Lisa Scottoline - Save Me

“I know. I used to think I loved him, but I must’ve been out of my mind.” Kristen shook her head, sadly. “We’ve been seeing each other on the side since early summer. I met him when I was at school picking up some papers, and he was being shown around the construction site, by people from the school district. One of them introduced us, and I invited him to talk to my class. He called me, and we started up.”

Rose remembered that Senator Martin had talked to Melly’s class, at Kristen’s behest. “Okay, so tell me what’s going on.”

“That explosion in the school, it was meant for me. I think he tried to kill me.”

“ Senator Martin? ” Rose couldn’t wrap her mind around it. She had thought that Kristen was involved in the explosion, but it turned out she hadn’t been a villain, but a victim. “Senator Martin tried to kill you ?”

“Well, he didn’t do it himself, but I think he ordered it done. If I hadn’t been out running this afternoon, they would have killed me.”

“How do you know? What the hell’s going on?”

“Paul knows my schedule. He knows that every Friday, I eat alone and microwave a veggieburger.”

“How does he know that?”

“Because that’s when we’d talk. That’s the only time we talk during the work day. It’s our secret.” Kristen bit her lip, her eyes glistening. “You were right. Marylou Battle was where I would have been, at exactly the same time, and I think they did something to make the microwave blow up when I used it. She was killed, instead of me. And Melly could have been there, too. I’m so sorry, really sorry.”

Rose didn’t want to go there, not now. “Didn’t the senator know you’d be out of school that day, sick?”

“No. I got morning sick, that much was true, and decided not to go, at the last minute. I didn’t tell him. I figured I’d call him from home, at the same time, the way we always did.”

“So why would he kill you? Is it because he doesn’t want the baby? The scandal?”

“Of course, he doesn’t want the baby. He’s worried about the scandal and a divorce, and there’s more than that. It’s because of what I know, or what he thinks I know.” Kristen sighed. “It happened this one time, when we were supposed to meet at our country place.”

“What country place?”

“A house, about an hour from here, closer to D.C. It belongs to a friend of his, who keeps his mouth shut. We used to meet there when Paul had time. He called it our love shack.”

Adorable .

“We were supposed to meet, but Mrs. Nuru wanted to go over a lesson plan. So I called and told him, but then she canceled, and I wanted to see him. I left a message on his cell, telling him I’d meet him there. He didn’t call back, but he didn’t always, if there were people around. I went, but he wasn’t alone.”

“Another woman?”

“No. He was with a man.”

“He’s gay ?”

“No, it was a man I didn’t know, and they were sitting in the living room. I had my key, so I let myself in, and when I came in, I could tell it was tense. You know how you can feel it in the air, when you come into a room after a fight?”

“Yes.”

“Paul didn’t expect me. Neither did the man.”

“Wait. Didn’t Paul, uh, the senator, get your voicemail message?”

“He must not have checked it. Or sometimes they get delayed, you know? Does that ever happen to you?”

“Yes.” Rose nodded.

“Paul got the man out in a hurry, then we had a huge fight.”

“What about?”

“Paul worried I heard what they were talking about, but I only heard one thing, and it made no sense. He was freaked that I saw him with this guy.”

“Who was the guy?”

“I didn’t know. But then, I saw his picture in the paper, at a celebrity golf tournament.”

Rose gasped. “Joe Modjeska.”

Kristen blinked. “Yes. Do you know him?”

“No. He works for Campanile, the general contractor at the school.” Rose shifted up in the driver’s seat. “When did you see them together?”

“The Wednesday before the explosion.”

“And the explosion was on Friday.” Rose put it together. “Modjeska is the guy who put the polyurethane in the lounge, which was supposed to kill you.”

“How do you know all this?” Kristen asked, bewildered.

“Doesn’t matter. What did you hear them say, that didn’t make sense to you?”

“Something about peanuts and foreign countries.”

“What do you mean?” Rose asked, her senses on alert.

“They were saying something about peanuts and Jamaica, Latin America, Chile, like a bunch of foreign countries. I asked him what they were talking about, and he freaked.” Kristen threw up her hands, upset. “That’s why it’s so crazy. I had no idea what they even meant.”

“I do. Modjeska killed Bill Gigot.”

“Amanda’s father?” Kristen’s eyes widened. “But I thought he died years ago.”

“He did. He worked at Homestead and was killed in a forklift accident, but I think it was murder. Joe Modjeska was Director of Safety at the time. Only one thing, I don’t know why. I just can’t put my finger on it.” Rose looked through the windshield into the darkness. She flashed on the beach, when she’d looked into the darkness for answers, and she’d let her mind run free. Then suddenly, it came. “Oh my God. I think I know.”

“What?”

“I found out tonight that during this time, Bill Gigot was transferred to the peanut plant, but the peanut business went bust. They wanted to convert the machinery to chocolate products, but it took time because the machinery had been used for peanuts and-”

“People are allergic to peanuts, like Jason.”

Rose blinked. “Jason who?”

“Jason Gigot. Amanda’s older brother. He has a severe peanut allergy, and Eileen told me this incredible story about how they found out.”

“How?”

“They didn’t know he was allergic, but their dad worked at Homestead and they switched him to making peanut-butter crackers or something like that. He came home one night, picked up Jason, and the little boy went into shock.”

Rose listened, spellbound. It was the last piece of the puzzle, and she could feel it falling into place.

“Jason’s throat swelled up, he couldn’t breathe, and they had to rush him to the hospital. He almost died, and they didn’t even know he had the allergy. He was, like, six years old. Amanda was a baby at the time.”

Rose remembered what Juanita had said, and spun out a scenario. “If a production line isn’t working at Homestead, it costs the company a hundred thousand dollars a day. During that time, the peanut machines weren’t working for almost six months. That’s millions, and Homestead had lots of orders for chocolate-filled nuggets. So they must have used the peanut machines to fill the chocolate orders, at night.”

“That’s terrible!” Kristen shook her head, incredulous. “Children would die. Would they really do that?”

“For that much money, yes.” Rose thought about it, and it made sense. “They ran the machines in secret, making chocolate crackers and chocolate-filled nuggets on the peanut machines. Nobody would know the difference, only the skeleton crew at night and the Director of Safety.”

“Modjeska?”

“They called him Mr. Peanut because he was around so often, and now we know why. The night shift knew, but that was only a few people, and they kept the secret. They were probably paid off, too.” Rose could visualize how it all went down, having seen the plant and the peanut building herself. “I bet Bill Gigot was with them until his son Jason almost died, then he wanted to put a stop to it.”