Impervious (City of Eldrich Book 1) by Laura Kirwan Page A

fighting got.
    From what Natalie said, it sounded like Emily had it out for Jamie, in a personal nasty sort of way. When Meaghan asked about it, Natalie looked blank a moment, then said, “Yeah, she doesn’t like him.” She didn’t elaborate.
    Mayor McCheese,—Anthony “Tony” Diebler—was elected right before Matthew retired. It was Tony who’d handpicked and appointed Bob, and like Bob, Tony was terrified of Emily. The council now had their hands in daily administrative decisions that far exceeded their legislative authority. Emily bullied and harassed staff, eviscerated funding requests as punishment for perceived transgressions, and engaged in destructive email campaigns against people who crossed her. Her control over the council was now absolute. Emily had become, in the vacuum created by Matthew’s retirement, the single most powerful person in city hall.
    “Well, that explains it,” Meaghan said.
    “Explains what?” Natalie asked.
    “All the weirdness. I’ve had the strongest sense that people weren’t telling me something. Now I know what it is. This job won’t be the cakewalk I was led to believe it would be. I’m going to have to earn my paycheck.”
    “You okay with that?” Natalie asked.
    “Sure. I love a good fight. Emily’s not going to know what hit her.”
    Natalie looked thoughtful. “Oh, I think she already knows exactly what she’s dealing with. I think she’s downstairs right now stewing about it. Meaghan, I know it’s a small town and you’ve dealt with much bigger stuff, but watch out for her. She’s more dangerous than she appears.”
    Meaghan laughed. “Yeah, yeah. I know. And so are the woods and the stairs and blah blah blah. You know, I’m not completely helpless. I’ve seen her type before. I can handle Emily.”
    Natalie glanced at her watch, her face bright red.
    Mystery solved. Exactly what Meaghan had thought. A big messy personality conflict on the first day. That’s what everybody wasn’t telling her.
    “You need to get downstairs to the mayor’s office,” Natalie said. “It’s almost ten. Take the elevator down to two.”
    “I’ll take the stairs,” Meaghan said, watching Natalie for a reaction. “I need the exercise.”
    “I’ll walk down with you. I need to drop something off with Annie. The mayor’s secretary. I can introduce you before his Cheesiness makes an entrance.”
    Okay. Meaghan had merely given herself a bad case of the heebie-jeebies, induced by stress. Nothing more. She’d dealt with plenty of people like Emily before. And in a town this tiny, she thought, how bad can city hall politics really be?
    Annie, a smiling blond woman a few years older than Natalie, greeted them from her desk in the reception area. The mayor was running a few minutes late. She told Meaghan to have a seat and chatted with Natalie a moment. It sounded like they were neighbors.
    Small town, Meaghan thought. They all know each other. Another change she’d have to get used to. Phoenix was a sprawling community full of people from somewhere else, some of whom only lived there during the winter. Meaghan had lived in her last house for ten years and had never met the people who lived across the street.
    Natalie left Meaghan in Annie’s care and headed back up the stairs.
    Annie busied herself with something on her desk and Meaghan waited. The office was silent except for the tick of a large antique clock above Annie’s desk and the occasional muffled voice from somewhere further back in the office suite.
    “He’s back in the building,” Annie announced after a couple of minutes. “He should be here any time now.”
    Meaghan wondered a moment how Annie knew that. The phone hadn’t rung. She wasn’t near a window or working at her computer. Meaghan didn’t see a cell phone or tablet anywhere. Then Mayor Diebler bustled into the room and schmoozed Meaghan into his office before she could think about it further.
    Tony Diebler was pleasant enough, but his