No matter what, Leila knew it was a mystery that would take Davis some time. Which meant he’d be out of her way while she tried to investigate on her own. Or almost on her own.
When Eric rounded the corner of the back of their loading dock and caught sight of her, he grinned. She couldn’t help but smile back. Eric had changed a lot since she’d first met him, from gawky teenager with acne to a man who looked like the head of a sales department. But his grin was exactly the same as when they’d first met. Their relationship was so different now, but she’d never forget how he’d been there for her when she’d desperately needed support.
Her uncle had done the exact same thing for her all those years ago, even moved in for a few years after her mom died. He’d made her lunches and driven her to school. Helped her with her homework and convinced her she was still loved, even if her father couldn’t show it right then.
Neither of them would ever betray the company. Neither of them would ever deceive her. Most of all, neither of them would have killed her father, a man they both loved perhaps even more than they loved her.
When Eric reached her side, instead of stopping, he pulled her close, hugged her to him in a way that made her realize that unlike twelve years ago, he had no idea what she was thinking. He thought this was about the other day, about his suggestion that they give their relationship another try, maybe even leave the business and start something new together.
So much had happened since then. It was only now that she realized she hadn’t actually told him a final no.
When she looked up to correct him, he was staring at her, his big smile shifting slowly into something more intimate.
But she couldn’t. She pushed away slightly. “Eric, I have to tell you something.”
“I know things have been awkward between us for years, Leila, but I promise, it’s going to change now. We can go back to how things used to be.”
He dipped his head toward her and before he could reach her, Leila blurted, “Davis is an undercover FBI agent.”
DAVIS HAD BARELY seen Leila since Monday. Now, three days later, he was settled in at the desk outside her office where she’d moved him, claiming he was a distraction. Initially, he’d liked the thought that his very presence could distract her from her work. But it was becoming obvious something was wrong.
She was avoiding him. Even worse, she was spending more and more time with Eric. One of his prime suspects. Of course, he couldn’t tell her that. Especially since his other prime suspect was her uncle.
Joel Petrov didn’t spend a lot of time at the office. As far as Davis could tell, he did his job with as much expediency as possible, then headed out with a charming smile and a wave. Living on all the overtime he’d banked twenty years ago when his brother had needed someone to handle his work and raise his daughter. He had access to everything, but based on both the offhand questions he’d asked other employees and Joel’s access card records, he wasn’t in restricted areas at unusual times. He was gone enough that he certainly could have been meeting contacts who needed illegal weapons, but he probably wasn’t making those contacts through business channels.
Eric Ross was around a lot. To Davis’s surprise, his access level was as high as Joel’s and Theresa’s. As high as Neal’s had been before he died. Unlike Joel, he did have a lot of unusual activity on his access card, which Davis had somehow missed the first time he’d gone through the records. The legitimate sales calls he was often out on could have definitely also connected him to some less legitimate ones. Or they could have purely been cover for illegal meets. How simple would it be to claim he’d tried to make a sale that hadn’t panned out, when actually he was connecting with criminals willing to buy the weapons at highly marked-up prices?
Was that the reason he was hanging around Leila more than usual lately, because he worried Leila knew about a traitor in the company? Or was it simply because he’d sensed the growing connection between her and Davis and he was jealous?
Then, there was Theresa. Even though he couldn’t think of any reason she’d try to protect Leila from her contacts if she was the traitor, no one could have pulled off the armor switch with as much ease as the head of research and development.
Right now, he was paying Theresa a visit in her testing area at the back of the office. Other than Eric, Theresa’s was the only card with particularly unusual time stamps. While Davis knew he had to tread lightly when it came to questioning Eric or Joel, because of their connections to Leila, the same wasn’t true of Theresa.
When he opened the door to the area where Theresa always seemed to work, even when she wasn’t testing anything, Davis realized how perfect a setup it was. No one could pass by without her noticing. Plenty of privacy to change records or swap out the material on armor.
She looked up as he entered, a mix of disdain and distrust on her face when she saw it was him. He frowned at the clipboard in his hands, pretending to read something on it, then told her, “We’ve got some discrepancies in the records. Leila wanted me to track down the reason.”
Theresa sat a little straighter in her chair, frowned at him a little harder. But beneath the tough exterior...was that anxiety he saw?
“What kind of discrepancies?”
“Late night use of your access card,” Davis said, watching her closely for a reaction.
He got one. But it wasn’t quite what he expected. She looked taken aback.
“You mean weekend
