“Here it is,” Silkwood said, sliding a piece of paper across the desk. Peter pulled out his phone, snapped a picture, and sent it to Dawn. It was probably a burner phone and a dead end, but they might get lucky.
“So this guy is the one who decided to target me and my mate?” Peter asked, just to confirm.
Silkwood nodded.
“What did he say exactly?” Peter was not happy. If the intermediary had suggested targeting Peter and Chad over practically anyone else on the board, it could only be because he had a personal grudge against Peter.
He did not like the idea that an unknown figure with ties to the criminal underworld was out to get him.
“I don’t know. He didn’t say anything—at least I don’t think so.”
Now that got Peter’s attention.
“What do you mean,you don’t this so? Weren’t you the one to speak to him?”
Silkwood shook his head. “I... uh, no. I had my secretary make the call. She was the one who set it up and arranged the payment.”
Peter didn’t even have to give Merchant a look. The man was already making his way out of the office to collect the woman.
“She’s gone,” Merchant said a second later, making Peter curse. “Do you want me to stay here with him or should I track her down?”
“Go after her,” Peter said. “I’ll stay here with Silkwood until the police arrive and take his confession.”
Silkwood paled at the mention of the police, and Peter considered asking him if he’d rather just have his throat torn out instead.
Instead of heading out, Merchant walked right up to Silkwood and grabbed him by the tie. He leaned in so that he was nose to nose with the terrified beta.
“You’re about to get a phone call from a very nice woman, and you’re going to answer all her questions to the best of your ability. Do you understand?”
Silkwood nodded, and Merchant gave him a little shake and patted his cheek.
“Good boy. Don’t make me come back here.”
“I won’t,” Silkwood croaked.
Peter raised a questioning eyebrow in Merchant’s direction as he came back around the desk, wondering what that was all about.
“Dawn probably already has all the info on his secretary, but if she doesn’t he’s going to answer anything she wants to know,” Merchant explained.
Peter nodded. That made sense.
“All right, I’m heading out. I’ll call you when I’ve got something.”
“Do that,” Peter said, watching him leave the room. When the door closed he turned back to Silkwood. “Your secretary, did she seem particularly invested in this?”
Silkwood just stared at him. “What do you mean?”
“Never mind,” Peter said. If it was Silkwood’s secretary that had chosen to make Peter the target, Silkwood obviously hadn’t known.
Thinking back to the woman he and Merchant had seen on the way in, Peter tried to remember if there was anything familiar about her. She’d been attractive, at least for a beta, but there was nothing distinctive in her features that rang any bells for Peter.
Picking up his cell phone, Peter called one of his contacts on the police force to come take Silkwood’s confession and arrest him. Silkwood watched Peter make the call, his face pale as Peter hung up the phone and slid it back into his pocket.
“So how much money does your wife stand to lose if this merger goes through?” Peter asked, curious at the amount that had prompted this whole mess. Silkwood swallowed, looking very much like he was regretting his recent life choices.
“About thirty million dollars.”
Well. Peter could see why he’d felt the need to do something, but there was no forgiving the move against Chad.
