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Pain flickered across Chris’s face. “Linda got diagnosed. They found a… shadow on her lung. A woman who never… smoked her whole life.”
Gary’s breathing hitched. “She didn’t mention that.”
“We didn’t know at the time… if it was terminal or not.” He sucked in more air. “I’ve… been around stuff, okay? You come into contact… with all sorts of shit… in my trade… I was a smoker too… butLinda?”
“It must have hit him very hard,” Dan murmured. “First you, then his wife.”
Chris gave a nod. “The four of us… were neighbors. And for two weeks after… man, he was on a… downward slide. He was always such… a positive guy, but… this rocked him. And then in June… he came to see me.” Another hard-won breath. “I can still see him… sitting at my kitchen table… telling me….” He met Dan’s gaze. “He said… he knew why I was sick… why Linda was sick… and whose fault it was.”
Friday, June 3, 2016
CHRIS STAREDat James. “Theboss? What does he have to do with me having lung cancer? Or Linda, for that matter?”
James took a long drink from his cup of coffee. “You know about radon, right?”
“Radon?” Chris froze. “Wait, are you saying—”
“I had tests done, okay?” James blurted. “Independent air-quality tests. Onbothour houses.”
Chris blinked. “You mean the houses we helped build? Without a word to me?”
“I had them test for radon.” James’s face contorted. “I don’t have to tell you what the results were, do I?”
“But why test at all? What made you do it?”
“It was a hunch. And it paid off. So now….” James set his jaw. “I’m gonna put the bite on the boss.”
Chris’s stomach roiled. “You’re not making sense. I know you’re upset about Linda—hell, I would be too—and you’re looking for someone to blame, but….”
James leaned forward. “Do you remember when the legislation came in? Last year, right? Radon barriers to be fitted to all new builds.”
“But our houses were builtbeforethat came in.”
James nodded. “I did a little snooping around some of the latest building projects. You know, the stuff we’re working on right now. Wanna know what I discovered?”
“Justtellme, okay?” Chris’s guts were in turmoil.
“He hasn’t fitted radon barriers. Inanyof the new houses. So this is what I’m gonna do. Those barriers can be retrofitted for all builds now. I’m gonna insist he retrofits our houses and that he helps us financially—well, helpsyou. Because now you’ve gotta think about Carla, dude. You know… when you’re… not around anymore.”
Thursday, July 12, 2018
“THAT SOUNDSa lot like blackmail,” Dan observed. “‘Fit the barriers, pay up, or word gets out.’”
“He wasn’t doing it… for himself—he was doing it for me. He wanted to make… mine and Carla’s life comfortable.” He shivered. “He was that kinda guy. And it worked.”
“Did the boss do as he was asked?” Gary inquired.
“Yeah, he did. I got a check in the mail… about a week after James died.”
Gary lowered his pen. “So what you’re saying is your boss did everything James asked of him? That sounds like the actions of an honorable man. Okay, maybe he wouldn’t have done it if James hadn’t gone to him. But I still don’t understand why—”
Chris started coughing, and the sound made Dan’s heart ache for him. “Can we get you anything? A nurse?”
Chris waved his hand agitatedly, and they waited until he’d stopped coughing. He took a moment to draw air into his lungs.
“Listen to me. There is no doubt… in my mind… he threw James off those rafters.”
Chapter Five
