Page 26 of Load Bearing
“You’d live here?”
She shook her head too quickly. “It’s too much house for me. I’d have to…I don’t know, turn it into a bed and breakfast. Hire a cook and a maid.”
“Is that a bad thing?”
“It’s a beautiful dream,” Trixie said softly. “They’re talking about bringing a rail line this way, and it could bring in a lot of tourists. There’d be a lot of building opportunities. Maybe I should let Jay buy me out and strike out on my own. Combination bed, breakfast, and building company!” She laughed it off, but Hunter thought there was a look of longing behind her eyes before she finished her lunch and launched directly back into work.
He didn’t linger to try to make plans that night after the work day, but drove back to his hotel and booted up his computer.
How could he tie Tiffany ex-Carthridge to any of this? Setting the environmental company on the project with bad press was one thing, but deliberate sabotage was awhole new ball of yarn, and Hunter had no proof, not even anything slightly circumstantial. Was Sam involved? It was convenient that he’d called out sick that day.
He still knew that Kyle and Keith were shifters, and he knew that a wolf was responsible. If he could verify that they were wolves, that would put him a step closer to proof. Google maps gladly showed him the layout to the Taylor farm. It was close behind the Carthridge property, though the road access was a long way around.
After considering for a little while, Hunter left his truck prominently in front of the hotel and went out the back door, wandered over a block, and then took off into the forest. He shifted as soon as the trees closed around him, and snuffled his way towards the farm.
He approached from the back, sticking to the fringe of the forest. Keith had said they had sheepdogs, and he heard one of them bark as a cloud of birds took off. Hunter shifted between bear and man, circling the farm curiously. There were broad, empty fields that looked recently harvested, and several pastures of cows and alpacas. It was an interesting mix of animals for a pack of wolves to keep, Hunter thought. Closer to the house was a series of big, arched greenhouses that also looked like they were being buttoned up for the winter. One of them, at the far end of the fields, reeked of weed, but that wasn’t illegal here.
Just as Hunter was wishing he had a smaller, more subtle shift shape so he could get closer to the house and see what was happening, someone came out on the porch and yelled, “Dinner! I’m not saving you any if you’re late!”
Hunter, shifting to take advantage of his better human eyesight, assumed it was a few squirrels at first, streaking for the house, then thought they might be weasels. He finally realized they weremeerkats, a solid half dozen of them that swarmed out of the bare field androse up as boys from Keith’s age to barely in their teens. They rough-housed and hollered and pushed into the house door, the promised sheepdogs howling and playing along.
Hunter could not be positive that Keith and Kyle were both in the mix, but if they weren’t, brothers that looked exactly like them certainly were.
Hunter didn’t do statistics like his brother Baxter, but he knew a likely thing when he saw it, and it was incredibly likely that Keith and Kyle were meerkats. He would have to go back to Trixie empty handed.
Thinking about Trixie seemed to cause a pang of sudden, unexpected anxiety and Hunter recognized it as instinct exactly as his bear gave a snort of concern. Something was wrong. Something was wrong with Trixie, and he had to go help her.
He shifted as he turned, and then crashed through the trees as a bear, the cold, mossy forest floor crunching beneath his paws.
22
TRIXIE
Trixie was already in a dark mood when she saw Jay’s number flash up on her phone that evening. “Trixie,” she answered shortly.
“Trix! What’s this about moresabotage?”
Trixie set her jaw, hating the shortening of her nickname as much as Jay’s accusing tone. “Someone sawed halfway through a bunch of corner studs. It would have crushed the wall if we’d put the full weight of the trusses there in the morning like we’d planned. We’re incredibly lucky that Keith noticed it. Someone could have been seriously hurt!”
Jay was quiet a moment. “So did we miss the truss delivery? Or will we have to haul them up one by one? That’s going to slow us down a lot.”
“I had them put on the other end of the house,” Trixie said. “We got backfill early, so there was access.”
“What? Why didn’t you tell me?” Jay sounded genuinely annoyed.
“I thought you didn’t like having to micromanage things.”
“It isn’t micromanaging to keep me in theloop.”
“You know what would be more helpful than giving me a hard time about actually getting things done? If you werehere. Sam didn’t show up today, and if it hadn’t been for Hunter, we’d be further behind than ever. There’s snow in the forecasttomorrowand we could use an extra set of hands in the worst way. If it’s not in the way of yourotherplans, you know.”
Jay was silent long enough that Trixie wondered if she’d crossed a line at last. Jay’s general willingness to make half the profits from the projects she was working her ass off on alone had galled her for a long time, but she’d always kept her resentment in check. After all, he was usually the one who got them the jobs in the first place. She usually preferred to have himoffthe jobsite, because he didn’t take direction well.
“I’m back in Fairbanks,” he conceded. “I could come out tomorrow, about noon, and give you a hand.”
“That would be great,” Trixie said, with honest relief. “I’d really appreciate that.”
“Let me know if there’s something you want from Fairbanks,” Jay said. “I’ll be happy to bring it with me.”
