Darkness Read Online Free PDF Page B

her. What she really needed was a boyfriend. A nice kid, about her own age. Someone like Craig Sheffield’s son.
    Yes, everything was going to work out perfectly. By the middle of summer, even Mary would be glad she’d come back to Villejeune.

    Thirty minutes after Carl Anderson left his house, Craig Sheffield sat at the desk in his den, drafting the papers that would change the name of Anderson Construction Co., giving Ted Anderson the partnership Carl had ordered. It was, Craig realized, a sizable gift that Carl was giving his son. Over the last few years, Carl had become a very wealthy man. His net worth, Craig figured, was already well over two million dollars, and would rise substantially as soon as the newest development was well under way. And there was no end in sight, given the direction Villejeune was headed.
    But even as he worked, Craig found himself thinking about the questions Carl had been asking him about his own son, Michael. Far more than the usual polite inquiries. Crafty old Carl was up to something, that was for sure. But what? Maybe he was thinking of offering the boy a summer job. Couldn’t be. Carl’s strict policy was to give jobs first to local men with families, and thoughthings were improving, there were still plenty of men looking for year-round work. In fact, Craig was well aware that Michael had already asked Anderson about a summer job, and the situation had been explained to him. Nor had Michael been able to find work anywhere else. Everywhere he’d gone it had been the same story: “I’m just finally making enough to support myself. Maybe next summer, when the town’s grown a little more …”
    All very well for Villejeune, but for Michael the problem was
this
summer. If Carl Anderson could do something for Ted, Craig thought, then he himself should certainly be able to do something for Michael. Then, as he leaned back in his chair and gazed out the window across the lawn and the canal to the swamp, it suddenly came to him.
    The swamp tour.
    Phil Stubbs.
    Why hadn’t he thought of it before? Only last week Stubbs had been talking to him about a new liability policy. He was adding yet another boat to the tour fleet, and that meant more help as well as more insurance. Craig picked up the phone and called Stubbs. Ten minutes later it was all set up.
    Craig left the den to find his son. Michael was upstairs in his room, stretched out on the bed, a pair of headphones clamped to his ears. He was leafing through a magazine, which he tossed aside as his father came into the room.
    “I think I might have found you a job,” Craig said as Michael pulled the headphones down to hang around his neck.
    Michael frowned. “Where? In Orlando? I’ve already talked to everyone in town.”
    “Did you talk to Phil Stubbs?”
    Michael rolled his eyes. “Twice.”
    “Well, try again. I just talked to him, and he wants to see you.”
    “How come?” he challenged, his voice suspicious. “He told me he has enough people already.”
    Craig shrugged casually. “He’s putting on another boat.”
    “You pressured him, didn’t you?” Michael shrewdly guessed.
    Craig felt a twinge of annoyance. “What if I did? You need a job, don’t you?”
    “I should be able to find one myself,” Michael replied, flushing. “How am I supposed to feel, knowing the only reason he hired me is because you conned him into it?”
    Craig felt his temper rising. “How are you going to feel when you can’t use that motorcycle your mom and I let you talk us into buying for you? You know the deal—you pay the upkeep and insurance, or you lose the bike. If I were you, I’d be on my feet getting ready to go talk to Stubbs, instead of lying on that bed, arguing with your father.”
    Michael’s flush deepened, but he scrambled off the bed, pulling the earphones off his neck and dropping them onto the nightstand. “I didn’t mean I wouldn’t go—” he began, but his father cut him off.
    “You’re right,” he