When the Bough Breaks (Rose Gardner Investigations #6) - Denise Grover Swank Page 0,19
solve my dilemma. “When kids have an accident, they can go from happy and healthy to dying in seconds flat.” He snapped his fingers to punctuate his statement. “It would be better to live closer to the Fenton County Hospital, which is only ten minutes away from here.”
I jumped, both because the snap had caught me by surprise and a sudden fear had mushroomed inside of me that I was putting my baby in danger by living out on the farm.
“You got any other kids?” he asked, propping his elbow on a rounded belly that wasn’t quite as large as mine and resting his chin on his fisted hand.
“No,” I said. “But I’d like to be prepared if I have more. I’d really rather not move again.”
His gaze drifted to my naked left ring finger. “So it’s just you and the baby, then?”
I bristled, but I told myself he wasn’t judging, he was appraising my financial situation. “And my fiancé.”
His eyes lit up. “And what does your fiancé do?”
I definitely didn’t want to scare him off, so I went with what I hoped was an innocuous answer. “He’s in security.”
He nodded his approval. “Then he knows the importance of a safe neighborhood.”
I made a face and moved closer, lowering my voice. “But is it safe?”
I nodded to the house with the crime scene tape.
He let out a huge sigh as though he’d just finished pushing a five-hundred-pound boulder uphill. “That is an unfortunate circumstance that has nothin’ to do with common criminals and everything to do with greed.”
“Oh?” I asked. “How so?”
A smile spread across his face, but it looked forced. “Now, don’t you worry about that, little lady. You let the menfolk take care of it.”
My own smile wavered. “I’m about to be a mother—it’s my job to worry, Mr.…?”
“Just call me Tex,” he said, reaching out to shake. When I offered my hand, he squeezed tight and pumped several times. “Everyone does.”
“I take it you’re a builder, Tex?”
“That’s right.” He gestured to the house next to Mike’s. “That’s one of my houses right there.”
It looked slightly further along than Mike’s. I decided to drop a line in the water and see if I could get a bite. “I was interested in the house next to it.”
“Mike Beauregard’s house?” He pinched his mouth together and shook his head disapprovingly. “That would be a big mistake.”
“Oh? Why?”
He leaned in closer. “I know for a fact he cuts corners.”
“You don’t say.”
“Yep.”
When he didn’t elaborate, I pressed. “How so?”
He studied Mike’s house for a second, then as though shaking himself out of a stupor, he said, “Now, don’t you worry about that.” His grin lit up his eyes, but he didn’t look quite as jovial as before. “You stick with one of my houses and you’ll do just fine. Are you lookin’ for a three- or four-bedroom?”
It took everything in me not to give him a tongue-lashing, but Neely Kate emerged from Mike’s house just then, walking toward me, dodging the ruts in the torn-up yard.
I lifted my hand in greeting. “Hey, I was talkin’ to Tex here about buyin’ a house. He says to stay away from the builder of the house you just left.”
She put a hand on her chest as her mouth dropped open in shock. “What? Why?”
Tex gave her a smug look. “He cuts corners.”
Neely Kate gave him a deadpan look as she reached us. “The corners all looked square to me.” Turning to me, she added, “Should we bring a protractor and measure them?”
It took everything in me not to burst out laughing.
Tex looked like he was fighting hard not to roll his eyes. “Not those kinds of corners, little lady. He’s sloppy and tries to get by with shoddy work.”
“Don’t they have inspections to protect buyers against things like that?” she asked.
“He doesn’t cut the kind of corners that would show up on inspections.”
“Then what kind of corners is he cuttin’?” I asked.
“Cheaper plywood. Furnishings pulled from other job sites. Using unlicensed subcontractors but having a licensed one sign off on the work…”
“Why doesn’t anyone turn him in?” Neely Kate asked.
He shrugged. “Not all of it is illegal.”
Which insinuated that some of it was.
Neely Kate pointed to the cordoned-off house. “The men I just talked to said a man was killed down there.”
Irritation flickered in Tex’s eyes. “Like I told your friend, the victim was someone who’d gotten greedy. It’s not cause for alarm over movin’ into the neighborhood.”