Bullies Choke New Girl — Unaware She's A Deadly MMA Fighter
Chapter 29
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He thought back, standing there in the gathering crowd noise, to the conversation he'd had with Ren the night before on the porch in the dark—about the difference between people who do wrong because something was done to them and people who just enjoy the doing. He still didn't know which one Grady was; he had a feeling the day was about to answer that question whether anybody wanted it answered or not."One more thing," Duke said, lowering his voice further. "Ellen Marsh is here today, setting up the county archive booth same as every year. Told me if things came to a head, she'd back up whatever you needed to say publicly. Said she's carried that fire story quietly long enough."Silas nodded slowly, grateful in a way he didn't have words handy for. "Appreciate her more than she knows," he said."She knows," Duke said. "A woman like that always knows exactly how much she's worth to the people around her—just waits to be asked."Near the podium where he'd give his remarks that afternoon, Roy Voss ran through his notes one more time—out of habit more than necessity; he'd given this same speech in one form or another at a dozen county events over the years. A man approached him from the side of the tent wearing a work jacket with the Voss Construction logo stitched over the pocket: Dale Hargrove had been the company's site foreman for almost 15 years, ever since Voss's construction business had grown large enough to need somebody else running the crews day-to-day."Roy," Hargrove said, low, urgent. "We need to talk.""Not now, Dale. I'm on in three hours.""It's about the barn fire. 13 years back."Voss's pen stopped moving across his notes. "What about it?" he said carefully."Word's going around that Boone's been asking questions. Digging up old records at the library. Talking to Ellen Marsh."Voss set his notes down slowly. "I already spoke to him. Told him to let it lie.""He didn't listen," Hargrove said. "And Roy, if this goes further, it's not just your old secret that gets dragged out. It's mine, too."Voss's eyes narrowed. "What are you talking about?"Hargrove's jaw tightened, old guilt flickering behind years of careful denial. "That generator that caught fire," he said quietly. "I was the one who signed off on the safety inspection that week. I knew the wiring was bad. I told myself it'd hold till after the fair. It didn't. You nearly died because I cut a corner to save the company two days of downtime."Voss stared at him, something cold moving through his chest. "You're telling me now?" he said slowly. "After 13 years?""I'm telling you because if Boone finds the old inspection paperwork, it won't just be an old story about a fire anymore," Hargrove said. "It'll be a story about criminal negligence—about a company that spent 13 years building your political career on top of a lie."