“As many as you can beg, borrow, or steal.”
“Your wish, milady.”
Chapter 17
“I need a favor.”
Cassie shoved up her sleeves and braced herself, all but vibrating with the desire for a mission. “Name it, friend.”
Cam leaned across the counter at The Daily Grind and dropped his voice. “We’re having an unofficial meeting before the debate tonight. I need you to see that nobody comes upstairs except myself, Norah, and the City Council.”
“So you need me to run interference in case a certain pretentious city official happens to show up?”
“Him or anyone else.”
Curiosity lit her eyes. “Are we having a covert op planning session?”
Cam laughed. “Nothing so exciting as that. I just wanted a chance to talk to them off book about some stuff before we get to the debate, that’s all.”
Cassie pouted. “I think we should plot a mission to slash the tires on that new Lexus he’s running around in, acting like he owns the town. Prick.”
“Vick got a new car?”
“Yep. Top of the line SUV with heated seats and all those bells and whistles, like the automatic stop and back up camera and whatever. He was totally bragging on it to Neil Faber at the latest Rotary Club meeting.”
Cam wondered how the hell Vick was affording something like that on the City Planner’s salary. Then again, qualifying for the loan and truly being able to afford it were two different things. Vick was absolutely the kind of guy who’d choose appearances over practicality.
“You aren’t a member of the Rotary Club. How’d you know about that?”
“Please. I never reveal my sources.”
“Fair enough. I appreciate that I can count on your discretion, Cass.”
The door opened and Norah came in, laptop bag slung over her shoulder and two of the bulletin boards that had taken over his loft tucked under both arms. Cam hurried over to relieve her of the boards.
“You ready?”
“As I’m going to be.” But she didn’t have the easy confidence he’d come to associate with her presentations.
Cam knew he’d set an impossible task for her. Part of why she was good was because she was thorough, and less than forty-eight hours was hardly adequate for an in depth study of the topic. He was relying on her panache and natural persuasion to carry the day.
“You’ll be great.”
His assurance didn’t seem to make much of a dent in the doubts swirling in her eyes.
They’d set up the boards and laid out the folders of informative material at each seat by the time the other Council members arrived. By then, Norah had her game face on, calm and confident.
When she nodded she was ready, Cam launched in. “I realize you’re all taking time out of your busy schedules to be here. I thank you for that.
“You wanna tell us why we’re having this meeting now instead of as part of tonight’s debate?” Connie demanded.
“There are things relevant to the debate that aren’t on the agenda tonight, and I wanted an opportunity to present them without interference.”
“Meaning you don’t want Vick to know about them,” Hank said.
“It’s no secret there’s no love lost between me and Vick, but this isn’t about that. Wishful has a problem. A big one. We all know it. We’ve all watched it get bigger and bigger over the last few years at every one of our budgetary meetings. Money simply isn’t coming into town, into the city coffers at a rate sufficient to support the existing infrastructure, public services, or city salaries. We’ve all taken pay cuts or cut back hours. The public library is down to a single full-time employee, a couple of part-timers, and a small group of volunteers. The police force is operating on a shoe string, and God help us if we have any kind of fire that the volunteer departments can’t handle.”
“That’s exactly why we want GrandGoods,” Connie said. “The sales tax alone from that kind of store would be a Godsend.”