Chương 13
"Could somebody else have told him?"
"Yes."
"Who?"
"Corporate security."
Gideon looked toward Morales.
"Who runs corporate security?"
"A contractor."
"Name?"
"Hawthorne Risk Management."
"Who at Mercer deals with them?"
"Daniel."
That was bad.
Not damning.
Bad.
"Does Briggs know them?"
"I don't know."
"Find out."
"Gideon."
"What?"
"I'm not going to turn my office into an interrogation room based on guesses."
"Good."
"I mean it."
"So do I."
She exhaled.
"You sound like Sullivan."
"Poor Sullivan."
"I called him too."
"Of course you did."
"He told me to stop investigating."
"Smart man."
"And yet you're telling me to investigate."
"No."
Gideon rubbed the bridge of his nose.
"I'm telling you to preserve information and notice who has access."
"That sounds suspiciously like investigating."
"Maybe I've become management."
"Don't insult yourself."
Despite everything, he smiled.
Then Evelyn's voice changed.
"There's something else."
"Go ahead."
"Daniel wasn't the person who authorized Harland's original subcontract."
"Who was?"
"My father."
Gideon frowned.
"I thought you ran the company."
"I do now."
"When did your father step down?"
"Eight months ago."
"Why?"
"Stroke."
There was no melodrama in the word.
Only fatigue.
"He's alive?"
"Yes."
"Can he talk?"
"Some days better than others."
"Does he know Briggs?"
"Apparently better than I thought."
Gideon looked at the fluorescent floor.
"What does that mean?"
"I pulled the archived procurement emails."
"And?"
"Briggs contacted my father directly before the bid process opened."
"Normal?"
"No."
"What did he want?"
"A private meeting."
"Did he get one?"
"Yes."
"When?"
"Last November."
"Where?"
"My father's office."
"Anybody else there?"
"Daniel was on the calendar."
Gideon went still.
"Was he there?"
"I don't know yet."
"Ask him."
"I tried."
"He didn't answer."
The automatic doors opened.
A man in muddy work boots entered carrying a toddler in dinosaur pajamas.
Morales watched him for two seconds, then relaxed.
The toddler pointed at the candy aisle.
Normal life kept happening around the edges.
Gideon was grateful for it.
"Evelyn, what did the meeting produce?"
"Three days later, my father told procurement to include Harland in the qualified bidder pool despite concerns about bonding capacity."
"So he helped him."
"Yes."
"Why?"
"I don't know."
"Did your father make exceptions often?"
"No."
"Could Daniel have persuaded him?"
"Maybe."
"Could Briggs?"
"Maybe."
"Could someone have threatened him?"
Evelyn went quiet.
When she answered, the firmness had left her voice.
"My father didn't scare easily."
"That's not what I asked."
"No."
Gideon let the silence sit.
Then she said, "There's one email I don't understand."
"From who?"
"My father to Daniel."
"What does it say?"
"Not much."
"Read it."
She hesitated.
Then, "'Keep Harland close until we know what he has.'"
Gideon leaned forward.
"What date?"
"November nineteenth."
"Before or after the meeting?"
"After."
"How long after?"
"Two days."
That was the first thing tonight that gave the problem a different shape.
Harland might not have been merely padding invoices.
He might have possessed leverage.
Or believed he did.
"Any attachments?"
"No."
"Replies?"
"Daniel answered, 'Understood.'"
"And that's it?"
"That's it."
"Your father have personal files?"
"Yes."
"Accessible?"
"Some."
"Where?"
"His home office."
"Does Daniel have access?"
"Probably."
"Does Briggs?"
"No."
"Then don't go there."
"I didn't say I was."
"You were thinking it."
"You don't know me well enough to say that."
"I know people with problems."
"And you think that's a personality profile?"
"Often."
Morales looked over.
Gideon lowered his voice.
"Where are you right now?"
"Headquarters."
"With who?"
"Internal audit, two attorneys, and security."
"Good."
"Don't sound relieved."
"I wasn't."
"You were."
He ignored that.
"Who from security?"
"A supervisor named Noah Pike."
"Does Daniel work with him?"
"Yes."
"Do you trust Pike?"
"I've spoken to him four times in two years."
"So no."
"So I don't know."
Better answer.
Gideon heard movement on her end.
Someone spoke to Evelyn, too far from the phone to make out.
She covered the receiver.
Then returned.
"They found another invoice."
"Mine?"
"No."
"Whose?"
"A transmission shop in Lexington."
"Real business?"
"Yes."
"Fake billing?"
"Possibly."
"What matters about it?"
"The owner died last year."
Gideon frowned.
"When were the invoices submitted?"
"Three months after his death."
"Could employees have kept the company open?"
"Corporate registry says it dissolved."
There it was again.
Borrowing names.
Dead or distant businesses.
Enough reality to survive a casual glance.
"How many vendors like that?"
"We're checking."
"Don't use the same team that approved them."
"We aren't."
"Good."
She paused.
"Gideon."
"Yeah?"
"How would someone get your service number?"
He looked at Maisie.
She was arranging crackers from smallest to largest on her knee.
"Old personnel records."
"Who has access?"
"Government."
"Anyone else?"
"Depends which records."
"Would your old employer?"
"The Navy was my employer."
"You know what I mean."
Gideon did.
Private contractors.
Insurance.
Veterans benefits.
Background checks.
A mortgage application.
The number had appeared in enough old paper trails to exist outside his control.
"I can't narrow it yet."
"Was Briggs military?"
"Not that I know."
"Daniel?"
"No."
"Could someone in Mercer have bought your data?"
"Possible."
"From where?"
"Data broker, breach, stolen documents."
"That sounds disturbingly easy."
"It can be."
She went quiet.
Then a sharp sound came through the phone.
A door opening.
Voices.
Evelyn said, "Daniel."
Gideon stood.
Maisie looked up.
"What?"
He raised one finger.
On the phone, Evelyn said, "Where have you been?"
Daniel answered, distant but audible.
"Driving."
"For twenty minutes?"
"Yes."
"Why is your phone off?"
"Because I'm tired of being tracked by my own company."
Evelyn's voice tightened.
"We need to talk."
"Not here."
"Here."
"Evelyn."
"Did you attend the meeting with my father and Briggs last November?"
Silence.
Gideon could hear the office behind them.
Air-conditioning.
A chair shifting.
Somebody typing and then stopping.
Daniel finally said, "Who found that calendar?"
"I did."
"That's not an answer."
"No, it isn't."
Another pause.
Then Daniel said, "Yes."
Gideon's fingers tightened around the phone.
Evelyn asked, "What did Briggs have?"
Daniel did not answer.
May you like
"Daniel."
"Your father asked me never to tell you."
