Joel held out his hand. “Davis, right?”
When he nodded and shook hands, Joel said, “Why don’t we go down the street and grab a drink, have a chat?” Not giving him a chance to say no, Joel added, “Come on,” and headed for the door.
Giving Leila’s closed office door one last look, Davis followed him to a pub a few blocks away. It had been hard to get to Joel to talk to him, so he wasn’t about to let this opportunity go to waste. The man didn’t keep regular hours, and hadn’t returned Davis’s few phone calls, on the pretense of doing business for Leila.
Joel was silent most of the walk, keeping up a good pace. It wasn’t until they were seated in a booth and they’d both ordered club sodas that Joel finally spoke. “You’re more than just an assistant, aren’t you, Davis?”
Davis felt a flash of panic and surprise, then Joel continued. “I can tell you’re ambitious. Assistant is a starting point for you.”
He nodded at Davis’s club soda as it arrived. “I respect a man who doesn’t drink while he’s on the job. Some people think it’s social, but it can make you lose focus.” He paused meaningfully, then added, “Women can make you lose focus, too.”
Davis nodded, hanging his head a little. Trying to appear embarrassed wasn’t a stretch. For an undercover agent, he hadn’t done a very good job of hiding his interest in Leila.
At least Joel didn’t suspect he was FBI. Leila’s uncle reaching out to him like this was a perfect way to get information. Davis just needed to steer the conversation in the right direction.
“It’s great working for Leila,” he started, “but yeah, I took this job as a chance to see the inner workings of a big company. My degree is in business management,” he added, sticking to the cover résumé TCD had made him. “I am wondering, though...” He trailed off, hoping Joel would prompt him.
“What? Spit it out. I’ll give you one rule of business right now—you’ll never get what you want if you’re not willing to ask for it. Then you’ve got to be willing to follow through.”
Davis nodded, wondering how much of her can-do attitude Leila got from her uncle, rather than her father. “I was actually wondering about Theresa. It seems like she’s been here a lot longer than Leila. I was kind of surprised—”
“That Leila was made CEO?” Joel finished for him. “I know people see it as nepotism, and let’s be honest, I’m a little biased. There was a period where I basically raised that girl. But if you underestimate what Leila is capable of, that’s a mistake. She might have come into the role a little young, but she belongs there.”
Davis felt pride swell in his chest at the words, even though the feeling was ridiculous. He had no reason to feel anything but impartial interest. But no matter how much Leila was pushing him away right now, he was never going to feel impartial toward her. Never.
The thought gave him pause, but he pushed it to the back of his mind. Something to pick apart later, when he wasn’t undercover. When he didn’t have a dead friend who deserved his full attention on finding out who had caused her death.
“Theresa’s great,” Joel continued. “She’s driven and ridiculously intelligent when it comes to innovation. She can be too intense sometimes, but she’s reliable. She’s a workaholic, too, but believe me, that’s because she loves the research, loves the process of creating a new product. Theresa has no interest in being CEO. Eric, on the other hand...”
Davis had been staring pensively into his club soda, and he couldn’t stop his head from popping up at Joel’s statement. Theresa was still the stronger suspect, but Eric’s time stamp had shown unusual activity too. Davis wasn’t sure how to approach him, especially if Leila might have confided in him.
“Look, I like Eric. I’ve known him since he was a kid. Even back then, he was always hanging around wherever Leila was.” Joel fiddled with his glass, still mostly full. “So I’ll just say this—Leila has a blind spot when it comes to Eric.”
“How so?” Davis asked, wondering why Joel had reached out to him. Was it just to give him career advice? Or was this really about Eric? Did Joel suspect Eric of something and need a sounding board?
Joel sighed, sounding conflicted as he spoke. “Eric loved my brother like a father. His own old man was never around. Which is better than what Neal and I had, but that’s a whole other story. Anyway, when Eric graduated from high school, my brother saw something in him. Knew he’d be a hard worker, could succeed with the right mentorship. Talked Eric into going to school at night and working here during the day.”
Davis nodded, having heard as much from Leila.
“The thing is, Eric wasn’t my brother’s kid. Leila was. So, when it came time to suggest a name to the board for CEO...” Joel shrugged, took a long sip of his club soda.
“Eric’s jealous that Leila took over?”
“Resentful, is more the way I see it.” Joel set his glass down, looking troubled. “He still loves Leila, that I know. But I’m not sure that love is pure. It’s too tied up in him wanting all the things he thinks should be his. That’s not just Neal’s daughter. It’s also her job. I think he’d do almost anything to get it—or if he can’t do that, to take it away from Leila.”
Chapter Seventeen
Most days of the week, there were lots of employees in the office well into the evening. Leila’s father had hired a dedicated group, people who cared about what they did. But on Fridays, many of them took off an hour early, got a jump-start on their weekend. A fair trade for the extra work they’d put
