Page 99 of Statler

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

The first thing Statler noticed was that Eliza didn’t look shocked.

Well, her finger was pointing at him and her mouth was gaping open, but it seemed her problem was with the status he’d proclaimed for himself and his cohorts.

“Team, not crew,” she observed smartly. “You’re… You’re not construction workers?” she squeaked.

This was going to require a little back story.

Statler hoped he wasn’t going to blow this, because he realized that walking away from Eliza for good at this juncture, would gut him.

He’d gotten used to seeing her every day on the job, even from afar when he was too chicken-shit to join his team. And he liked it, a lot.

“We are actually builders,” he allowed. “That’s just not the…totality of our job.”

Eliza sat up, her backbone going ramrod straight. “You said you were in the military, and that you worked in the Army Corp of Engineers. Is that true?”

“It is,” he was able to reassure her. “All of us served together.”

“And now?”

“Now…” Statler hardened his jaw. “We work as a special operations team with ties to the government, and use our construction skills to get close to people who are breaking the law. We infiltrate personal projects, corporations, and even towns, to uncover intel that leads to shutting down whatever illegal operations are being perpetuated.”

“Wow,” Eliza said, shaking her head, but no longer looking confused. “That means you found out that my father’s been doing bad stuff, and are here to end his activities.”

“That’s right.” Statler stiffened. “What do you know about what he’s been doing?”

Eliza didn’t flinch away, but maintained direct eye contact.

That was a comforting sign.

“I’ll tell you that I had my head in the sand for a long time,” she lamented. “First, because whatever my father was up to didn’t interest me in the least. He’d made it known when I was younger that I was only useful to him as office help, and we left it at that. But when Holden came along… Well, I saw a slight change in my father. He really liked Holden, and he seemed…warmer to me. Or so I thought.”

“I’m listening.” Statler was all ears. Any additional intel he could pick up from Eliza could only strengthen the case against Flazer.

“Then Holden started drawing closer to my father and away from me. My father was almost gleeful over that, and it hurt. I felt left out as they…bonded. I used my free time to find out why. Now, I know that my father was just playing Holden, and a lot of other people, too.

“Before Holden died, he became paranoid about something that was going on at the factory. He almost stopped talking to me about anything to do with work, telling me it was for my own good. I…resented that,” she admitted. “If that made me a bad wife, then I accept it. But he should have shared what was going on with me.”

Statler could tell Eliza was bitter.

“Maybe he was trying to protect you,” he offered. He’d tell her about Holden getting in touch with the FBI, but not until he’d heard her out.

“Maybe. I guess I’ll never know.” She sighed. “When he died…when the circumstances around his death seemed suspicious, I should have looked into it right away, but I was so shattered that it took me a while before I allowed myself to probe deeper. Your presence actually gave me the courage I needed.”

Statler didn’t preen, he simply listened.

“I began investigating the factory well before Holden’s death, but I only looked into the circumstances surrounding him being shot, just after you arrived.” Her posture became resolute. “What I found, just by talking about Holden’s death to coworkers and Granny’s neighbors, was quite disturbing. I bet you didn’t know there were at least five other men besides Holden who met with ‘hunting accidents’ over the past few years? I wondered how that could be normal, and of course it wasn’t.”

Statler growled.

“So, let me get this straight. Despite Holden telling you to keep your nose out of things,” Statler questioned, “you started digging while he was still alive. Then in the past few weeks, you’ve gone at things even harder, researching his death?”

He needed to understand just how she’d gotten herself on Flazer’s radar, with her father ordering Jeremy to keep watch on her.

“I did. With Granny’s help. For our first step, we actually went to the coroner’s office with food one day. While Granny was busy feeding the man in the makeshift kitchen, I excused myself for a bathroom break, and hacked into his computer. It was ridiculously easy to access, and I found notes for all the…casualties.”

Wow. Statler’s estimation of Eliza had already been high, but hearing the boldness with which she’d pulled off that move? It cemented his admiration.