He grimaced and scratched his head. “I don’t know. There was some big shot involved…one who’s still got a lot of power today. I don’t want him to find out I’m talkin’ about it. I don’t think he even knows who I am, and I want to keep it that way.”

“Who’s the big shot?” When he didn’t answer, I decided to try another tactic. The last thing I wanted to do was get him to shut down on us.

“You said the bookkeeper, Dora, was friendly with one of the linemen?” I asked. “Where did you overhear them talking?”

“In the break room on my floor. The office girls never came down there, so I wanted to see what was up.”

“You mean you were spyin’ on ’em,” Neely Kate said, but her words were slurred. “Didn’t the diary mention something about that?”

I shot her a look that was half worry and half irritation. My goal was to sweet-talk him, not piss him off.

I decided to focus on a name in the journal. “Do you remember a Bill that worked there?” I asked.

“There were several Bills.”

“Anyone higher up?”

He thought for a minute. “Nope. Bill Teeter was the janitor. He died of a heart attack a few years back. Bill Oliver worked on the line.”

“Do you know if Bill Oliver was a friend of Dora’s?”

He snorted. “No. Bill Oliver kept to himself. Never talked to anyone.”

“Do you know anything about the fire?” I asked. “How it started?”

He shifted in his seat, keeping his gaze glued to the tabletop. “No.”

I bent my head down to look him in the eye. “Come on. I’m sure you know something about the fire.”

He turned pale and his hands started to shake. “You need to stay out of this, missy. You’re stirring up shit that don’t need stirring.”

Neely Kate glared at him.

“Be that as it may, Mr. Picklebie,” I said. “I still want to know.”

His gaze darted from Jed to the back door, as if gauging the likelihood he could make a safe getaway. Clearly coming to the conclusion that Jed would be on him like a bloodhound on a rabbit if he so much as tried, he shook his head and sighed. “It was mysterious. The police investigated, but they didn’t come up with nothing.”

“They’ve always been a bunch of incompetent fools,” Neely Kate muttered.

“They were sharp before the police chief, Bill Niedermier, died.”

“Wait,” I said. “Bill? When did he die?”

“A couple of days after the fire.” He shook his head. “A burglary. If the police chief ain’t safe in his own home, who is?”

I suspected Dirk was right about this whole Atchison mess being a big pile of dog doo. And it was turning out to be a whole lot more dangerous than I’d anticipated. But we were already here with a big ol’ shovel. I saw no reason to leave the job half done.

I had to take a deep breath to slow my racing heart. “I think you know more about the money and the deal than you’re sayin’. And I just love a good story about corporate intrigue.” I glanced back at Jed, then lowered my voice. “We’ll keep it between just us three.”

He looked torn for a moment, but there wasn’t a clearer out for him than there’d been a moment before. Jed hadn’t budged from his seat by the door.

“You can’t be spreading this around,” Dirk said, leaning toward me.

“I won’t. Promise.”

He licked his lips. “It all started in the summer, like I told you. Buchanan had been talkin’ layoffs, but next thing we knew, we were changing the line and we all still had jobs. But around August, we were havin’ some problems with the rivets. Gardner was helpin’ with quality control tests and I heard him tellin’ Dora some of the pieces were failing. Henry was fit to be tied when he found out. If we didn’t deliver, he was gonna lose it all. But the investor didn’t care. He said to keep on makin’ ’em. There was too much money on the line for us to stop.” He shifted in his seat. “I couldn’t stand back and let them bilk the buyer, so I let Dora and Buchanan know I was…aware of the situation.”

“What’d they do?” Neely Kate asked.

“They told me to keep my mouth shut.”

“And did you?” I asked.

“Well… If anyone found out, a lot of men would have lost their jobs.”

I didn’t point out that a lot of men had ended up losing their jobs anyway. Or the defective parts could have been built into planes, causing equipment malfunction and potentially plane crashes.

“Well, what were you to do?” Neely Kate asked, sounding sympathetic. “You had to help those poor men.”

“Dora quit after that. Said she didn’t have the stomach for it, but Gardner wouldn’t back down. He kept insistin’ someone had to know. Then Dora came back to the office right after Thanksgiving, bringing her brand-new baby with her. She shouted at Henry about not takin’ care of their baby, then the next day Gardner told me on the sly that Dora had found someone to help them out of the mess they were in.”

“Do you know who it was?”

“No, but the first shipment was due to go out a few days after Dora came in and threw her fit. Maybe that’s why she decided to make one last stand. I was gettin’ nervous about the whole thing, and when I found out what the parts were for—U.S. military planes—I freaked out. We weren’t just messin’ with some company. It was the dadgum U.S. government. I didn’t want to do no jail time. But Gardner said to hold my horses. It was bein’ taken care of.”