The suited man immediately stepped forward.
“I've got it.”
Beth let him take the handle.
Jimmy stared.
“Who are you?”
Beth looked at him.
The flirtation was gone.
Not replaced by coldness.
By something worse.
Guilt.
“My full name is Elizabeth Crawford.”
Jimmy waited.
She continued.
“I’m CEO of Crawford Holdings.”
Still nothing.
Then the company name struck.
Crawford Holdings.
The parent corporation.
The company that bought Harrington Industrial Systems eighteen months earlier.
Jimmy stared.
Beth watched him understand.
His jaw tightened.
The suited man looked toward him, then away.
Beth said:
“Jimmy—”
He laughed once.
No humor.
“Your company fired me this morning.”
“I know.”
That stopped him.
The answer was too quick.
His expression changed.
“You know?”
Beth glanced at the man beside her.
He said nothing.
Jimmy stepped closer.
Rainwater darkened his shirt.
“You knew before you got out of that SUV?”
“No.”
“Before the bus?”
“No.”
“Then how do you know?”
Beth’s eyes dropped toward the folded paperwork sticking from the side pocket of his canvas suitcase.
The termination envelope.
“Harrington's plant closures were scheduled for board review today.”
Jimmy shook his head.
“I wasn't part of a closure.”
Beth frowned.
“What?”
“I was fired.”
“Yes.”
“Personally.”
She stared.
Jimmy continued.
“I didn't get laid off with a department.”
“I didn't get a severance packet.”
“I got called into an office by six thirty this morning, told I had violated conduct policy, handed a box, and walked to the gate.”
Beth’s expression sharpened.
“What conduct policy?”
Jimmy looked at her for a long moment.
Then smiled bitterly.
“You own the company.”
“You tell me.”
He picked up his suitcase.
Beth stepped toward him.
“Jimmy.”
He stopped.
“Don't.”
Her face changed.
“Don't what?”
“Turn this into one of those rich-person moments where you suddenly decide helping me will make you feel better.”
“That isn't what I'm doing.”
“You don't even know me.”
“I know enough to ask what happened.”
“No.”
Jimmy shook his head.
“You know I offered you forty bucks because I thought you were stranded.”
“You know I looked stupid enough to think you needed help.”
“You know nothing about what happened in that plant.”
Beth’s voice stayed calm.
“Then tell me.”
He looked toward the black SUV.
Then at the suited man.
Then back at her.
“Ask your board.”
Jimmy started walking.
Beth called after him.
“Jimmy.”
He did not turn.
She raised her voice.
“Why were you fired?”
That stopped him.
He stood in the rain.
Back to her.
His shoulders rigid.
Then he turned halfway.
“Because I told them a machine was going to kill somebody.”
Beth’s face changed completely.
Jimmy saw it.
Good.
Now she understood this was not about severance.
He continued.
“I shut down Line Four three nights ago.”
The suited man looked toward Beth.
She said nothing.
Jimmy kept speaking.
“The vibration sensor had been bypassed.”
“The emergency stop circuit had been jumped.”
“The press was cycling thirty percent above manufacturer limits.”
“I shut it down.”
“My supervisor restarted it.”
“I shut it down again.”
“Yesterday I sent everything to regional safety.”
“This morning I was fired for insubordination.”
Beth stared at him.
“Who signed the termination?”
Jimmy reached into his suitcase.
Removed the envelope.
He threw it toward her.