Leila let out a heavy, exaggerated sigh obviously meant for him to hear, and slapped her hands on her hips. “My dad was the father Eric never had, too, since his dad was out of the picture more often than he was in it. Believe me, Eric would never have betrayed my father. Never.”
“Would he have betrayed you?” Davis asked.
She scowled down at him. “You honestly believe Eric would send out a faulty shipment of armor to hurt me? What for? It’s been twelve years since he broke up with me. And I think the key words there are that he broke up with me, not the other way around. We’re friends now. He’s got one of the top positions in the company. If he wanted to bring me down by destroying the company, he’d be taking himself down with me. He’s not that stupid. Or that self-destructive.”
Davis nodded slowly. Her logic all made sense, and yet he couldn’t stop picturing the expression on Eric’s face when Leila had agreed to let Davis drive her home two days ago. No matter what Leila thought, that wasn’t a man who had no romantic feelings for her.
Since talking about Eric had already put her on the defensive, Davis figured he’d get the rest of his unpleasant questions out now. “What about your uncle?”
Her hands fell off her hips as she shook her head. “Are you kidding me? You want to talk about the only person besides me who’s more invested in this place than Eric? That’s Uncle Joel. He gave up another career to help Dad keep this business going. He’s been here ever since.”
“Maybe he resents it,” Davis suggested.
“I doubt it. He makes more money than he ever did before, and he sets his own hours. Dad gave him a lot of freedom, said it was only fair after everything he did for the company, for our family, after Mom died. I still do the same thing with his hours and the board doesn’t care, as long as he gets the job done. He’s less than ten years out from retirement—although, honestly, he could retire now if he felt like it. I think he’s still here for me.”
“Okay, but—”
“Davis, I get it. You don’t know these people. This is nothing but another case for you. But this is my life. This is my family you’re investigating.”
She took a visible breath as Davis wondered whether she considered Eric part of her family.
“You’re right that it looks like we’ve got someone rotten in our company, and I understand why you’re starting at the top. But the truth is that none of the people you’re asking about order the raw materials. None of them ship out the armor. We’ve got good security and good checks. You said it yourself. Obviously someone has found a way around them. But it’s not my uncle. And it’s not my ex. And honestly, even with the time stamps you found for Theresa’s security card, I don’t think it’s her, either.”
“Leila—”
“I understand that you have a job to do. Believe me, I want to figure out who’s doing this, so they can be prosecuted. But I need to keep the rest of the company intact in the meantime. When we figure out who did this, you’ll be leaving and the guilty person will be arrested—rightfully so. But the rest of us are going to have to band together and push forward. I’m not letting this destroy the company my dad spent his life building. I’m not letting you destroy it.”
“I’m not destroying anything,” Davis snapped. “I’m not the one running a company and not knowing fatally defective products were being sent out.”
Leila’s shoulders dropped, the anger on her face shifting to a mix of guilt and pain.
He sucked in a breath, as a ball of dread filled his gut. He believed that the head of a company was responsible for what was happening inside of it, even if they didn’t know anything about it and had no legal liability. But over the past three days, he’d found that Leila was a good, caring person. Seeing how his words had wounded her, he regretted them.
He regretted them even more when she said softly, steadily, “If you think I’m to blame for this, I’m not sure how you can trust me to work with you to find the truth. I’m not sure you should be here at all, Davis.”
DOUGIE HAD COME THROUGH.
Kane smiled at the text message on his FBI-issued phone. Dougie had gotten in touch with the lowlife who’d been telling him about guns and said a friend was interested in joining BECA. Apparently Dougie had sweetened the pot by also telling the guy that Kane might have a weapons connection of his own. That part was less ideal, but Kane could work with it.
“What are you smiling about?” There was suspicion in Melinda’s question.
Kane tucked his phone away as he looked up at Melinda. “I’ve got a date tonight.”
She blinked rapidly, telling him he’d surprised her, but her eyes narrowed just as fast. “Wasn’t that your work phone you were looking at?”
He shrugged carelessly, glad he had a reputation as a rule-breaker. “Yeah, well, it’s another agent.”
Melinda continued to stare at him with narrowed eyes.
He was a great liar. He had to be, with all the undercover work he’d done, or he would have been killed on the job a long time ago. But apparently Melinda was an even better profiler, because she always seemed to know when he wasn’t being straight with her.
Instead of trying to outstare her, he changed the subject. “I did also hear back from my CI. He’s got a friend who knows someone at BECA. That person might be able to get us some more details about BECA and their
