“After we talked, I took a look at our purchase records. And you’re right. Little things seem off, especially with recent armor purchases. All the odd purchases were logged in by Eric. There’s nothing obvious enough to draw attention, but looking at it all together, it’s not quite right.”
“Not right, how?”
“Well, I know you thought Eric could be cutting corners and trying to make it seem like Leila’s fault, but these purchases all seem just a bit too high. Like he was paying for more materials than he actually received.”
Or he’d received plenty of materials, but he’d only brought some of it into the office and kept the rest of it for illegal sales. “What if he wasn’t paying for more than he got?”
“If we got all this material, I’m sure Theresa would have noticed. She’s the one receiving it.”
“What if she wasn’t?”
“What do you mean?”
“Would Eric know how to build the armor? Theoretically?” Davis pressed. Could he have swapped out the faulty material himself?
“Sure,” Joel replied simply. “He’s been here a long time. He’s seen Theresa and her team do it. But why would he want to build it himself? Anyway...”
“Something’s not right,” Davis stated, summing up. His pulse quickened at the thought of new, potentially more conclusive evidence to take to his boss. If he could get Joel to willingly hand it over, even better.
“Yeah,” Joel agreed. “Normally I wouldn’t talk about this at all with a brand-new employee, but I didn’t even suspect anything until you brought it up. I’m going to have to tell Leila at some point, but she’s been through so much lately. I don’t want to bother her with this if there’s some other explanation.”
“I think that’s a good idea,” Davis agreed. For the investigation, he needed Leila to stay ignorant of this new development. But knowing that didn’t stop guilt from flooding him. It didn’t matter that they hadn’t even known each other for two weeks. He owed her more than lies.
“I’m glad you agree,” Joel said. “Even though I don’t necessarily want to see my niece get back together with her ex, the truth is, Eric isn’t the only one who still has feelings there. Leila never totally got over him, either. He broke up with her so out of the blue, but it wasn’t his decision. I don’t want to see my niece hurt, so if I’m wrong about this, I’d rather you help me figure it out before I break the news to Leila.”
“What do you mean that breaking up with Leila wasn’t Eric’s decision?” Davis asked, a bad feeling forming.
“I’m sure my brother meant well, but asking Eric to break up with Leila all those years ago might have fueled some of this. I’m sure Eric figured one day Neal would change his mind, then hand over the company to him and offer his blessing on dating his daughter again, too. But it didn’t happen that way.”
“And his resentment has been building up ever since,” Davis stated.
“Exactly. I think the other part of what’s behind Eric’s need to be CEO is to prove his worth to Leila. Doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, since it would be at her expense, but it’s a power thing.” Joel sighed heavily. “At least, that’s my suspicion. The fact is, I need an outside view. I’ve known Eric for so long, it’s hard for me to be objective. Because there’s something else I found.”
“What is it?” Davis pressed when Joel took a breath.
“Something at our remote testing grounds. It could be connected to Eric too, but—”
“Remote testing grounds?” Davis knew about the second testing area in their office, a soundproofed area where the guns used to get tested. But Leila had never mentioned a remote facility. He resisted the urge to swear, held his silence while he waited for Joel to explain.
“Yeah, it’s the other place we used to test the guns,” Joel continued easily, probably not sensing Davis’s anxiety.
But why would he? Joel thought he was uncovering a simple plot by Eric to undermine his niece, take over her position as CEO. He had no idea he was helping to unroot a long-running criminal enterprise.
“When Leila shut down the gun side of the business, we didn’t really need it anymore. We already had two testing areas inside the office, and those were much more convenient. So, this one was shut down. Or at least, it was supposed to be.”
If it wasn’t, it was the perfect place to test excess guns before selling them to criminals, instead of destroying them like Leila’s plan dictated. It was probably also the perfect place to swap out the materials on armor, sell the good ones to criminals at a marked-up price and send the cheaper versions for contracts that had already been sold to the military. Make some cash and destroy the reputation of the woman he was trying to unseat at the same time.
Davis glanced down, realizing he’d fisted his hand so hard that he’d actually stopped blood flow to his fingertips. He forcibly loosened his fingers as he asked Joel, “Where is this place?”
“I’ll text you the directions,” Joel said. “Is it too much to ask you to meet me there tonight? I want to show you in person what I found before I tell Leila, get your thoughts on what the hell is going on here.”
“Sure, I can do that,” Davis said, fighting to keep his voice even and offhand.
Inside, he was screaming. This was it. He could feel it. This was the missing piece of the puzzle that would help him finally solve who was responsible for Jessica’s death.
“Great,” Joel said. “I just texted you the address. When can you meet me there?”
Davis glanced at the address. The remote testing facility was remote, at least in the sense that it was in a deserted area on the edge of Knoxville. The perfect place for Eric to conduct meetings with criminals, too.
“I can leave right
