Chapter Five #3
“He said—when he left, he said: ‘Guard the fort, Gretta! I’m off duty.’ I think I said he wasn’t off duty until he finished those budget reports, and he laughed.”
She let out a sigh. “He laughed.”
“You’ll take his position now.”
“Acting. I’ll stand in as acting director.
He—he recommended me for assistant director five years ago.
I know Director O’Brian questioned the promotion, as I was only thirty-six, and I had a toddler at home, but Larry went to bat for me.
I may take his position, temporarily or permanently, but I could never take his place. ”
“What about friction in his department, work-related or personal?”
“Larry runs—ran—a smooth ship. It was important to him. Harmony and cooperation, teamwork produces better results. He was a finder of solutions, in all aspects. You could go to him with a problem, in the work, in your life, and he would try and help.”
“Transfers, terminations for cause?”
“Certainly there have been some of both over the years, but nothing recent.”
“Did he ever come to you with problems? Personal or work-related?”
“Work-related, certainly. We’d put our heads together, or if he felt I had a better handle, he’d pass something to me.
Personal, oh, just the sort of thing between old friends.
He had a very stable family life, a good circle of friends.
Could he get irritated or impatient, yes.
But he wasn’t one for drama or conflicts.
“Here, the work ruled all. What we do saves lives, makes lives better, and he believed to do that vital work, and do it well, efficiently, required a cooperative workplace.”
Eve took her through more questions, then moved on to the next, and the next.
When they’d finished, Eve sat at one end of the conference table, Peabody at the other.
“They liked him,” Peabody said. “And if I didn’t get real like, I got plenty of respect.”
“Yeah, I’m not seeing it coming out of the lab. And yet.”
Eve pushed to her feet. “I think we’re done here for today.”
They stepped out to find Mae sitting in the corridor working on a PPC.
She closed it down, stood.
“Is there something else I can arrange for you?”
“Not at this time, thank you. We’re on our way out.”
“I’ll escort you to the elevator and clear you down to the garage level.”
“Pretty tight security.”
“Yes. The company does a great deal of sensitive work, and much of it’s done in areas that require environmental control, strict protocols, and so forth.”
“Sure.”
Eve stepped into the elevator.
“Lieutenant, could I ask if arrangements have been made for Director Chu’s memorial?”
“I don’t believe the family has finalized those as yet. Would you like to be informed when they have?”
“I would like to pay my respects.”
“I’ll make sure you’re informed.”
“Thank you. You’re cleared to the garage level.”
The doors closed them into the faint scent of roses.
“Tight ship. Why is a ship supposed to be tight? I can’t think about that now. Everybody liked our dead guy, Peabody.”
“Except.”
“Yeah, except somebody really didn’t. Maybe take a closer look at neighbors, at who worked out in the same gym, or if he had interests—gambling, say—that haven’t popped up yet.”
“Maybe the wife wasn’t fooling around, but somebody wanted her to. Get rid of the husband, get a clear field.”
“Wouldn’t be the first time.”
They got out, walked to the car. The same security officer cleared them out.
“You know, it’s not going to be any of those things.”
“Probably not.” Peabody put on her rainbow-lensed sunshades, which reminded Eve to put on her ass-kicker shades.
“I’m also giving it a ninety-five percent probability that the elevators, possibly the hallways, and that conference room have ears as well as eyes.”
“With you there, Dallas. I get the tight security, I get that. But monitoring all spaces? There’s a creepy factor.”
“If the motive didn’t spring from the lab, at least not among his team, it still could come from the company. That kind of security—and the kind of work they do—is higher than high tech. No problem getting codes off his ’link. They’d have someone with that ability.”
“And I’m thinking, it’s risky maybe to fire somebody with his knowledge and skill, especially if there’s something not a hundred percent on the good in there.”
“Where that falls down for me? Why not arrange an accident, or make it look like an actual break-in, or take him out in a mugging? I keep going back there, but maybe that’s the whole point.”
“We don’t look at them too hard because it doesn’t make sense.”
Eve nodded. “So you twist that around, and it could make sense.”
Because she followed the logic, Peabody nodded. “You want a consult with Mira.”
“Yeah. I take it apart, put it together all sorts of ways. Maybe she’ll have a clearer vision. I copied her on the report anyway, in case. So check and see when and if she’s got time to see me.”
“I can do that. You know what else? Wyst? He wasn’t blank on the thirteen-years-ago question. He was thrown off that you asked it, but he wasn’t blank.”
“No, he wasn’t, and yes, he was. Time to find out what the company was up to thirteen years ago.”