That amused her.
So, she slapped him on the ass.
“I do love a corrupted ME,” she said, winking at him. “Sir.”
He let her leave, and just sighed. Honestly, Chris couldn’t believe he was going to break the rules with a dude he wanted to hire because he followed the rules.
The irony.
As he headed out, Ben was heading toward Elizabeth, and he just shook his head. The man didn’t know when to avoid. Well, tomorrow, when Chrissy booted his ass around the room, he’d learn.
FAST.
“Can MATE stay with us?” Ben asked her.
She focused on him like he had lost his damn mind, and that was the least surprising thing all day. The man was questionable at best.
“What are you talking about?”
He went there.
“MATE. Can we have custody?” he asked, smiling a little too brightly.
Yeah, that was a no.
“Absolutely not. Chris, they don’t get to use MATE. I want them to do the forensics. They can’t lean into AI all of the time. That’s my luxury.”
He laughed.
“You heard the boss. No playing with the AI. Everyone needs to use their own squishy gray matter for the boss.”
Elizabeth pointed.
“GO. Forensic something for me. I need all the eyeballs run for DNA, and I need them by morning. So start processing. Hear me?”
He rolled his eyes and walked away.
God.
It was like having another child in the lab—Tony two-point-oh—as a matter-of-fact.
When they had silence, she jerked her head toward the door, and the people doing the investigating got the hint.
It was worktime.
Outside, she looked at her watch.
“I don’t need this many people to talk to the real estate guy, so we’re going to divide and conquer. Alex, you and Corby are going to head to the city council building, and talk to a man by the name of Trenton Balkin. He’s up in my business about this case, and likely going to make our lives hellish.”
Oh, boy.
That didn’t sound like a good plan on his behalf.
She continued.
“Downplay it, and no matter what, the phrase‘embalmed eyeballs’is not to come up. If it comes up, you’re both going to be doing desk duty until my mood improves—as inEVERYONE’Spaperwork.”
They got it.
