Page 69 of Saltwater Memories
Chapter 24
Once he was back in his car, Will hesitated. What did he care about the landscaping? He should tell them to plant whatever they wanted to, and that was that.
He’d much rather spend his day with Amanda. Maybe he should go back and find her? Tell her that he was free for the rest of the day? It was a weekend, after all. They could surely get by without him at the estate.
At the same time, he didn’t want to spoil the moment. Though she’d been sharing her past quite freely, it was clear that she was done. Amanda literally packed it up; she’d folded up his blanket, handed it back, and got up to leave.
He’d seen glimpses of her opening up before, but this was the first time that she’d let him in. He didn’t know what had caused it, exactly, but he wasn’t going to ask questions. By some miracle of the universe, he happened to walk onto that farm at precisely the right moment.
Will let out a sigh. It was best to leave her alone for now. He’d made that mistake in the past – he didn’t want to scare her off again. She might have to come up with something even more outlandish to push him away – that she thought Gordon was a martian, or something.
Actually, the more that he thought about her mafia theory, the more uncomfortable he became. It wasn’t just that the apartment building was a dump – that wasn’t ahugesurprise. It was how Gordon reacted when he asked about it. He got defensive; he got mean. Though Gordon was mean with a regular frequency, it usually didn’t bother Will. This time felt different.
Will got back to the estate and clarified some issues about the grass near the gate, as well as a thorny overgrowth on the beach. The plumber approached him with questions about the new toilets, and Will told him he’d be up in a minute.
He wanted to send a message to Amanda first – he had a doorway back into their friendship, and he didn’t want to mess it up.
“Hey – it was really nice running into you today. I swear that I’m not stalking you, I know how you get about that.”
He paused. Maybe heshouldn’tbring up stalking? She’d accused him of following her onto the ferry that first day, which he still thought was funny – but she might not remember that. She might just decide that hewasa stalker.
He deleted the stalking line and instead wrote, “I’m sorry about our argument. I’m starting to believe you, because things aren’t quite right around here. Maybe we could chat about it this week? Get dinner?”
Much to his relief, she responded about an hour later. “I’m sorry, too. Honestly, you’d be better off ditching DGG. I know that’s not a great option. I can’t tell you much else. But I’d love to get dinner – I owe you fish and chips for all that blubbering. Are you free this week?”
He smiled. He appreciated the pun – blubbering and fish. Was that intentional? Probably – Amanda was always cracking him up with things like that. He suggested Friday for dinner; he hoped she’d be less rushed on a Friday evening.
“Friday it is,” she wrote back. “That’s actually perfect. Gives me time to take care of some things.”
Hm. That sounded ominous. Did she mean with work?
Or was Amanda…involved with something shadier? Something more…illegal? Is that what she’d meant before when she said they shouldn’t spend time together?
No. It must’ve been something with her regular, non-mafia related job.
And if things went well on Friday, maybe they could make plans again on Saturday. And on Sunday. And on every day after that.
Until then, though, he had to keep working. Monday and Tuesday were eaten up with issues on the estate. But on Wednesday, Will decided that it was time to investigate the rest of Lenny’s properties. He had two hours free in the afternoon and decided to take a little trip around the island.
The first property was described as “an idyllic cabin on the water.”
What he found when he got there was a hastily slapped together shed, its walls collapsing inward, and the roof spattered with holes. It sat on an acre of land, which was nice, but it was not worth the two million dollars that DGG had already paid for it.
Next up was a condo on the outskirts of town. It was run down, and Will mistakenly assumed that it was also uninhabitable. He found his mistake when he knocked on the door and a disgruntled man in a robe asked him, “Who do you think you are barging in here like this?” Will apologized and pretended that he had the wrong address.
The third property sat on five acres of land, and was described as “a peaceful, farm-like setting for camping and unwinding.” DGG paid six million for it, and it boasted “ample room for camping, glamping, and recreational fun.”
At this point, Will shouldn’t have been surprised to find a dump, but this place wasactuallya dump. He counted three broken down cars on the property. There weren’t any cabins like the description said – there was one trailer, which looked even more run down than the shed he’d seen before, and what appeared to be the remnants of a tent. He almost fell into a partially buried bathtub – full of rainwater and muck.
This wasn’t right –noneof this was right. He didn’t know how deeply involved his boss was, but now Will knew and he couldn’t pretend to be ignorant. He didn’t know if Lenny was involved in the mafia – there was no evidence to suggest that – but something fishy was going on.
He stood around the dump for thirty minutes, trying to decide his next move. He wasn’t sure how much he could accomplish on his own; Will still wasn’t a partner and was still a lowly employee in the company.
But the shareholders deserved to know what their money was being wasted on – and that was part of his job description, preparing reports. Did Gordon expect that when the time came, Will would forge the reports? That he’d not mention the collapsing structures, the cars and the outdoor bathtubs?
He needed to get back to the estate for now, but tomorrow, he’d get his good camera and take pictures of the properties. It might cost him his job at DGG, but he didn’t care.
He’d worked his way up once, and he could do it again. Whatever was going on here needed to be unveiled. Amanda was right – if this sort of behavior was allowed, then DGG wasn’t a place that he wanted to work.
With a spring in his step, Will walked back to his car. Maybe by Friday he’d have some good news to share with Amanda.
