The inspector bent and pulled a wire. “The cover’s not right.”
Jericho saw the official looking at the men hanging around and trying to estimate how much he could get for holding the job up.
“Yes, it is,” Jericho argued. “We passed two other inspections in this state with the same electrical cover.”
The inspector started to argue—money flashing through his mind along with the weekend getaway with his girlfriend that a bribe would buy—until he looked into Jericho’s eyes. He didn’t just take a step back; he took two.
He had been around a lot of roughnecks during his work, but none had ever made his blood run cold. You didn’t have to ponder why Jericho was foreman of the job and how he had kept over a hundred men under his control to get a job of this magnitude done without incident and on time. He was a mean son of a bitch. His palms weren’t going to get greased with a bribe. This man was more likely to cut them off first.
Shaking, the inspector bent down to give the cover another look. “It will do.” He hurriedly started writing on his clipboard then handed Jericho the green sticker showing the inspection had passed before walking quickly to his car. The sooner he got away from him, the better for his health.
Jericho walked over to the waiting men. “It’s a go. Start lining up and I’ll hand out the pay.”
He frowned as he turned toward the onsite office, noticing a missing truck. “Where’s Billy?”
Ohio shrugged. “He never returned to the room last night or this morning before we left.”
Rick laughed. “Maybe he got lucky.”
“It would be a first.” Ohio laughed, too.
“I agree. Rick, drive over to that bar he went to last night and see if you can find out where the kid is.”
“Ah, Jericho, Billy can take care of himself. I want to get home.”
“Not a man leaves town until we find Billy. We came into this town together, and we’ll leave together.”
No one argued with him as Jericho headed to the office where his desk was by a window so his eyes were constantly on the site.
He had passed out several of the men’s pay by the time he saw Billy’s truck pull onto the site, parking next to Jericho’s own truck. When Billy emerged, Ohio immediately lit into the kid. Jericho heard the yelling in his office.
“I’m sorry I’m late. I had a flat.” Billy couldn’t hide his guilty expression.
“Boy, if you got laid and overslept, just say so. You don’t have to make up excuses to me; I’m not your mama.”
Billy turned bright red and shook his head.
“You better get to the office. Jericho’s been looking for you.”
Billy got in line with the rest of the crew. When his turn came, he couldn’t look Jericho in the eyes.
“Sorry I’m late, boss.”
Jericho nodded. “Since you’re the last one in, you can do clean up duty.”
“But, Jericho, I really need to get out of town. I mean, I need to head home.”
Jericho studied the young man. His instincts were telling him Billy was hiding something, but as long as it didn’t involve the job, it was none of his business. There was no quicker way to lose a good crewmember than to stick his nose where it didn’t belong.
“You know the rules; last one in does cleanup.”
Billy nodded. Once Jericho gave an order, he expected the job carried out.
“Hurry up, kid.” Jericho watched as Billy left the office and began picking up trash around the site. There wasn’t much since Jericho expected the men to pick up after themselves.
Jericho did a final walkthrough of the building. It was his responsibility to check to make sure all the windows and doors were locked.
He was walking out of the building when four police cars pulled onto the lot.