“What if both sets of armor were made?”
Leila shook her head, still not understanding.
“Leila, what if it’s kind of like the guns?” Eric asked. “What if someone sent cheap armor to the military, but sold the good ones at a huge markup to criminals? I know convicted felons can buy body armor. But if these sales are as big as Davis seems to think they are, maybe the same criminals who are buying up boxes and boxes of illegal weapons are also buying armor now? Maybe they’re willing to pay more money and keep it on the down-low to keep from attracting any attention from law enforcement.”
The idea made a chill run through Leila strong enough to make her reach for the blazer she’d set aside an hour ago when she and Eric had started digging through purchase receipts, looking for anything unusual. Davis hadn’t told her what kind of criminals were buying the illegal Petrov Armor pistols. But criminals who needed boxes of them and wanted armor to go with it? That sounded like a massacre in the making. She had to stop it.
She couldn’t change the past. But she could help find the person responsible, prevent any more illegal sales. And hopefully when they found the traitor, that person would give up their sales list, help the FBI bring those people to justice, too.
“Even taking into account the cost of buying cheaper armor, it’s a lot more profit,” Eric continued, probably not realizing he didn’t need to convince her that his theory made sense. “And I know you think Davis is crazy...” He paused and scowled a little. “Believe me, I don’t like agreeing with the guy. But the person who’s got the right security level at the company and the easiest access to the armor?”
“Theresa,” Leila stated. She didn’t even like the woman, not really. So, why couldn’t she quite bring herself to believe that Theresa would betray Petrov Armor?
“It has to be her,” Eric insisted, obviously reading her reluctance to believe Theresa was the culprit. “It just makes sense.”
He stared at her, eyebrows raised until she nodded slowly. Maybe he was right. Maybe he and Davis were both right.
“We don’t need Davis here anymore,” Eric said, sounding relieved that she’d agreed with his suggestion Theresa was involved. “Tell him what you suspect and stop letting him muck around in the company’s private information. Send him on his way and let him deal with the investigation from the outside, where he belongs.”
“Eric, I can’t—”
“You need a break from all of this. It’s been too much, with your father’s death and now this. I know you care about the company, Leila. I know you feel like it’s your father’s legacy. But you’re wrong.”
She shook her head.
He smiled at her, this time a sadder, more serious smile. “Don’t you get it, Leila? You’re his real legacy. If everything you’ve told me is true, this company is finished. You need to cut your losses and let it go. Come with me. Let’s start over. A new business, a fresh start together. It doesn’t even need to be in Tennessee. Let’s get away, take a break and go somewhere.” He stared at her with those dark blue eyes she’d fallen for so long ago. “Maybe overseas, lie on a beach for a while. Then we can figure it all out.”
She shook her head. No matter how much she wished she could pretend none of this had happened—not the faulty armor or the gun sales or her father’s murder—she couldn’t leave. Couldn’t just run away and hope someone else fixed the threat inside Petrov Armor.
It was her business to run now. Her responsibility to find out the truth. She owed it to the soldiers who’d been killed, to the employees who’d done nothing wrong and to her father.
She saw the disappointment on Eric’s face even before she spoke. “I have to see this through to the end. No matter what happens.”
YESTERDAY, AT THE end of the day, Leila had slipped out of the office without Davis spotting her. She’d left him a text message telling him she’d gone home to rest and that she’d see him tomorrow. This morning, she’d been shut in her office nonstop. Davis was tired of waiting for her to emerge, tired of waiting for her to explain why she was avoiding him.
He strode to the door of her office, had his hand on the door handle when he heard Eric’s voice from inside the office. Davis froze, withdrew his hand slowly as he realized how often he’d stopped by Leila’s office to talk to her in private over the past few days and found her and Eric “talking business.”
Initially, he’d been unconcerned. Eric was her head of sales. But last week, she’d answered his questions quickly and efficiently, rarely spent more than an hour or two in meetings with Eric. The last few days, it seemed as though Eric and Leila were constantly meeting.
A bad feeling settled in his stomach. Could she have confided in Eric about the investigation?
Like they had been all week, the blinds on the inside of Leila’s window into the main part of the office were down. But there was a gap on one side where a few slats had stuck together. Davis glanced behind him to make sure other employees weren’t paying him attention as he put his eye to it.
Inside the office, Leila was sitting at the chair behind her desk as usual. But instead of being at the chair on the other side, Eric had pulled his seat around next to Leila. Eric was frowning, pointing at something on the computer while Leila looked serious and determined. As though they were investigating this case by themselves, the head of the company and one of his main suspects.
Davis stood straighter and backed away, and someone’s hand clamped on his shoulder, preventing a collision.
