A Questionable Character by Lorna Barrett

Author:Lorna Barrett [Barrett, Lorna]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2023-07-18T00:00:00+00:00

EIGHTEEN

When Tricia returned home later that evening, she checked the Internet to see if she could find heavy-duty equipment for sale and tie it to Stark Construction. The firm’s website had no pages devoted to such sales, and none of the phone numbers listed for machinery for sale matched any of those listed for Stark’s company. She sat back in her chair and bit her lip, thinking.

Now, why would Stark be liquidating his equipment—especially when he had so many jobs lined up? Jobs that were contracted—like Becca’s tennis club. If he was going out of business, surely the company wouldn’t be taking on new work.

Grace hadn’t said when she’d received the request for funds. Had it been something that just came up or had this request happened in recent months? Tricia wasn’t sure she wanted to ask. As it was, she was sure Grace would not be in her husband’s good graces after speaking about it. Tricia was sure Mr. Everett would have considered such a disclosure as gossip. He’d made his disapproval quite clear without saying a word.

Would Becca Chandler know?

It was just after nine, and Tricia was sure that Becca would not have retired for the night. On impulse, she grabbed her phone and made the call.

“What’s up?” Becca answered with no other preliminaries.

“You’ve got a contract with Stark Construction to work on your tennis club, right?”

“Well, yes and no,” Becca admitted.

“How’s that?” Tricia asked.

“Now that the Board of Selectmen shot down my first location, I’ve got to get all the permits for the new one. I mean, it shouldn’t be a problem as they were the ones who suggested the alternate location, but that’s going to put construction back at least six months—maybe longer. I am not pleased about that.”

“So, that means you’ve got to renegotiate your contract with Stark Construction, right?”

“Yes, but it shouldn’t be a big deal. Why are you asking?”

“It’s just that there’s a rumor going around that Jim Stark’s selling off some of his heavy equipment. A lot of it.” Okay. Tricia wasn’t sure of that—but she had a gut feeling it might be true.

Silence greeted that statement.

“Becca?” Tricia said.

“I’m here . . . just trying to digest what you said.”

“Are you already in talks with Stark Construction on the new timeline?”

Again, it took long moments before Becca spoke again. “As it happens, my attorney said that Stark had put him off—twice—when it came to rescheduling to talk about the new timeline. What do you think’s going on?”

“I don’t know. I was hoping you might.”

“I will definitely get my lawyer on it first thing in the morning. If Stark is stalling me, I want to know why. And if Stark can’t deliver in a timely basis, I’ll be on the phone in a heartbeat to find someone who can.”

Of course, that was a lie. Becca had people who did that kind of thing, but Tricia did not doubt that Becca was a hard negotiator.

“As your Chamber co-president, I’d appreciate it if you’d keep me informed.

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