“We are not hooking up. And of course I would have listened to Cass. She’s the job foreman. I want things done right. You know that about me, Tug.”
“I used to know it about you, but now I’m not so sure,” he said. “I don’t care if it’s a TV show. We can’t have shoddy work on one of our jobs. It’s our reputation on the line, not that TV guy, and not Trae what’s-his-name.”
“I hear you,” Hattie said. “I’ll speak to Trae.”
“You better talk to your friend Cass, too,” Tug said. “You guys have been friends for too long to let some slick California creep come between you.”
“I will,” she said wearily. “Now, what else?”
“I don’t know yet,” he said. “I’m gonna walk all over this job, checking and double-checking.” He shook his head and started to leave the room. “Oh yeah. Zenobia called. She says there’s a woman waiting in the office to see you.”
“Who is it? I’m not planning to go to the office, and I’m not expecting to meet anybody there.”
“She wouldn’t give Zen her name, just said she knew you’d want to talk to her.”
56
The Ring of Truth, Again
“Hattie Mae!” Leetha caught up with her as she was walking out the kitchen door.
Hattie swung around to face the showrunner. “What now?”
“Whoa,” Leetha said, taking a step backward. “Who peed in your Cheerios?”
“Nobody. I’m just … having a morning,” Hattie said. “What’s our shooting schedule like today?”
“That’s what I want to talk to you about. We need to get your crew busy on the rear of the house, get all that siding finished, because we want to start shooting back there. And hey, what’s happening with that nasty old septic tank pit? That thing gives me the willies every time I walk past it.”
Hattie didn’t bother to hide her exasperation. “You want me to pull the painters off the front of the house? I thought you said that was a priority.”
“I did, but we’ve had a change of plans. The marketing people got a company that makes decking from recycled plastics to donate all the materials to redo that old dock but we need to start shooting the rebuild ASAP, because they want to use footage of the finished product in their upcoming commercials. Cool, huh?”
“For real? I didn’t even have the dock repairs scheduled because I knew it wouldn’t fit in our budget. That’s awesome.”
“But we need the back of the house to look great, because it’ll be included in the shoot.”
“Better talk to Cass about it,” Hattie said.
Leetha raised an eyebrow. “Aren’t you Cass’s boss?”
“Talk to Cass, tell her you discussed it with me. You can also ask her to check with the cops to see if we can get the old septic tank pit filled. I don’t like looking at it any more than you do.”
“Cool.”
“What’s my revised call time for today?” Hattie asked.
“Not until late afternoon,” Leetha said. “We’ll shoot Trae in the upstairs bathroom and bedroom in a little while; they’re too small for two people anyway.”
“Good. I’m going to run into town, but I’ll be back after lunch.”
* * *
Zenobia Pelletier sat at her desk in the small Kavanaugh & Son office.
“Hey, Zen,” Hattie said, approaching the office manager’s huge metal tanker desk. “Tug said there’s somebody here to see me?”
“Mhmm,” Zenobia said, not pausing or looking up. “She’s back there in his office. Looks like she’s been sucking on a lemon.”
“Great. Just what I need today. More confrontation.”
Tug’s office was little more than a glorified closet overflowing with detritus Zenobia wanted out of her eyesight.
The woman sitting in the chair opposite Tug’s desk had her back to Hattie, but something in her erect posture and the way she held her head rang a faint bell of recognition.
“Hi,” Hattie said. The woman turned slowly. She had shoulder-length blond hair, a long, narrow, heart-shaped face with a pointed chin, and, as Zenobia had warned, a sour expression.
“Elise? This is a surprise.”
Elise Hoffman’s lips turned up slightly. Hattie hadn’t seen Davis’s wife in several years. She was thinner than she remembered, and much blonder. Maybe she’d had some work done around the eyes?