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Authors: Linwood Barclay
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anyone around here.
"Holy shit," I said under my breath.
Someone had dirt on the members of Promise Falls council who were accepting bribes, gifts, kickbacks, whatever you wanted to call them, from Elmont Sebastian's prison corporation.
My story on Reeves's Florence vacation had never made the paper. His check to Sebastian was obviously written after he'd found out I knew about his Florence trip, but it was enough to bury the story as far as Brian was concerned, and I wasn't sure I blamed him. I needed something that really nailed Reeves and possibly other council members to the wall.
This anonymous email might just be it.
I certainly had no confidence in Brian to champion my stories on this issue. Only a couple of days earlier, in an editorial that wasn't actually written in some far-flung part of the country and wired to us, the Promise Falls Standard proclaimed that a private prison would bring not only short-term construction jobs to a recession-weary town, but long-term employment. If the citizens of Promise Falls expected to be protected from those who would break the law, they could hardly adopt a "not in my backyard" attitude when it came to hosting a facility that would lock up those lawbreakers. And as for the prison being privately run, the paper had taken a "let's see" attitude. "This concept, while it has met with mixed results in other jurisdictions, deserves a chance to prove itself here."
The piece had Madeline Plimpton's fingerprints all over it.
It made me sick to my stomach to read it.
I went to Google Maps to find the rendezvous point. Even though I had no doubt I was going to head up to Lake George, I had to admit the email was short on specifics. I still didn't know who this woman was, or who she worked for. Someone at city hall? Could it be a clerk? An administrative assistant? Someone in the mayor's office who saw everyone come and go? Some pissed-off prison guard from one of Sebastian's other facilities? Whoever she was, she knew about Reeves and his free hotel stay in Florence. Maybe it was someone right in his office. The guy was widely regarded as an asshole; it wasn't hard to imagine one of his staff sticking a knife in his back.
I guessed I'd have to wait until I got to Lake George to find out.
* * *
"I've bought us tickets to go to Five Mountains," Jan said when she phoned in the afternoon.
"You what?"
"The park north of town? The one we drive by with all the roller coasters?"
"I know what it is." Everyone knew about Five Mountains. It had opened just outside Promise Falls in the spring to much fanfare.
"You don't want to go?" she asked. "I already bought the tickets online. I don't think there's any way to take them back."
"No, no, it's okay," I said. "I'm just surprised." One minute, she was talking like someone who wanted to kill herself, the next she was booking tickets to a theme park. "You booked tickets for all three of us?"
"Of course," she said.
"Those coasters are huge. They won't let Ethan on them."
"They've got that area for little kids, with the merry-go-rounds and everything."
"I guess." Then, a worry. "You didn't book these for tomorrow, did you?" It wasn't like Ethan was in school yet. He could go any day, and for all I knew Jan was planning to take the next day off, assuming I might be persuaded to do the same.
"No, they're for Saturday," she said. "Is that a problem?"
"No, that's perfect. It would have been hard for me to go tomorrow."
"What's up tomorrow?"
I lowered my voice so Sam, who was tapping away at her computer, wouldn't hear. "I have to meet somebody."
"Who?"
"I don't know. I got this anonymous email, a woman claiming to have the goods on Reeves and some of the other councilors."
"Oh my God, that's just what you've been waiting for."
"Yeah, well, I don't know whether it'll pan out."
"You meeting her in some dark alley or something?"
"I'm driving up to Lake George."
Jan didn't say anything for a moment.
"What is it, hon?"
"Nothing. I was
"Holy shit," I said under my breath.
Someone had dirt on the members of Promise Falls council who were accepting bribes, gifts, kickbacks, whatever you wanted to call them, from Elmont Sebastian's prison corporation.
My story on Reeves's Florence vacation had never made the paper. His check to Sebastian was obviously written after he'd found out I knew about his Florence trip, but it was enough to bury the story as far as Brian was concerned, and I wasn't sure I blamed him. I needed something that really nailed Reeves and possibly other council members to the wall.
This anonymous email might just be it.
I certainly had no confidence in Brian to champion my stories on this issue. Only a couple of days earlier, in an editorial that wasn't actually written in some far-flung part of the country and wired to us, the Promise Falls Standard proclaimed that a private prison would bring not only short-term construction jobs to a recession-weary town, but long-term employment. If the citizens of Promise Falls expected to be protected from those who would break the law, they could hardly adopt a "not in my backyard" attitude when it came to hosting a facility that would lock up those lawbreakers. And as for the prison being privately run, the paper had taken a "let's see" attitude. "This concept, while it has met with mixed results in other jurisdictions, deserves a chance to prove itself here."
The piece had Madeline Plimpton's fingerprints all over it.
It made me sick to my stomach to read it.
I went to Google Maps to find the rendezvous point. Even though I had no doubt I was going to head up to Lake George, I had to admit the email was short on specifics. I still didn't know who this woman was, or who she worked for. Someone at city hall? Could it be a clerk? An administrative assistant? Someone in the mayor's office who saw everyone come and go? Some pissed-off prison guard from one of Sebastian's other facilities? Whoever she was, she knew about Reeves and his free hotel stay in Florence. Maybe it was someone right in his office. The guy was widely regarded as an asshole; it wasn't hard to imagine one of his staff sticking a knife in his back.
I guessed I'd have to wait until I got to Lake George to find out.
* * *
"I've bought us tickets to go to Five Mountains," Jan said when she phoned in the afternoon.
"You what?"
"The park north of town? The one we drive by with all the roller coasters?"
"I know what it is." Everyone knew about Five Mountains. It had opened just outside Promise Falls in the spring to much fanfare.
"You don't want to go?" she asked. "I already bought the tickets online. I don't think there's any way to take them back."
"No, no, it's okay," I said. "I'm just surprised." One minute, she was talking like someone who wanted to kill herself, the next she was booking tickets to a theme park. "You booked tickets for all three of us?"
"Of course," she said.
"Those coasters are huge. They won't let Ethan on them."
"They've got that area for little kids, with the merry-go-rounds and everything."
"I guess." Then, a worry. "You didn't book these for tomorrow, did you?" It wasn't like Ethan was in school yet. He could go any day, and for all I knew Jan was planning to take the next day off, assuming I might be persuaded to do the same.
"No, they're for Saturday," she said. "Is that a problem?"
"No, that's perfect. It would have been hard for me to go tomorrow."
"What's up tomorrow?"
I lowered my voice so Sam, who was tapping away at her computer, wouldn't hear. "I have to meet somebody."
"Who?"
"I don't know. I got this anonymous email, a woman claiming to have the goods on Reeves and some of the other councilors."
"Oh my God, that's just what you've been waiting for."
"Yeah, well, I don't know whether it'll pan out."
"You meeting her in some dark alley or something?"
"I'm driving up to Lake George."
Jan didn't say anything for a moment.
"What is it, hon?"
"Nothing. I was
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