Page 27 of Carnal Risk

“Jesus, Garrett. He was our friend. Don’t you want to know who did this?” Dean looked to Lars, who stared out the window, his arms crossed. “Lars, come on. Talk to him for me. This isn’t right.”

“He was a brother to all of us but you know this isn’t my company and what Garrett says…you know damn well there are things he works on that he can’t tell you.”

“No.” Garrett held up his hands to halt the conversation. “This is my decision, not Lars’. The only reason he’s here is because, like me, he deserves to know what happened to Evan.”

“You both can’t sit here and tell me that Evan didn’t have his fingers in some secret spy shit.”

“Government contracts,” Garrett explained. He picked up a pen and tapped it on the desk, a habit he frequently had when deep in thought. “All of which are top secret. And you know what that means, Dean. These things…there are broader implications than Evan’s death. If, and I repeat, if his death is in any way connected to Emerson Industries and something he was working on, I cannot disclose that to you. And to be perfectly honest, I’m not one hundred percent convinced that’s the case. In twelve years of handling military projects, we’ve never had an incident.”

“How about this? You show me everything, and we’ll call it lawyer-client privilege,” Dean proposed. “No one else in the department will see it. I swear it.”

“I just told you that…” Garrett paused as a knock sounded.

“Don’t you have a secretary? This meeting’s private,” Dean told him.

“Come in,” Garrett barked. As Selby walked into his office, he averted his gaze to meet Lars’. Despite the jolt of desire he felt every time he saw her, he buried the emotion deep inside. Sooner or later he’d have to tell Lars about his plans to pursue Selby, but this was definitely not the time or place.

“Who the hell is this?” Dean asked. “Garrett, you’re not taking this seriously.”

“Selby, this is Dean Frye. He’s the DA. He’s investigating Evan’s death. Dean, this is Selby Reynolds. She’s on loan from Lars. She’s working Evan’s projects and recruiting a permanent replacement.”

“This is a private conversation,” Dean insisted.

“She stays. Sit.” Garrett pointed to a chair. Selby’s eyes widened at the command and her lips drew tight. He’d meant to order her in front of the others, so they were all aware who was running this meeting. Dean had gone too far, insinuating that he didn’t care about Evan. Nothing could be further from the truth.

“Fine, but none of this leaves the room, Miss Reynolds, got it?”

“Of course,” Selby responded. Her expression had grown cold and her eyes darted to Lars, who returned her gaze.

“As I was saying,” Garrett continued. His focus faltered as he caught Lars nodding at Selby. While he’d been intentionally curt, it cut him to see her look to Lars for reassurance. He knew he was fucking things up six ways to Sunday, but at this point, he had to keep going. “Selby has all the pertinent files that contain most of the information about the projects Evan was working on. Before you leave tonight, you will have copies as well.”

“But…” Selby went to interrupt and Garrett silenced her.

“You’re here to listen, not speak.” The flash of anger in her eyes told him instantly that he’d gone too far. Fuck, he was being a dick, he knew, but everything was going to shit faster than he could stop it. Selby had cleverly found the reference to the PFx Prototype he’d carelessly left in the files, and he was afraid she’d mention it in front of Dean. He’d need to make sure it was scrubbed clean before the DA got the files.

“Garrett,” Lars interrupted in Selby’s defense, “you can’t talk to her like that.”

“No, Lars. It’s fine. You want silence, Mr. Emerson? You got it,” she replied, her tone cold.

“Dean, you’ll get what you need,” Garrett continued. He’d make it up to Selby later, explain why he’d spoken to her the way he had. Right now, he needed to get Dean off his back and the police out of his building. “But you should ask yourself why this would happen now. Evan’s worked on all kinds of secret, sometimes downright dangerous, projects over the years. What does someone get from just killing him? Seriously. Think about it.”

“I’ve thought about it all right. I’ve also been to his house.”

“What?”

“That’s right. His house was torn apart. Someone was looking for something. I don’t know what but my guess is that if they didn’t find it at his home, it’s in his office.”

“I loved Evan, you know that. He taught me everything,” Garrett gritted out, raw emotion causing his voice to waver. He’d hoped to keep the grief at bay, but the more they talked about his friend as if he’d done something wrong, as if he wasn’t a person, the more it flooded his chest. He blew out a breath and shook his head. “But you and I both know he had enemies. How about starting with the long list of women he dated? His ex-wife. Have you questioned her? What about ex-girlfriends?”

“Yes, we’re going to check them out too. But Garrett, this could’ve been an industry hit of some kind,” he suggested.

“Jesus, Dean. Really, are we going to jump to James Bond shit? I hate to say it, but people get killed all the time. Sure, someone had to go to an awful lot of trouble to make it look like an accident, but still, it’s not like it went unnoticed. We all know Evan wouldn’t have made a mistake like that.”

“What about the poison?” Lars asked.

“Atropa belladonna.”

“What’s that?” Lars asked.