“I went in there all loud and fast—you know, not giving them a second to really think—and finally made enough space to getthe guy and run.” If it had been a movie, their escape would have been in slow motion Eve had thought even then. Dramatic but fun. Low stakes that, in the moment, had felt so high. “Once we were clear of them, he treated me to a nice meal that I was in no mood to refuse. We chatted all night before I had to go back to my hotel and we’d had a good time, but there were no plans to see each other again or talk, even. So when I got a call early the next morning to come in for another interview with the Keys Foundation, I was surprised as all get-out to see him there. Standing all smart and proper in a suit.”
“Mitchell Keys,” Darius guessed.
Eve nodded.
“Mitchell had gone back that night after our dinner and told Scott about my so-called daring rescue. Scott had wanted to meet me before I left town, so what I thought was an interview with HR for a job at their headquarters ended up being a meal with the big boss himself. Before that meal was even finished, he hired me to be his personal assistant.” At the time, Eve had been so surprised her mouth had flopped open like a fish out of water. It had been the first bit of hope she’d had in years. “Scott said I was good under pressure, and if I could handle an issue like that with his brother discreetly, then working with a high-profiler like himself would be easy. So I became his assistant.”
Again if it had been a movie, that would have been the beginning of a beautiful ending.
Down-on-her-luck, listless daughter finally finds purpose and drive again. Meets not one but two kind men who care. Finds purpose in work, love and life.
Life fulfilled.
Future bright.
But that wasn’t what happened next.
There was no need to pad the rest of the past with emotional asides and deep, life-changing epiphanies.
Now Eve was at the fact portion of her problems.
“Out of all the work that Scott did, I took the most interest in his involvement in anything medical, and when he started meeting with a man named Horace Clare, owner of Clare Biometrics, I couldn’t help but pay attention.”
“Clare Bio,” Darius echoed. His low rumble vibrated against her as he spoke. “The company that’s about to use the research annex here for a new pharmaceutical trial? I didn’t know that the Keys Foundation had anything to do with them. I’ve only heard Scott wanted to invest in the town, but not how.”
Eve nodded.
“He’s been looking into ways to boost the economy by bringing in new business, using the research annex and whatever study they do as a good example of how small towns can do big things.”
“His whole Small Town White Knight shtick.”
She nodded again.
“I thought his meetings with Horace were related to Clare Bio being the new company to move into the research annex,” Eve continued. “And that it was all happy coincidence that I, his new assistant, had lived in the same town as a kid. I was wrong.”
Eve finally turned face the man next to her. Darius did the same. His brow was drawn in.
“Scott had been interested in Seven Roads before he met me, before he met Horace and way before he made it known publicly that he was investing in the town.”
Darius’s eyebrow rose high.
“What? Why?”
Eve lowered her voice, glancing at the closed door just past him.
“I think he’s been the reason behind all of the town’s problems these past few years.”
Darius also glanced at the door. When his gaze was back on her, he looked as cold as the town rumors claimed.
“What do you mean all our problems? Do you mean our past cases? Because, as much as I’d like to blame one person for all of them, even the big investigations we’ve gone through over the last few years have been cut-and-dried once we got all our ducks in a row.”
Eve had known about the department’s big cases over the last decade simply because she had been keeping tabs on a certain detective’s career. At least, for the most part. That task had become much easier thanks to a few key investigations and their outcomes making the national news.
That’s why Eve hadn’t intended on telling Darius, or anyone else, her discovery until she had concrete evidence. Her belief, her accusation, would change everything. Without proof, though? She knew she sounded delusional.
Staring now at a man who had a successful career as a detective in part because of these past wild cases, she felt some nerves start to twist in her stomach.
She wiggled a little like the physical move could dislodge the new feeling.
