Henry turned to him. “Carl, don’t let her rattle you, she’s just—”
“She’s not the one rattling me, okay?” he said, his voice rising. “It’s one thing to help grease the wheels a little in return for a favor here or there—we all do that.”
The mayor turned then. “What did you say? What wheels are you greasing? We don’t do that. Not in this—”
“Shut the hell up, Carl,” Henry hissed. “This isn’t the place for—”
“No,” Carl said, looking like a man who had come to a decision. “No, I won’t. This was wrong and I should never have let you bully me into it, Henry. You can tell my wife whatever you want about my, uh, extracurricular activities. It’s not worth going to jail for.” He swung back to Mayor Fielding. “It’s a kickback scheme,” he began. “We help smooth the permit process and maybe look the other way when some materials being used aren’t exactly what’s stated in the contract, and we get gratis office space in the lodge. We can lease it out and keep the rent as payment—”
Henry grabbed Carl’s arm and jerked him around. “What in the ever-loving hell are you doing?” he hissed.
Carl yanked his arm free, only to have Hammond lunge at him and tackle him to the ground. The third councilman began to back away, only to have Henry lunge for him, and seconds later, a full-on brawl erupted between the men.
Wyatt and Grant started to step in to try to pull the men apart, but the mayor waved them back as the sheriff ’s deputies rushed over to take control of the situation.
In the end, the media swarmed the melee as all four men were arrested on assault charges. As they were being cuffed and taken away, Mayor Fielding said, “Officers, could you please detain Mr. Hammond, Mr. Bassett, and Carl Thomas until I can come down and give my statement? Your detectives may want to have a little chat with Mr. Thomas regarding the statements he made to me today. I’ll be in to give my full account shortly and things can proceed from there.”
“You will be very sorry you did this, Tom,” Henry snarled as one of the officers started to walk him to the waiting cruiser. “I’ll be calling my lawyer, and you can expect a very nasty, very expensive set of lawsuits, both against this town and against you personally. I take my position on the council seriously, and—”
“Oh, I don’t think you’ll be seated on this council any longer, Henry. Or you two, either,” Fielding said, looking at Carl and the other man, who were also now in custody.
“We’re elected officials, Tom. You don’t have the power to—”
“One of the various codes—I’ll have to go look it up to get the exact number—allows me, if any council member behaves in a manner that is considered a direct threat to the well-being of the town or any individual residing in the town, to demand your resignation, and you have to tender it. Then there’s the statute—I’ll get the exact verbiage—but essentially, if you have acted unethically or defrauded us, you’re also done. You can expect a letter to that effect to be coming your way as soon as I get it drafted.”
“It’s not just Henry you have on your back, Fielding. I’m not going to take this lying down,” Hammond started in as he was being led away. “I’ll bury you in lawsuits and cost you every dime you’ve ever made.”
“Oh, I think we will all be calling our lawyers, but let’s wait and see on who will pay for what,” Fielding said.
“Your word against ours, Tom,” Henry said, looking more than a little desperate now.
“With all these witnesses?” Fielding said. “Hardly. Not to mention Carl there has already confessed.”
“Wait,” Chey said, and motioned to Peli, who climbed through the bushes and handed Chey a little memory card to the very shocked expressions of their collective little group, as well as the men being hauled away.
“It’s all on there,” Peli said.
“Awesome,” Chey said, and grinned. “Thank you.” She quickly trotted over to one of the police officers. “I think this will give your investigators a great place to start,” she said, then walked back to the group.
The reporters all raced back to their news vans, and it looked like there would be quite a parade heading to the sheriff ’s department. A few remained behind, looking anxious to speak to the mayor about what had just unfolded.
“Separate cars,” Fielding called out, and the sheriff ’s deputies nodded. “The last thing we need is time for them to concoct some wild story,” he muttered. He looked deeply troubled by what had just unfolded, but appeared to do his best to shake his worry off as he turned back to Chey, Wyatt, Vivi, and Grant. “Well, I expected today to be exciting, but I admit this wasn’t how I thought it would play out.”
Wyatt pulled Chey close and hugged her, and they both waved to Peli, who headed back to the crowd, camera in tow, where Dom stood waiting for her. Grant had a protective arm around Vivi’s shoulders as well.
“Are you okay, Chey?” Vivi asked, clearly still trying to process the swiftly unfolding events.
She nodded. “Oh, I’m very fine, now.”
Wyatt kissed her temple and said, “The natives are getting pretty antsy out there.” Word had spread through the crowd about the fight that had broken out and the vibe had turned from festive and hopeful to restless and concerned. “I’m going to hop up on stage and get the crowd under control.”
Grant looked at Vivi. “If you’re sure you’re okay, maybe I’ll give him some help.”
Addie Pearl took Vivi’s other hand. “We’re fit as fiddles,” she said. “You all go on and we’ll sort things out with the mayor.”
Once they were gone, Addie, Chey, and Vivi turned to Mayor Fielding.
“What happens now?” Addie Pearl asked.
“I suppose we’ll have to delay the council vote,” Vivi said, looking distressed.
Fielding shook his head. “No, we’re going forward.” Looking resolute, he motioned to the remaining two councilmen. “Something positive is going to come from all this. We’re going to need that to hold on to once all this gets out.” He took a deep, steadying breath, then put a determined smile on his face. “We all reviewed both plans before arriving today, and yours is a solid and much needed solution to our problems.” He turned to Addie Pearl. “Thank you for sending the plans to me. I appreciated the heads-up.”
“I knew calmer heads would prevail, and I wanted your support, Tom. I knew I could trust you to do right by them, and us.” Addie looked at Vivi. “I’m sorry for going around you all, but Tom and I go way back, and—”
“No,” Vivi said. “Of course, we trust your judgment.” She looked at the mayor. “Don’t you need a majority vote—” Vivi began.
Fielding nodded to the two councilmen. “I believe we require a minimum of three members on any given vote, and I have the authority to stand in when needed, so we have our quorum right here. Now, technically, yes, we will have to ask for and process the resignations, then take an actual vote, but I think we’re all in agreement we won’t be working with Pantheon.”