Rory (Hope City #7) - Maryann Jordan Page 0,90

over, kissing Sandy on top of her head. “I’ll go ahead and warn you that Mom and Dad were in the waiting room with your parents.”

“And loved meeting them, I might add,” Colm threw out, his eyes warm as he moved over to take her hand.

Her eyes jerked open wide, followed immediately by a wince. “Ow,” she mumbled, lifting her hand to the small bandage.

“Your head is really bruised, sweetheart.” Rory sat back down on the bed, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and pulling her in tightly before looking up at their visitors. “What did you find out?”

“I’ll leave this to Agent Anderson.”

“Agent?” she exclaimed then immediately winced again.

“I don’t know what the hell is going on, but will you three stop surprising her?” Rory kissed the side of her head after shooting a glare at the other men in the room.

Dave stepped forward and shook his head. “I’m sorry, Sandy. I’m an agent for the local FBI office. My specialty is organized crime. I’ve had Kovski from Hope City building inspections and Perkins on my scope for a while. When Perkins Electrical Company managed to snag working on Partridge Towers through Anthony Partridge, that put him on my radar as well.” A self-deprecating shrug followed, and he added, “My father was a general contractor, and I knew enough from working with him as I was growing up and through the summers in college to be able to go undercover. Plus, what I didn’t know, I faked well enough with the help of the other condo contractor. He was brought into the investigation only to assist with my cover.”

“I had no idea!”

He chuckled. “That’s the whole concept of undercover, Sandy.”

She rolled her eyes, then winced again. A growl erupted from Rory, and she placed her hand on his leg. “It’s okay,” she whispered.

Dave looked toward Colm and smiled. “I never got to work with Agent McBride at the Bureau, but just met him in the ER lobby. He was a legend, and it’s an honor to meet him.”

Colm brushed aside the praise, but Sandy noticed Rory was watching carefully. She turned her attention back to Dave. “So, was it Perkins or Kovski arguing with Anthony?”

“It was Perkins. There’s inspection fraud going on in city hall and that investigation is still on-going. I’ve been following Kovski for a while, and through him, Perkins Electrical. He’s desperate to get back into the game with a big contract, so I wasn’t surprised when he underbid the others for the Partridge contract. Anthony hired him, and I was sure that Perkins would begin to cut corners, knowing he had an inspector in his back pocket. My investigation isn’t complete, but I can let you all know of this because my cover is no longer in place. I ran into Sean in the lobby, and with him being an Arson Detective, I thought I’d better let him know what was going on. The Tower caught on fire from faulty wiring but doesn’t fall under the category of arson. I was trying to keep an eye on everything and had followed Perkins to the gala.”

“What happens now?”

“I had already started the process of having the wiring re-inspected by a private organization and they were building a case, citing the various electrical systems that need to be replaced. We had made it through the condo floors and to the fifth floor of offices by yesterday. It was fuckin’ dumb luck that you were involved on one of the last floors that needed to be re-checked. It was on the schedule for tomorrow—well, today, now.”

“I didn’t even ask about the Tower! Is it okay? Did everyone get out? Did it burn—”

“Shhhhh, babe,” Rory admonished. “It’s good, it’s all good.”

“Rory is right,” Dave assured. “Everyone got out. Many of the attendees had left for the evening. The others were in the lobby—well, except for the couple who decided to sneak into the bedroom of the model condo—”

“Oh, my God, you’re kidding?”

Dave grinned, shaking his head before continuing. “The only thing that caught fire was the panel in the office you were in and it set fire to the wall right next to it. There was a lot of smoke, but mostly water damage. The fire alarm system was installed by a company that knew what they were doing and was set correctly. It did everything it was supposed to do. It was the fuse boxes that Perkins Electrical was taking shortcuts on. Not enough that would make everyone