and heard ’im hollerin’. It was terrible. Crandall in there hollerin’ and beatin’ and I’ll be doggone if the door didn’t jam. We turned off the heat switch and Mike Sutherland ran and grabbed a crowbar. We wedged it underneath and started working it up. We finally got the dooropen. It were a good thing too. If Crandall’d been in there much longer, he might not’ve made it.” Larry seemed relieved that his narrative was over with. He slid back in his chair and waited for Sean to speak.

“Why wasn’t the escape door working?” Sean looked at Buck first and then his eyes settled on Sydney. “This is why we hired you—to prevent accidents like this.”

She looked at Buck and waited for him to explain. She tried to make eye contact with him, but he wouldn’t look at her. “On my first inspection with Buck, I noticed the broken handle and the lumber stacked behind the door. I mentioned these problems to Buck, and he assured me that he would take care of them.”

Sean looked at Buck. “Is this true?”

Buck shifted in his seat, and his mustache twitched. “I don’t remember discussin’ no escape door with Miss Lassiter.”

Sydney’s eyes grew wide and she flinched like someone had doused her with a bucket of ice water. “What?”

Buck didn’t look at her. Instead, he kept his eyes fixed on Sean.

Sydney continued speaking. “You and I discussed the escape door. You asked me not to write it up because of the flack you would get from Sean. I agreed to leave that out of the report as long as you took care of the problem.”

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