"That's what I was told. I'm sure your office can get the details."
"Damn. I wasn't expecting that."
"There's no way it was just an accident. What have you been working on?"
It took her a minute to move her mind away from Elias Costa. She needed to have Wes find out more about Costa's death. Realizing Max was still waiting for an answer, she said, "The Meridien Tower case."
"How's that going?"
Before she replied, she took a bite of her turkey sandwich. "This is good," she said happily. "I was just thinking I was hungry when you showed up with a banquet of food. You must have read my mind from afar."
He gave her a lazy smile. "My mind-reading skills are not that good. I was hungry, too. So, have you learned anything new?"
She popped the cap on a bottle of flavored sparkling water, took a sip, then said. "Yes. I've been reading up about Redstone Technologies, the company that made the faulty smart building system that trapped the residents in the tower during the fire." She picked up the notebook next to her computer, where she'd been jotting down notes. "Ashford Capital invested two million in Redstone's Series A funding round. That's a division of Ashford Industries."
"I'm aware," he said, his gaze narrowing.
"Dominic was one of the first investors, but he didn't invest in any of the other rounds," she added. "Which might raise the question: Did he know there was something wrong with the technology?"
"It's more likely he invested as a favor to Mason Redstone to get him started."
She tipped her head in acknowledgment. "They seem to move in the same circles. I saw several photographs of them as well as David Hartford and Harry Faulkner."
"Which means Hartford and Faulkner probably know about that investment. If they think he profited from their families' deaths, and one or both of them are behind this terror track..."
"Then Dominic could be a target," she finished. "I know he's at a retreat, but I think you need to talk to him, Max."
He pulled out his phone. "I'll send him another text, telling him it's urgent we speak today."
"I'm a little surprised he left the city with Samantha coming off the ventilator today."
"Not today. Now they're talking Monday. I did get that much information from him when we texted earlier."
She ate the second half of her sandwich as he was sending the text, glancing at her own phone as she did so. She had no new texts, but she'd been in touch with her team earlier in the day, going over what she'd learned about a link between the tower fire seven years ago and what had happened the past week. She didn't want to leave them out of the loop, but she didn't go into too much detail.
When she'd asked Jason if he had any more information on the safe house leak, he'd said no, and she could feel his frustration as deeply as her own. She was sure he didn't want to believe anyone on his team would have done such a thing, but Damon probably felt the same way about the agents working under him.
She hoped that the location had been leaked by someone in the building and not someone working for the bureau, because she didn't want to believe that anyone was compromised. But until she knew for sure, she needed to keep her guard up.
"Dominic said he can squeeze in a quick meeting at three o'clock, ten minutes tops," Max said. "But I'll have to meet him at a park nearby. Apparently, no one can be on the property but secured and vetted guests."
"That sounds very secretive. I wonder who is with him."
"Could be anyone. He knows all the powerful people."
"And he is powerful himself. I want to go with you, Max."
She'd thought he'd immediately say no, but after a brief hesitation, he nodded. "Okay."
"Really? I thought it was going to take more effort to get a yes."
"I thought I'd save my energy," he said, a knowing gleam in his eyes. "And I've kind of gotten used to having you around, which is strange, because I am very used to working on my own. But there is one condition. I'm driving."
She smiled. "No problem." She grabbed the bag of cookies. "I'll bring these for the ride. Did I mention I love chocolate chip cookies? Or was this a lucky guess?"
He grinned. "Actually, your mother mentioned it to me at the bar last night."
"No way. When did she do that?"
