Page 44 of Crash Course
"What’s worse," Rohan added, "is that the sludge contaminates whatever grows there."
Knew it. Dammit. Cilla stared at him for a solid ten seconds, trying to wrap her mind around the idea that, for years, she’d possibly been eating toxic food.
Being a criminal defense attorney, she’d seen the best and worst in people and thus, had built up a fairly strong shock meter.
This? Altogether different and her stomach revolted, tumbling enough that bile crawled up her throat.
She met Cruz’s eye. "We’re eating that shit? Literally?"
"If we eat produce from farms that use sludge, probably."
Blowing air through her lips, she went into lawyer mode, focusing on the facts and locking down emotional reactions. Part of her success meant compartmentalizing.
Lots of it.
"Okay," she said. "This farm my father wants to buy. Are they using sludge?"
"That’s a puzzle," Cruz said. "Given the amount of PFOA shown on that toxicity report, we figured it had to be sludge. Except, the water reclamation facility for Morgan hasn’t given sludge to that property."
"They told you that?"
"We pretended to be farmers looking for free sludge. They told us they could put us on the list. Once we confirmed they gave away sludge, Rohan did research."
Cilla glanced at Rohan. "You hacked their system?"
Ever the schmoozer, Phin cleared his throat. "We’ve confirmed they've delivered no sludge in the last ten years."
"What about before that? How long has this practice been happening?"
Cruz shrugged. "They could have spread sludge twenty, thirty years ago and the chemicals would still be there. According to what Ro found, no sludge has been delivered to that farm."
"Well, my father had those other reports that said the PFOA levels were lower. Maybe they were right and the one I saw was incorrect."
"Could be. You said they were retesting. Do you wanna wait? See what happens with that one?"
Did she? After hearing about toxic sludge, she’d like to call the local media and tell them to get on water companies giving away poison. She peered up at the whiteboard with handwritten notes regarding PFOA, PFOS, PFAS, and water treatment.
How many water companies gave away contaminated sludge? No wonder all humans had forever chemicals in them. They were literally consuming it.
Shewas consuming it.
"Cilla," Phin said, "can I ask you something?"
Shaking off her miserable thoughts, she turned to Phin. "Of course."
"It’s . . ." he rolled one hand. "Personal."
"Phin, we’ve signed an NDA. More than that, we’re friends and I trust you." She glanced at Rohan and Cruz. "All of you. Besides, I’m a big girl. If I don’t want to answer, I won’t."
He sat forward, resting his arms on the table. "You and I have talked about my work with Kayla Crowne. She’s active with the environmental lobby."
Here it comes.That nagging question in the back of her mind. The one she didn’t want to give oxygen to. The one she hoped hiring BARS would silence.
"Yes," Cilla said. "We’ve discussed it."
"We’ve also talked about how the EPA monitors Randolph Industries."
She swung a quick glance at Rohan, then landed on Cruz. "The firefighting foam made by my father’s company contains certain chemicals. PFAS is one of them, but the company complies with EPA guidelines. Dad is steadfast about that."
