Never Again – 35

 

"The question is, why is someone going after you again?" Cal asked. He was sitting on the edge of Joseph's bed, a beer in one hand, a frown on his face.

Joseph took a drink of coffee. Cal had forbidden him to have any beer because he said it wouldn't be good for him in his condition. He'd pointed out he wasn't on any meds stronger than Advil but that didn't faze Cal. He had put his foot down and since Joseph wasn't in the mood to argue, he'd agreed. "I doubt it's because I'm taking a job someone else could be getting paid for, which was Dan's reason to hear him tell it."

"Just my opinion but I think it was. Something had him upset, maybe he and his wife were having problems, he couldn't pay the bills, or what have you. You got the brunt of his anger. If I'd have been smarter, I'd have taken him aside and talked to him instead of just kicking him off the job."

"It's easier to see things like that in hindsight. However it still doesn't answer your question. And before you ask, as far as I know, I haven't pissed anyone off." Joseph chuckled. "Unless one of the guys has the hots for you and wants me out of the picture."

"Like how would they know?" Cal asked, his frown deepening.

Joseph patted his knee. "I was teasing. But still… No, there's no way anyone could have picked up on anything. We've been very careful."

"Do you have any enemies? When you owned the website, did you do a news story that might have gotten someone royally upset with you?"

After giving Cal's question some serious thought, Joseph shook his head. "I wrote a few editorials that didn't sit well with some people, but nothing worth trying to kill or maim me over—and certainly not at this late date." He tapped a finger to his lips. "Turning that around, do you have any enemies? A fatal accident at the site could shut it down and for all we know, I was the target only because I was in the right spot at the right moment."

"Now that's something I hadn't considered. Not the enemy part, per se, but the idea of shutting down the site so we couldn't continue."

"When you talked to the original owner, did he say anything about anyone else being interested in purchasing the property?"

"Nope. He jumped on my offer as if I was his last, best friend for wanting to buy it."

"Which still doesn't preclude the fact someone else might want the land now. We're fairly close to having everything cleaned up so we can start rebuilding."

Cal nodded slowly. "The worst of the real decontamination work is done. If we were closed down now, if our licenses were revoked, which might happen if there were more 'accidents', someone could step in, take over, and turn the place into a profitable business instead of Rebuild apartments to help get the homeless get off the streets."

"If that's the case, and we're only guessing right now although it is the most logical idea we've come up with, then at least a couple of the men are ringers. And that is not a nice thought. It means someone started planning this as soon as Rebuild bought the land and the building."

"One good thing," Cal said with a small smile, "we can eliminate anyone who worked for us before then. Still, I'm going to have to put everyone on alert that there could be more trouble."