“Show them the file,” I prompted, more than curious if it would shut down the rest of the Creed Global team the way it had Eli.
Emmett, who wasn’t part of their team, plucked the file out of Eli’s hands and flipped it open before Eli could protest. “Interesting,” he said, flipping through the employee packets. “This was just sitting there?”
He looked to me, and I nodded. “It was under a box that had been turned upside down.”
“And this was the only file you found like this.”
“Like this, meaning tossed on the floor under a box, no. Pretty much the whole room was like that. But if you mean the only file with info like that? Then yes,” I said.
Emmett looked to the rest of the group. “Then the question is, what does Silas’s disappearance have to do with Emily Shaw?”
At Emmett’s blunt question, all the missing puzzle pieces fell into place.
Eli’s team wasn’t investigating Emily Shaw’s death for a mysterious client. This was about Silas Creed—their missing mentor. And he wasn’t just off the radar. He’d disappeared.
A stab of empathy for Eli warred with my newly bruised heart.
Eli glared at Emmett.
“When were you going to tell me?” I asked, shifting to stand in front of Eli, staring up at him until he met my eyes.
“It’s not a big deal,” Eli said, his eyes barely touching mine before snapping back to Emmett.
“What,” I said, “that you lied about having a client and this is really about Silas Creed?”
“Sylvie, that’s not what’s happening.” His glare narrowed on Emmett. If his anger could have fueled laser beams shooting from those eyes, Emmett would be toast.
I took a step back, horror spiraling through me as I realized what this could mean. “Are you trying to find out who killed Emily and blew up my van, or are you trying to find Silas?”
Because it had just occurred to me that the missing Silas might have been the last person to see Emily Shaw alive. They’d been in communication. Silas’s team was here. Emily had been coming here.
“What if Emily wasn’t coming to see Sinclair Security?” I asked, directing my question to Emmett, the only person here who wasn’t part of Creed Global. “What if she was coming to see Silas?”
“Silas was already gone by then,” Ryder said.
“As far as you know,” I shot back. “But he’s not dead, right?”
“Not that we can tell,” Wren said quietly.
“So how do you know she wasn’t coming here to see him?” I wrapped my arms around myself, trying to brace as the ramifications of this hit me. “It makes sense. You’ve got records of her communicating with Silas, right?”
Maddox gave an abrupt nod.
“And none of her communicating with Sinclair Security,” I went on.
“Correct,” Maddox said, rubbing his big palm over his shaved head.
“So, you’ve just been using me as a shield to investigate Emily?” I stabbed a glare at Eli. “When really, you don’t give a shit who killed Emily Shaw or who tried to kill me. You just want to find Silas.” This time, the anger showed. I couldn’t believe I’d been so naïve.
“Sylvie, it’s not like that,” Eli said. “It’s not?—”
“It isn’t,” Wren added. She looked at Eli and then at me. “We do want to find Silas. But we also want to find out what happened to Emily Shaw—partly to get answers for her, and partly so you’ll be safe. It’s not just about Silas. Not anymore.”
I looked to Eli. “I wish I could believe that.”
He reached for my hand, and I stepped to the side, dodging him. I needed to think, to take a breath, to get my hurt and anger under control so I could work through the logic of what I’d figured out when all I wanted to do was punch Eli and then run off bawling.
I turned my back on him, shutting him out. Emmett had said something before he gave us the address to the office park. I crossed to face him. “You said there was something else you were working on, but it wasn’t solid enough yet. Is it solid now?”
