by Kim McMahill
“Where’s Wiley?”
“I’ve temporarily reassigned him to R & D to consult on your new holiday line. I was on my way to tell you about it after I got Ms. Rogers settled in. She’ll be covering for Wiley to keep things running smoothly here until he’s finished with this project.”
“This is my division. I should have been consulted before you just move my employees around and bring someone in without my approval. Nothing against your abilities, Ms. Rogers, since I know nothing about you, but this has got to be the most unorthodox way of managing I’ve ever experienced.”
“It’s only for a few days, a week at the most, and don’t forget, Ms. Hunter, at the end of the day, everyone here is my employee,” Preston stated.
“Yes, how can I forget? My assistant is your assistant. My desk is your desk. I could go on, but I’m running late for an appointment with the finance team.”
Morgan turned to leave, but was stopped by Preston’s voice. “Why are you here?”
“I find it essential to learn about the process, observe, and to try to ferret out any inefficiencies, if any exist. However, today, I’m just trying to postpone spending time with my—I mean—your assistant. If you’d like me to stay, we need to discuss his reassignment.”
“Is Aaron not doing a good job?”
“You know that’s not what I’m talking about. I need an assistant loyal to me, who I can trust. Are we finished?”
He nodded and Morgan strode off. It was totally unprofessional of her to blow up at Preston in front of Ms. Rogers, but she was starting to no longer care if she lost her job. Besides, she had no doubt that Ms. Rogers was as much under his thumb as Aaron was.
* * *
“Preston, you have a big problem and we need to take care of it immediately,” Sofia warned. “If she doesn’t trust Aaron, I can guarantee she doesn’t trust you or anyone else around here, with the possible exception of Wiley, which would explain why she spends so much time down here.”
“I could just fire her for insubordination—that was quite an outburst. Maybe she’s even mad enough to quit.”
She shook her head in disgust. “Seriously? You have an angry, distrustful employee with some damaging information and possibly even a sample of your dangerous synthetic sweetener, and your answer is to fire her? The first thing she’ll do is go public with Dexter and Stan’s allegations. The FBI has already determined that Dexter’s death wasn’t an accident. The last thing we need is for them to realize Stan’s demise wasn’t either and connect the two.”
“What do you suggest we do?”
“If I have to tell you, then you are as incompetent as J.R. feared.”
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
Devyn had a couple of calls to make. She promised Nick she’d get the photo and name of Candace Rogers out to all law enforcement agencies, which he still hadn’t gotten to, and check if there was any progress on tracing where Frank’s large Cayman bank deposits came from. But what she really wanted to do was go to Arizona with Nick. She hadn’t bothered to suggest it to him, but she hadn’t given up yet.
Back at her desk, Devyn located the number of Smith & Brown Consumer Analytics. “I need to speak to Dexter Fowler’s former supervisor,” Devyn stated to the professional-sounding woman who answered the phone.
After several minutes the line connected. “Hello, this is Neil Kimball. How may I help you?”
“Special Agent Devyn Nash, Salt Lake FBI field office. Were you Dexter Fowler’s supervisor?”
“Yes. I was up until his accident, but since you’re the second call I’ve gotten concerning Dexter in less than a week, I’m starting to fear there’s more to the story.”
Devyn forced herself to pause and think about how Nick would handle this interview. Her initial instinct was to jump in with the hard questions, but that tactic often put people on edge and they’d tighten up.
“Mr. Kimball, I’m very sorry for your and your company’s loss. I regret to inform you that we believe that Mr. Fowler’s death was the result of foul play.”
There was silence on the line. Devyn suppressed her urge to push on. Nick would give the man a moment to process the unpleasant information.
“How can that be possible? The police report clearly stated that the cause of death was accidental.”
“Upon further review of the evidence from the scene, we found an explosive material we believe was detonated to cause the ski to disconnect from the binding at a very high rate of speed in a steep, densely vegetated, out-of-bounds location.”
“Are there any suspects?”
“That’s why I’m calling. Mr. Fowler was testing a product for Stan Jacobson of Giant Cactus Foods. There was an e-mail exchange between the men, which indicated that Mr. Fowler believed the sample provided by Mr. Jacobson was unsafe. The e-mails were discovered by accident, and we hoped you could tell us more about the testing.”
“As I told the woman who called last week, we have no record of Dexter doing any work for Stan Jacobson. She seemed hesitant to provide the company name, so I wasn’t able to check the database under Giant Cactus Foods. Hold on just a moment.”
Devyn listened patiently to the clicking of numerous typed commands on a keyboard.
“Hmm, I’m looking at a list of all the open projects Dexter was working on prior to his death. All have been reassigned to other analysts except one logged in as GCF, which could stand for Giant Cactus Foods. In the project status block, someone typed ‘unable to locate contact. Reassignment pending contact.’ In the contact block it lists S.J. and here’s the number.”
Devyn jotted down the number. Quickly typing the area code into the computer, she instantly verified it was an Arizona number. “What else does it say?”
“Data upload pending supervisory concurrence.”
“And that would be you?”
“Normally, yes, but I was out of town at a conference during the date the comment was input, and I have no knowledge of what Dexter was working on. The project profile is very unusual. Dexter clearly populated only the fields required to establish a project file, but provided none of the information we require all analysts to provide. There appears to be no description of the analysis to be performed or billing information other than the acknowledgement of receipt of a one-thousand-dollar retainer remitted in cash. Let me check something else.”
After another series of keystrokes, he came back on the line. “I was able to cross-check with finance and verified a cash payment was received and deposited on the same date the original profile was entered. Most of our clients demand a high degree of confidentiality, though our standard agreement that clients must sign is the acceptance that Smith & Brown is required to notify the applicable regulatory agencies in certain cases where public health may be at risk. According to the screen, this agreement is not on file.”
“Is it possible that Dexter had hard copy records of this project?”
“I helped clean out his office, since I didn’t feel I could ask that of his colleagues. I found no files that I didn’t recognize, though his office was an uncharacteristic disaster, so maybe I missed something. I just don’t understand why Dexter kept me in the dark on this. He generally briefed me weekly on the progress and findings of all his open projects.”
“It appears he planned to bring you into the loop. The last e-mail stated the sample needed further testing from someone with more specialized experience. He also mentioned needing to meet with his supervisor when he got back from vacation, and if his supervisor agreed with his initial assessment, they would have no choice but to report the findings to the appropriate regulatory agency. Lucky for you, you were out of town.”
“I’m not sure I follow.”
“Not only is Mr. Fowler dead, so is Stan Jacobson. If you knew about the analysis, you probably would be too.”
“Do you think I may still be in danger?”
“I doubt it since you don’t know anything about the project, but try to be extra observant and call me immed
iately if anything concerns you. I’d like to send a local FBI field agent to comb over Mr. Fowler’s office and review everything removed. Do we need a warrant or will you consent?”
“Whatever we can do to help, but I doubt you’ll find anything. Once the files and personal effects were boxed up, we had the office cleaned by a professional cleaning company. We even repainted and redecorated it to give it a new look for the analyst we moved in a couple weeks ago.”
“In that case, we’ll just look through the boxes. If Mr. Fowler’s office was uncharacteristically unkempt, maybe someone already searched it anyway.”
“Now that you mention it, his office wasn’t locked, which is against policy. As I mentioned earlier, our projects require a certain degree of confidentiality. I figured he was in such a hurry to go skiing he forgot. Once we discovered the major procedure breech…well, there was no one to reprimand.”
“Thank you, Mr. Kimball, and again, I am sorry to relay such unpleasant news. If you think of anything that might help, please call. I should be able to have someone over to go through the boxes later today if that’s okay with you.”
“Certainly.”
Devyn leaned back, dreading the next call she needed to make. Due to Smith & Brown’s location, there was no other option than to call Sacramento. So far, the agent had been totally uncooperative. She feared he would be even more difficult than usual since she had gotten permission to follow up on the ski accident and inadvertently put his ineptness on display by getting the local investigating officer to admit to submitting a bogus accident report.
As she reached for the phone, it rang. Glancing down she noted the Wyoming area code and smiled.
“Howdy, cowboy, what do I owe this unexpected pleasure to?”
“Just wanted to hear your voice and see how things are coming along. Are you any closer to putting Coterie out of business?”
Devyn quickly briefed Gage on all the new developments that had occurred over the past twenty-four hours.
“You don’t sound nearly as excited as I would expect you to after getting such a big break. What gives?”
“Well, I was just about to call Sacramento and ask for help, which I dread, but mostly, I don’t like being left behind. I can’t help but feel this thing with Nick and his ex is real and I should be there.”
“Did Agent Melonis ask you not to come along?”
“Not directly.”
“Did Conroy order you not to go?”
“Not really. They both just gave me a list of things to follow up on while Nick’s gone.”
“And how’s that going?’
“Got to call Sacramento and get him to visit Smith & Brown and go through everything removed from Dexter Fowler’s office, and post an APB on Candace Rogers, though I doubt she’s still using that name. I’ve already pressured the lab as much as I dare without causing a rebellion, and no leads in tracing the Cayman bank deposits. Your prisoners remember anything new?”
“Nope, I’m confident they know nothing. They’re too far down the food chain, but I do ask them every time I see them, just for you.”
Devyn couldn’t stop the smile that spread across her face every time she talked to Gage. Hearing his voice made memories of their kiss come flooding back. If he could affect her so much with a kiss, she feared letting him get any closer or she’d lose all ability to function like a professional.
“Not that I don’t enjoy talking to you, but if I’m going to get the last two items checked off Nick’s honey-do list and get to Arizona before he finds out I’m on my way, I’ve got to get a move on it.”
Gage chuckled, and the sound of his laugh made butterflies flutter in her stomach. She had it bad.
“Now, that’s my girl. One more thing, though, before you go terrorize Melonis and his ex. If you’ll be back by the weekend, I was thinking I could head south for a visit.”
The thought of seeing Gage excited her and scared her. They hadn’t really had much chance to spend any time together away from the job. What if he found her as disagreeable as all the other men she worked with? She had to believe he was different, secure enough in his masculinity not to be intimidated by her work or her personality. She’d never be the fawning girly-girl that so many men seemed to like.
“You still there? It was just a thought. If you don’t want me to come down, that’s fine.”
“Yes, sorry. I’d love to see you. I worry a little that if you look too close, you won’t like what you see, and you’ll turn tail and run like everyone else.”
“Devyn?”
“Yes?”
“You don’t scare me.”
As she disconnected, she only wished she could say the same about the dashing sheriff who kept forcing his way into her thoughts and dreams. She was definitely afraid, afraid of giving him her heart.
CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
Morgan didn’t even slow her stride as she stalked past Aaron’s desk. She could sense him watching her, but he clearly knew better than to engage her. She shut her door with more force than necessary and then dropped into her chair. Looking down, she realized her hands were shaking.
She wiggled the mouse, bringing her computer screen to life. After typing in her password, she pulled up a blank word processing document. Her fingers flew across the keyboard, quickly filling the page with words.
The more she vented her frustrations and reasons for resignation, the more her temper cooled. She couldn’t quit, at least not until talking to Nick. With everything he told her, she no longer had any doubt that something was drastically wrong at GCF. She feared he would need her to keep her position with the company in order to expose them.
A quiet tap on her door brought her out of her thoughts. She closed the document before answering. “Come in.”
“Sorry to bother you, Ms. Hunter, but is there anything I can help you with? You seem upset, and I hope it has nothing to do with me being late. It won’t happen again.”
His meek and apologetic tone made her wonder if Preston had already warned him that she wanted to get rid of him.
“I’m sure you already know that Mr. Hoyle temporarily transferred Wiley Hartman out of the plant and brought in a replacement without consulting me. I’ve never worked for anyone who made unilateral personnel decisions in my department without my consent or knowledge. It’s disrespectful to me, and it undermines my position with my staff. No need to do what I request as long as Mr. Hoyle is happy. Right, Aaron?” she snapped a little more caustically than she intended.
“He’s at the top of the heap. The buck stops with him. What would you have suggested I do when he told me to get the flash drive out of your desk? Which I assume is the main issue you are still angry about.”
“Yes, I am, and I don’t know what I expected you to do in that situation. He had no right putting either of us in that position, and he had no right reassigning Wiley without discussing it with me first.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know,” Morgan replied, rubbing her temples. “I really can’t think straight right now. I always try to sit on big issues for at least twenty-four hours to avoid making rash decisions. I don’t want to talk about it anymore until I’ve had a chance to process whether or not I can continue to work under these conditions, not that it may be an option. I kind of unloaded on him in front of Ms. Rogers.”
“I’ve got to hand it to you. I’ve never seen anyone attempt to stand up to Mr. Hoyle the way you have. I hope it doesn’t come back to haunt you.”
Aaron turned and walked out of Morgan’s office before she could decipher the expression on his face. She couldn’t tell if he really admired her for standing up to Preston or if he was issuing her a warning. At the moment, she didn’t really care. All she wanted was for this miserable day to end.
The thought of seeing Nick helped calm her nerves. She needed someone to confide in whom she trusted. She also couldn’t deny the fact that she missed him and wanted nothing more than to see him again. Unfor
tunately, Nick had instructed her to stay put until she left to pick him up at the airport. If she didn’t obey, she had no doubt Agent Tanner would rat her out, so she’d continue to stare at the clock and wait.
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
Aaron pulled the vibrating phone out of his pocket and glanced at the screen. He strode down the hall toward Preston’s office. The woman sitting behind the desk outside Preston’s door only nodded at him as he walked past her and entered.
His eyes locked on the stunning auburn-haired woman for a moment before he turned his attention to Preston. He knew this woman well under different circumstances, and a different look, as Sofia Wilks. He said nothing and waited for an introduction.
“Aaron, I’d like you to meet Candace Rogers.”
Aaron nodded but didn’t bother shaking her hand, nor did she offer one. Any time the two of them shared the same space lately, it was to clean up someone else’s mess.
“I assume you are the one running the plant in Wiley’s absence who Ms. Hunter is stewing about.”
“Yes, Ms. Rogers will be handling things from here on out. You will report to her as discretely as possible,” Preston inserted.
“I’ll be in Wiley’s office,” Candace said. “Join me as soon as your supervisor is gone for the evening. I’d hate to take you away from your official duties, especially when I understand you’re not her favorite person at the moment.”
“An unfortunate and unnecessary situation. I could be much more productive if Preston would quit making me look disloyal in front of her. She doesn’t trust me, not that I blame her, and he’s handled the Wiley situation in the same ineffective manner.”
“I agree, and so does J.R., which is why I’m here. We’ll discuss damage control later.”
“As far as everyone in this company is concerned, I am the boss and I’ll continue to make that clear in any fashion I determine necessary,” Preston cut in, uncomfortable with being left out of the conversation, and talked about as if he weren’t in the room.
