Deadly Secrets, page 11
“And if it comes to public exposure, what about your job?” Bennett asked.
“Whistleblowers are protected by law, but I’ll worry about that when the time comes. After this, I might not want to work for Alumicor anyway.”
Kerstin placed her hand over Jana’s. “We’ll give you some privacy.”
Jana glanced at Rafe. “Would you stay with me?”
“Of course.” Rafe closed the laptop and moved beside Jana on the sofa.
“Let us know if we can help,” Kerstin said and kissed Jana’s cheek before following Bennett upstairs.
Jana’s palms were sweaty when she picked up the box and rested it on her lap.
“Finally, the mysterious box,” Rafe said. “I wondered but didn’t want to pry.”
“My mother left this with Travis Mills last year.” She wiped her clammy hand across the lid, and a mixture of hope and dread made her stomach lurch. The contents of this box could answer some painful personal questions, vindicate or condemn Alumicor, or simply be a waste of time on all counts.
“Any idea what’s in it?” Rafe asked.
Jana shook her head. “I didn’t even know it existed until Shelby Mills gave it to me at her husband’s funeral. I’ve been a little preoccupied since then, and if I’m honest, when I think about opening it, I feel an overwhelming sense of dread. I’m terrified of what I might find.”
“One thing you are not is afraid, Jana Elliott.” Rafe smiled. “Let’s find out what your mother left you together.”
Jana swallowed a sob. “The…important thing is…she left me.”
When Rafe spoke, her voice was soft, almost apologetic. “Maybe I’m missing something or can’t interpret nuance, but I don’t understand what you’re saying, Jana.”
“My mother went to the Outer Banks on a freezing day in December, stripped off her clothes, walked into the ocean, and was never seen again. For a year, I foolishly believed she’d show up one day and have a perfectly credible story for where she’d been.” She looked at Rafe and saw her own agony reflected in her eyes. “My mother killed herself. She left me after I’d grown to love and depend on her.” Rafe reached for her, and Jana couldn’t prevent the tears any longer.
“I’m so sorry, Jana.” Rafe rocked her in her arms. “Let it out.”
Jana purged the grief she’d thought long gone. When she sniffled, Rafe handed her a tissue, and she kept crying. “When the person I loved most vanished, everything else in my life seemed fragile and uncertain. Work became my safety net.” She looked at Rafe, and her eyes were full of concern and helplessness. “I’m sorry to dump this on you.”
“I just wish I could help.”
“You are. Listening helps more than you know.” Jana wiped her eyes. “After my mother died, I never felt truly safe with anyone, so I distanced from people because the risk of getting close was too painful.”
“So, your bevy of beauties is a ruse?” Rafe asked and winked.
Jana almost laughed. “You’re not the first to suggest that. Being an extrovert is my camouflage. If you’re approachable, people feel comfortable. You’re better at this than you think, Silva. You picked up on my defense mechanism and distracted me quite nicely.”
Rafe mimicked tipping a hat. “Glad to be of service, ma’am.”
Jana dried her eyes again. “Enough. Time for action.”
“Are you sure you want to do this right now?”
“There you go with that nurturing gene. Careful or I’ll think you like me.”
She retrieved the box Rafe had placed on the coffee table, pulled a deep breath, and lifted the lid. On top lay the last picture of her and her mother together. They printed it as a Christmas card for friends and family, before she walked into the cold water of the Atlantic. Underneath the photo were tattered brown pictures of distant relatives. Miscellaneous items littered the bottom of the box—a lock of her baby hair, teeth she’d lost as a child, school pictures, and a locket she gave her mother on her last Mother’s Day. A rolled manila envelope tied with a ribbon was the last item in the corner of the box. Jana lifted it out and handed it to Rafe. “Would you open that while I look through this stuff one more time?”
Rafe loosened the ribbon and unrolled the envelope. “You might want to do this.”
Across the front of the envelope was written in her mother’s hand, Baby pictures. “I’m not in the mood for more photos of myself. Go ahead.”
Rafe opened the folder and pulled out a stack of typed pages with handwritten notes attached. “Definitely not baby pictures and totally meant for you.”
Jana looked at the first note. Her mother’s handwriting and the date—the day before she died. Her vision blurred again. She stared at the opening line and read aloud. “My dearest daughter Jana.” She wanted to scream, but her chest tightened. “I feel like ripping the damn note into a million pieces without reading it.” She shoved the paper back at Rafe. “Will you?”
* * *
Rafe eased the faded stationary pages from Jana’s fingers and smoothed them out in her lap. “Are you sure you want me to read this?”
When Jana nodded, she began. “My dearest daughter Jana. First, please believe you are and always have been my world. The day I gave birth to you was the best day of my life. Sharing our adventures was more than I ever imagined, and I’m sorry to leave you alone. I hope you will be able to forgive me someday.”
Jana choked back a sob, and Rafe cupped her hand. “Let me know if I need to stop. We can do this slowly or in segments if it’ll help.”
“Let’s just get through it.”
Rafe squeezed her hand and continued. “You’ll want to know why. For years, I worked for a company I believed was reputable, honest, and caring. They are not.”
“Damn you, Fergus.” Jana clutched Rafe’s hand tighter. “Go on.”
“Alumicor has known for decades that the spent potliner from aluminum smelting contains toxic fluoride, cyanide, PCBs, and PAHs. They gave lip service and feigned attempts to correct the issue, and when it became too expensive, covered up the problem entirely.”
“Sounds like Shelby Mills was right.”
“Hold on.” Rafe raised the note in her hand. “There’s more. I provided information behind the scenes to state and local authorities to identify the workers and residents affected by these hazardous chemicals, including myself. Alumicor investigators discovered my involvement, and Fergus threatened to ruin me and have you taken away. You were just a child. I couldn’t bear it.”
“My mother was sick too. What a disgusting man.” Jana wrung her hands. “I want to—”
“I know,” Rafe said, “and we’ll have time for that later.” The tight lines around Jana’s mouth telegraphed her anguish more clearly than any words, and Rafe would’ve given anything not to put her through this torment.
“Keep reading. I’ll try not to interrupt again.”
“My darling, this has not been a short or easy road, as the enclosed pages will attest. Maybe by the time you find this, the laws and sensibilities of society will be such that something can be done. Too many friends, coworkers, and neighbors have suffered and died from Alumicor’s illegal and unethical operation, and my own inability to help is devastating.
“You may think I’m a coward, but I can no longer fight a conglomerate with no conscience. My physical and mental health won’t sustain me as the effects of exposure take their toll. Use these documents as you see fit or destroy them for the sake of your own sanity. Whatever you decide, I trust your judgment and again ask for your forgiveness. All my love, Mom.”
“I can’t believe this,” Jana said. “And sadly, I can. It all makes sense now. My mother’s final months were not happy ones. She’d been ill and tormented, but I never knew how badly or why. So, Alumicor was indirectly responsible for my mother’s death.”
“Why do you think she put the letter to you with this company stuff and left it with Travis?”
Jana shook her head. “Maybe she wanted to give me time to grieve? Maybe she thought Travis would handle everything before I found out. Or maybe she simply wasn’t thinking straight. Near the end, she wasn’t herself. I just wish she’d told me about all this. I could’ve helped…done something.”
“She was probably trying to protect you. Isn’t that what mothers are supposed to do?” Rafe flipped the note over. “There’s a postscript. Travis and I suspect the Badin Lake drinking water supply is contaminated from plant runoff. We’ve submitted a sample for analysis.”
Jana stared at Rafe, and her mouth moved wordlessly.
“I know what you’re thinking,” Rafe said. “They’re still hurting people.”
“If the water samples support Travis’s and Mom’s suspicions.” Jana shuffled through the other notes. “Travis must’ve written these because they’re dated after Mom’s death. Here’s a report from the Charlotte Water Environmental Lab Services, but it’s a year old.”
“What does it say?” Rafe leaned closer to read over her shoulder.
“Dangerous levels of cyanide, fluoride, lead, and cadmium, some of the same chemicals from the aluminum smelting process. This is much worse than I thought. I can’t believe I’ve worked for this company so long…and had no idea. Have I been blind?”
“You just trusted a deceitful man. We’ve all been there.” Jana’s pain was too raw, too cruel, and Rafe hugged her, unable to stay away. “I’m here. Whatever you need.”
“Just hold me?” She rested her head on Rafe’s shoulder. “I’ll never forgive Fergus.”
“Was he CEO during your mother’s employment?”
Jana nodded.
“We’ll get through this. One step at a time, Jana. First, we examine these other documents for ammunition. Then, we plan our attack.” She held Jana until she indicated she was ready to continue. “We’ll start with the earliest information on top and work our way to the bottom. Do you want to read or take notes?”
“I’m a visual person, so I’ll read, if you’ll organize the information into some kind of coherent timeline.” Jana cleared the coffee table of everything but the pages from the envelope.
Rafe grabbed a pen and notepad from the side table and leaned back. “Ready when you are.” Jana was fragile from the new information about her mother’s illness, her attempts to do the right thing, and confirmation that Alumicor continued to knowingly injure people, but still determination burned in her eyes. She’d persevere because they were on a mission to find the truth and ultimately vindicate her mother.
“This is a newspaper article,” Jana shook a paper in her hand, “that says former employees witnessed discard piles burning for days and were instructed to dump smelting waste into unlined pits on plant property. And this is a memorandum to Fergus about that article and what was done to downplay the impact to the company.” Jana dropped the pages in her lap.
“What? What?” Rafe asked.
“The letters IM on the bottom of some of the documents I downloaded. I think they mean internal memos, these memos. For each complaint from an employee or a concern from the public, Alumicor officials sent private internal memos to management about the issue and what could be done within the company’s fiscal limits. Can you believe they’re more concerned about saving money than lives?”
“Yeah,” Rafe said. “Unfortunately, I do believe it. Money drives too many things in the world.”
“But, Rafe, they had forty dump sites around the area, none with liners. Hazardous materials directly contaminated the soil and leeched into the ground and nearby streams and waterways. Some of the sites were eventually fenced and soil, straw, or clay applied on top, but those were only temporary fixes.”
“From what I know about hazardous materials,” Rafe said, “they have to be excavated from the soil and taken away completely. And they can cause all kinds of cancers from blood to brain and lung.”
Jana sighed. “My mother kept copies of these internal memos and arranged them by date with the corresponding issue and company response. No wonder Fergus threatened to ruin her and didn’t want me digging into the past.”
“And what better place to hide evidence than in plain sight in the archives? No one could ever prove intentional company wrongdoing without your mother’s notes. They tie everything together. And now we have a more recent violation.” Sensing Jana’s growing anxiety, Rafe slid closer. “Are you all right? Should we take a break?”
“Not until I know everything.” She pulled another page from the stack. “Look at this. Alumicor received numerous extensions on abatement orders and is still using zombie permits for water discharge pipes under the facility that continue to pollute the waterways.”
“Zombie permits?” Rafe asked.
“Expired but somehow extended by the state. Unbelievable.”
“Doesn’t the Department of Environmental Quality investigate and enforce issues like these?” Rafe asked.
“They’re supposed to. Someone was well compensated to look the other way, or Alumicor has done an excellent job of covering it up. Either way, it’s wrong.”
“Trust me,” Rafe said. “They won’t get away with hurting people when we’re on the case.” She nudged Jana’s shoulder.
Jana picked up the last legal document. “The cyanide levels in Badin Lake still exceed North Carolina water quality standards. The county posted advisories against eating fish caught in the lake.”
“Our next move is comparing these memos with the documents you downloaded from the archives and show a correlation between them,” Rafe said.
“I agree.” Jana reached into the box. “The only thing left is a newspaper clipping from Mississippi where Alumicor had another plant until a few years ago. According to this, they had fifty-one environmental violations and paid penalties of over three hundred forty-four million dollars and almost nine million in settlements. The penalties in North Carolina are minimal by comparison, and no one has even come close to that level of compensation.”
“They probably died before their cases were adjudicated,” Rafe said.
Chapter Fourteen
Jana clenched her fists beside her on the sofa. Rafe’s last statement sparked an anger she never knew she possessed. “We need a plan,” she said through clenched teeth.
Rafe rose without a word and went to the bottom of the stairs. “Ben, Kerstin, can you come down here?”
Footsteps sounded on the second floor and in seconds, Bennett and Kerstin joined them in the den. “What’s up?” Bennett asked.
“Alumicor is so bent they’re practically a circle,” Jana said. “We need to put our heads together and come up with some options for next moves.”
“Maybe you should…” Rafe pressed her lips together.
“Say whatever is on your mind. We’re brainstorming at this point.” Rafe’s usually dark brown eyes were tea-colored, and Jana gazed into them as if searching for leaves at the bottom to read her future. Instead, she saw only golden flecks sparkling in the dawning light like a treasure she would never uncover. “Go ahead.”
“Maybe you should fill them in first.”
Jana nodded and briefed Kerstin and Bennett on what they’d found in the shoebox. When she paused, Bennett rubbed her chin. “Spit it out, Ben.”
“The threat is real, not just suspicion anymore. I’ve been in touch with a fire department source this morning. The fire at your building was intentionally set in the trash room on the ground floor, and the suspect posed as a fireman. He ditched the turnout gear in the dumpster on his way out. The gear and poor camera angles prevented facial identification.”
“Is there any good news?” Jana asked.
Bennett shook her head. “I’d recommend you take a couple of weeks off.”
“Or quit,” Rafe added.
The suggestion might’ve made Jana angry yesterday. Her company was corrupt, and they were causing injuries and deaths. And her career and life as she knew them would soon be over. “You’re probably right.”
“My folks have a place at Badin Lake you can use,” Bennett said, “but don’t drink the water.” She tried for a laugh, but it fell flat. “It’s small, on the lake, and easily defensible.”
“Defensible? You make it sound like I need to move into Fort Knox. You expect me to leave my job, friends, basically my life, and disappear?”
Before Bennett could respond, Rafe said, “Yes.”
Jana pushed up from the sofa. Rafe started toward her, but Jana placed her hand on her chest to stop her. “You’re not intimidating me, Silva.”
“That’s the last thing I want to do. In case you’ve forgotten,
you were running for your life a few hours ago. That guy wants the thumb drive and will hurt you to get it. And now we know why Fergus wants the contents of the shoebox, which makes the situation worse.”
“What we don’t know is how far back all this goes. We need to compare the archived documents, my mother’s notes, and Shelby’s list. Together it should provide a timeline. That’s our proof.” Jana tried to breathe normally as she registered the heat of Rafe’s chest against her palm, the steady beat of her heart, and the gravity of her words. Did nothing upset this woman? “There you go sugarcoating things again.”
“I’m trying to do what you hired me for, but you’re not making it easy. Do you want your life back or not?”
“Of course. Don’t be ridiculous, but based on everything we’ve seen, the chances of that seem pretty remote.”
“Isn’t it worth a little personal inconvenience to find out? Surely you can give up working, shopping, drinking, and screwing for two weeks.”
“How dare you judge me.” Rafe turned away, but not before Jana caught a flash of something hot and primal in her eyes. She’d hit a nerve with the stoic soldier. Was she angry, unaccustomed to being questioned, or jealous? She started to ask, but Bennett rose and wedged herself between them.
