“I’m lead on this investigation, Mr. Gadsden,” she said. “So please. Let’s not waste any more time.”
He didn’t move and sought Evan’s confirmation. He nodded, and she wished he hadn’t thought it necessary to do so.
Gadsden spun and took them to the back of the building, the wood floor groaning underfoot. He opened a door to a chilly room holding large servers and a desk with multiple monitors, each displaying a live feed of a particular gate.
He leaned over the desk, typed in his login, and brought up the video files. “How far back you want?”
Evan laid the warrant on the desk. “A month.”
He flashed an irate look at Evan. “But the container’s only been here a few days.”
Kiley agreed thirty days was overkill and would take her team way too many hours to review all of the footage, but she also agreed with Evan’s request. “It’s better for us to take what we anticipate needing so we don’t have to bother you again later.”
Gadsden looked at her as if he had no idea what to do. She didn’t have time to waste. She dropped into the chair by the monitor displaying the files they needed and plugged in her flash drive. She waited for Gadsden to argue. He didn’t speak, so she started compressing the video files and transferring them to her drive.
He moved closer to the desk. “You’re not taking the original files, are you?”
She shook her head. “The zip program is creating new ones.”
“What’s in that container anyway?” Gadsden asked.
“We’re not at liberty to say,” Evan answered.
Gadsden frowned. “Must be something big if it’s got so many Feds out here.”
Evan didn’t respond to the comment and neither did Kiley as she looked up at Gadsden. “Has anyone else been around asking questions about the container?”
“Nah. At least no one askedmeabout it.”
“I’d like you to contact all of your staff to see if anyone has talked about it or if they’ve seen anything odd.”
He pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. “If anyone saw anything odd, I’d already know about it.”
“Not if your guards were paid to keep quiet,” Kiley said.
He crossed his beefy arms over the start of a paunch. “My guys are all on the up and up.”
“Please don’t insult my intelligence, Mr. Gadsden.” She held his stony gaze. “We all know you have workers who are looking the other way for certain shipments. For all I know, you might be one of them.”
He sputtered, his mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water. “Well I’m not.”
“I noticed you didn’t say others weren’t.”
He tightened his arms and didn’t reply.
Evan tapped the warrant again. “Now would be the time to gather the list of dockworkers and the hours they worked for the last month. Be sure to include management and dock staff.”
Gadsden scowled. “Gonna take some time to pull all of that together.”
Kiley had enough of this guy’s stonewalling and overall testy attitude. “An operation this big must use a computer-aided scheduling and payroll system. Either you can print out the reports for us now or you can log me into your system and I’ll do it.”
He lifted his chin. “I don’t have access to those programs.”
Kiley fixed a penetrating stare on him. “Then I suggest you get on the phone to the person who does and get them down here. Because we aren’t leaving without the reports, and that means you’re not heading home.”
CHAPTER 8
UNREASONABLY GLADTO HAVE KILEY WITH HIM,Evan glanced across his Tahoe’s console at her. The same sadness he’d caught a few times since she’d arrived was darkening her usually bright and energetic eyes. He didn’t know if her sadness was fueled by her CI’s death or because seeing him reminded her of losing Olin. Or maybe it was none of the above. He knew nothing about this woman anymore. Case in point, the way she’d handled Gadsden.
