Scratchgravel Road (Josie Gray Mysteries #2)(66)

He shook his head.

“Why didn’t you bring this up at the meeting we had in the cafeteria?” she asked.

He gave a cynical laugh. “In front of Paiva?”

“This information could be critical to the investigation. It helps establish a timeframe. It could help the coroner determine a cause of death.”

His expression had changed, but she couldn’t read it.

“We have a radiation specialist from the CDC coming to talk to us tomorrow. I would like for you to tell him what you know about the sores on Juan.”

His face clouded over with anger.

“They’re coming to help us, Brent. They want to make sure no one else ends up like Santiago.” She stared hard at him, but he wouldn’t meet her gaze. “You know more than you’re telling me,” she said.

After a moment, he held his right hand toward her, palm down, and pulled a bandage away from his skin. A blister, the size of a dime, was in the middle of his wrist.

Josie tried to hide the shock she felt. Her skin burned at the sight of it and she flashed back to the horrible images she’d just shown him of Santiago’s arms.

“Sarah doesn’t know. She thinks I burnt my hand on the iron.”

“How did you get the sore?”

He shrugged, his eyes frightened. “I don’t have any idea. When I saw the sores on Santiago, I didn’t talk to him about them. I wondered. But, like I said, it could have been anything.” He looked down at his hand and replaced the bandage. “Then I woke up this morning with this sore. It scared the shit out of me. Then you come here with these pictures and they’re way worse than what I saw.”

“Does anyone else at the plant have these same lesions?”

“I don’t think so. No one has said anything.”

“You need to tell all of this to the CDC tech. Show her the sores and tell her everything you can remember about the work you were doing.”

He nodded, his expression sober and frightened. “If Paiva thinks we had an accident, and I didn’t follow reporting procedures, I’ll lose my job.”

“Did you have an accident?”

“No! But he’ll assume we did if he finds out I’ve been affected too!”

“If you didn’t have an accident, then other people could be involved. You need to get checked immediately.”

“You don’t have kids. You don’t have a family and a house payment.”

Josie ignored his comment. “You say you don’t know where the sores came from. Give me your best guess. Do you think it was exposure to radiation?”

His gaze was steady, but Josie was certain the internal struggle was seismic. He said nothing.

“I know you’re worried about your job and your family. I’m not judging that. I respect it,” she said. “But sometimes you have to be willing to look beyond your own self for the greater good. If this was a radiation accident, there could be other people affected. I touched Santiago’s body. The coroner has worked on his exposed flesh for hours on end. There may be others at the plant who were affected that you don’t even know about. And we don’t know what kind of internal damage this could be causing to any of us.” Josie could feel her face getting red, and anger creeping into her voice.

His expression never changed. “I’m telling you, I don’t know how it happened.”

“It’s no longer a suggestion.”

Brent bent over in his lawn chair and held his head in his hands for a long while, staring at the ground. He finally sat up, his expression resolute. “I’ll meet with your CDC expert tomorrow. I’ll give them everything I know.”





SEVENTEEN


When Josie left Brent Thyme’s house it was 5 P.M. She called Dillon and explained the radiation scare. She tried to cancel their plans for the evening, but he told her she was being paranoid and she agreed to a late dinner. Next, she called Cowan. He answered his cell phone on the first ring.

“It’s Josie. I have some disturbing news.”

“That’s the only kind I get. Go ahead.”

“I talked with another worker from the Feed Plant this evening. I just left his house. He found a sore on his wrist this morning when he woke up.”

Cowan exhaled loudly. “Anyone else know yet?”

“No.”

“Has he been to the doctor?”

“No. I’m the only person that knows about it. He’s afraid if he talks about the plant he’ll lose his job.”

“I’d say the fellow has bigger issues than his job to worry about right now.”

“I forced the issue. He’s agreed to meet with the CDC in the morning to explain everything. I’m sure there will be an internal investigation at the plant, but I want him to talk with the CDC first.”

“Good.”

Josie drove toward home not seeing the road or the landscape. Her skin felt cold and damp. “You’re still comfortable waiting until tomorrow before we make this public?”

“We can’t let this information out without facts, Josie. The last thing we want is for people to panic. I should be back in my office by noon tomorrow with the tech. Just give me a little more time.”

She hung up with Cowan feeling no better about their situation. The media thrived on stories like this, and they never ended well for the authorities. If the police spoke up too soon there was a mass panic. If the police waited too long they were hiding potentially deadly information.