Read Online Red Tape by Michele Lynn Seigfried - Free Book Online Page B

a receipt. Triggers was in on Friday, an hour before the flood. Then there was the council meeting last Thursday. All the meeting regulars were there—Rose Sciaratta, Giuseppe Fruscione, and Mitchell Looney. The mayor and council. Me. Officer Williams working the metal detector. Triggers came to the meeting late. I’ll ask the other departments to compile lists as well.”
    I was glad that Rodney would be back to work later this week. I was tired of dealing with crazy stuff getting flung on me. I called public works and asked them to bring over as many fans as they had for all the offices in the building. I opened up all the windows and I began a quick inventory around the office of anything that might have gotten wet. The copier seemed to work. The rugs were dry, thanks to public works, and the computers were booting up. I saw there was a pile of papers that got wet, but I could reprint those documents. The fax machine was dead. I checked inside the file cabinets, and discovered the water didn’t leak inside. Looked like we got lucky again.
    Next on my to-do list was informing the powers-that-be about the issues here. However, that would have to wait; the fire alarms were ringing.
    “Rats,” I said.
    “You’ve only been putting up with this for a few weeks. I’ve been dealing with this since March. I have nightmares about alarms,” Bonnie said.
    “Hasn’t anyone contacted the alarm company to get it fixed?”
    “Repeatedly.”
    “This is like the boy who cried ‘wolf.’ One of these days it’s going to be a real fire and no one’s going to believe it.”
    Out to the parking lot we traipsed. When the first firefighter jumped off the truck, Bonnie whispered in my ear, “I’d like to slide down his pole.”
    I shook my head at her. “There is something wrong with you.”
    “How could you say that? I’m the only person standing outside here that knows how to find something positive about having to stop what I’m doing and stand outside in the blazing heat.”
    “I think it’s hotter inside; people are probably content to be out here.”
    “You are so negative.”
    Ten minutes later, we were back to work. I picked up the phone and dialed the mayor to see what she wanted to do about replacing the HVAC system.
    “Good morning, Mayor O’Donnell. It’s Chelsey.”
    “Hi, Chelsey, how are you?”
    “Well, not so great. Remember how I told you about the air conditioner causing the flood on Friday? Well, Detective Texidoro was here and he said it was tampered with and that it’s not able to be fixed. Our next meeting is a week from Thursday. Do you want me to get some quotes and do a resolution for that meeting?”
    “Yes, that would be fine. Was there anything else you needed for the flooding? Was any equipment damaged?
    “Surprisingly, the equipment all seems to be working, except for the fax machine. I have some money in my budget to get an inexpensive one. Public works did a good job of getting rid of the water. The carpeting looks better than it did; I think they cleaned it. I’m not sure if any mold will surface in the upcoming days. I don’t know how long the system was leaking before the water came through. I will put through an insurance claim today.”
    The insurance company didn’t like us too much in recent days. All we had were claims. Fires, robberies, and floods. I usually didn’t have to deal with insurance issues, but with Rodney out, that suddenly became my job.
    “What about your records; do you need any kind of records recovery service?” Mayor O’Donnell asked.
    “No, we’re okay. The papers that got wet are all in the computer and we can reprint those. The boxes in the lobby for Mr. Triggers were untouched. Everything that was inside the filing cabinets seems to be fine.”
    “Thanks, Chelsey.”
    I told her I would review everything with Rodney when he returned this week and we disconnected. I also made the decision to write an email to Mr. Triggers and tell him he had