Page 33 of The Unknown Colton
But it wasn’t just the money he was concerned about replacing now. He didn’t want to lose his job or whatever else his supervisor had so very vaguely threatened. When Troy was done with his physical therapy session, he would drop by Mitch’s law office.
As he left the police station, Troy had that strange sensation that Lakin had mentioned the night before, as if someone was watching him.
Who?
And why?
* * *
Mitch’s lips still tingled from Dove’s kiss even though she’d left his office a while ago. He’d neverfelt like this before and wouldn’t have believed he ever would, especially with someone as totally different from him as Dove St. James. But maybe that was what made her so damn exciting.
“You look happy,” a deep voice remarked.
“I am,” Mitch said, and he looked up from his desk to see Troy Amos walking into his office. Limping actually. The man was obviously in pain. Mitch jumped up. “You okay? Need anything?”
Troy shook his head and grimaced. “First physical therapy session.”
“Hope you didn’t overdo it,” Mitch said.
“I’ve got to get back to work,” Troy said. “But it sounds like I may not have a job to go back to.”
“That’s illegal for them to threaten your employment over a work comp claim,” Mitch said. “It’s only going to make our case stronger.”
“I’m not sure my job is all he threatened,” Troy said.
Mitch tensed. “I have been hearing some things,” he admitted.
“Like what?”
“Like this oil company doesn’t like to pay out for anything.”
“I figured that out already,” Troy said with a slight grin.
But it had to be frustrating for Troy with all the years he and his father had worked for this company. “I’m going to make sure that they do this time, no matter what,” Mitch said. “But be careful.”
In a lot of lawsuits against this company, the plaintiffs had withdrawn their claims. Mitch wondered now if they’d been threatened into doing that.
Troy nodded. “I will. But I’m not as worried about me as I am Lakin.”
“You think they’ll go after her?” Mitch asked with alarm.
“I really don’t think they’ll go after either of us,” Troy said. “Now that I’ve had some time to think about it, I think Harrison was probably as drunk as Billy Hoover was last night. He’s probably the one who’s going to end up fired.”
Mitch nodded. “Supervisor on the job site. He probably will be sacrificed as the scapegoat.”
“He should have made sure the equipment was in better condition,” Troy said. “But I didn’t intend for him to lose his job.”
“We’ll see what happens,” Mitch said. But he was definitely going to add some things to the lawsuit to put the pressure on the defendants to settle quickly.
“Thanks for taking this on for me,” Troy said.
“Of course.”
Troy started turning toward the door, but Mitch stopped him. “If you’re not worried about the oil company coming after Lakin, why are you worried about her?” He loved his little sister so much, but he’d been so busy that he hadn’t seen much of her lately.
Troy lifted his shoulders in a slight shrug. “I guess I’m just worried because of everything that’s been happening in Shelby.”
“The serial killer,” Mitch said, and his stomach tightened into knots of tension and dread. “We’re all worried about that.” The murderer needed to be caught before he hurt anyone else. He had faith that his older brother would catch the killer.
