“But she did. I saw her face when you stood behind her. She wanted you to.”
Seville cuts off our conversation. “Hey, who told you to check out the warning panel?” he asks, chewing on a toothpick.
“Someone looking into the accident. The crane operator told her the warning signals didn’t go off. She’s a reporter, always making something out of nothing. Why?” I try to pass off Devyn’s suspicions as a silly woman thing and I feel like crap, but she knows I’m only doing it because she wants me to, not because I think anything will come of it.
Beau frowns, and I’ll catch hell for it later.
“This your fiancée?” Seville asks.
“Yeah.”
“Put a ring on it, and a big one, because she deserves it. That’s more slang my grandson taught me. Be-yon-cé,” he says, drawing out the singer’s name.
Beau perks up. “You found something?”
“Sure did.”
I trade a look with Beau. His eyes are flashing, but I can’t let myself get excited just yet. Seville said he might need to bring the dashboard back to the office for a proper look.
He shoves part of the dashboard into Beau’s hands. Wires are poking up everywhere.
“You disconnect this thing?” Beau asks.
“Yeah. This bastard’s been sitting here for two years. You’re lucky vandals haven’t come in to scrap it for parts. You’re lucky this son of a bitch was still here at all. Take a look. See these two wires?”
He points to a red wire and a white wire.
“Yeah,” I say.
“The red one is for the audio part of the warning system. When the balance is off, the warning system is supposed to beep. Depending on how bad, it can be a quiet little blip letting the operator know he needs to adjust, or it can be as loud as a fricken police siren that tells the operator, hey, buddy, better start doing your job or it’s all gonna go to hell real fast. The white one’s for the lights. The dash lights will start blinking, though it’s not as attention-grabbing as the alarms. See here, the tape on the wires?”
“This crane’s system has had work done?” Beau asks, studying the wires upside down.
“It went through a maintenance check before the lift,” I say.
Seville grunts. “Nice coincidence.”
Apprehension slithers over my skin. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, I pulled the tape off, like this,” he says, peeling the adhesive strip away from the red plastic coating revealing the copper wirings. They’re cut clean and don’t connect. “Someone cut the wires and covered the damage with tape. Tucked under the board, no one was going to notice. You’re fiancée’s on to something. You might want to ask yourself who would want to cause problems on your project.”
“She was here yesterday. Someone shot at her,” I say, my voice low, though as far as I know we’re all alone and have been since we got here.
Seville’s eyes widen. “Wish you woulda told me that before I drove out here.”
“Can you keep the board with you? I’m afraid if we have it, it won’t be safe. Don’t tell anyone you met with us,” I say.
“You don’t have any idea who would want to do this?” he asks, securing the tape the way it was.
“No. I didn’t think I had any enemies, but it appears I’m wrong. I’ll let Devyn keep digging. She’s close.”
“Let me know when you need it. Someone’s going to go away a long time for this. People were killed on this site. I wasn’t here at the time, but we’ve all seen the videos.”
“I’ll be the first to press as many charges as I can.”
Beau and I shake Seville’s hand, help him store his toolbox and the board in his truck, and watch him drive away, his taillights glowing in the dusk.
“I’ll be a son of a bitch,” Beau murmurs standing in the middle of the quiet street. “How do you think she knew?”
I will never doubt anything Devyn says to me ever again. “The same way she knew Stevie Johansson is distributing Sweet out of her warehouse. She just knew.”
“You cannot let her out of your sight. The closer she gets, the more danger she’s in.”
I pull my phone out of my pocket and connect her number. After six rings, the line goes to voicemail. “Devyn, call me as soon as you get this.”
“Mack’s with her if she went anywhere,” Beau says, trotting to his SUV. “He’ll be enough.”
I don’t answer. I’m too busy redialing Devyn’s line as it rings and rings.