Extreme Exposure by Pamela Clare

Author:Pamela Clare [Clare, Pamela]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Fiction, General, Contemporary, (¯`'•.¸//(*_*)\\¸.•'´¯), Romance, Suspense, Women Journalists, Single Mothers
ISBN: 9780425206331
Google: e6Pr_aXJtK0C
Amazon: 0425206335
Publisher: Berkley
Published: 2005-08-01T14:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 16

KARA LAY back, eyes closed, and let the hot water engulf her. One

of the perks of staying at her mother’s house was the huge sunken

tub off the master bedroom. Her favorite lavender bath salts, a

dozen candles, and it was the perfect place for Kara to relax and to

think. As her mother was reading Connor a bedtime story—a

child’s book about the prince who ran away from home, i.e., the

Buddha—she actualy had time to relax and think.

She’d read through a mountain of documents so far this week, so

many pages that her shoulders ached and she dreamed in charts.

What she and the others had found was a long trail of complaints

from Northrup’s neighbors, including Ed and Moira Farnsworth and

Dottie and Carl Perkins. There were also dozens upon dozens of

copies of complaints that had been filed with the county health

department and then passed on to the state. Talk about passing the

buck.

There were also state inspection reports showing numerous

violations of state air-quality laws, some relating to the plant’s

smokestacks, the rest relating to dust emissions. In more than one

case, the state inspector had caught Northrup employees doing

funky math to make their toxic emissions fal below state limits—a

serious crime. The odd thing was that if she folowed the mountain

of paperwork resulting from the inspections, she always ended up

with nothing. No penalties. No major fines. The steepest fine she’d

with nothing. No penalties. No major fines. The steepest fine she’d

uncovered so far was for six thousand dolars—hardly a drop in the

bucket for a company that raked in ten bilion each year.

How could that be? Why would inspectors from the state health

department, whose job it was to protect public health, go to the

trouble of double-checking Northrup’s math if the department had

no intention of prosecuting the company for breaking the law? It

made no sense.

She knew exactly who could answer this question. But he didn’t

seem to want to speak with her. After warning her that she and the

whistleblower might be in danger, he had suddenly gone quiet,

refusing to return her phone cals. But Mr. Hammond had done

those inspections. He had checked the math. He’d caught them

falsifying their reports to the state. He would know why Northrup

had never been prosecuted. It was time to quit waiting for him to

cal back and to try a different way of making contact.

Kara stretched, wiggled her toes in the water, and wondered

absently if there was any way to put a gigantic, sunken bathtub in

her tiny bathroom. Tonight was her last night at her mother’s house.

The insurance check had come yesterday, and the three of them

had spent last evening shopping—mattress, couch, TV, stereo,

DVD player, and Sponge Bob galore. The furniture and television

had been delivered today, and Kara had used her lunch hour to

rush home and arrange things. Tomorrow, she and Connor would

go to a slightly different but familiar home. They would refil the bird

feeder, which was surely empty by now, eat spaghetti for dinner,

and snuggle together with a stack of books. Life would go back to

normal.

Or maybe it wouldn’t.

What was she going to do about Reece? Al

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