Chapter 31
31
L eo blinked at her. “How did you know?”
She reached into her pocket for the envelope she’d collected from Murphys. Pulling the paper out, she slid it across the table. “The last of the clues my father left. I looked it up on our way back. I didn’t find much other than that it’s a biotech company.”
“Pharmaceuticals,” Leo corrected. “But, yes, in the bio-space.” His gaze drifted to the paper, but he didn’t pick it up. “Well, I guess that confirms my lead. Navios is where we need to focus.”
“And what these six people were doing while working there,” Scipio said, tapping the paper. “Let’s not forget Dr. Kato, though,” he said. “I’m guessing something at Navios contributed to the development of DIC in each of these people and that he made the connection.”
Lina nodded. “And someone didn’t want that connection to come out, so they had him killed.”
“An extreme reaction, even for a pharmaceutical company,” Scipio said. “I’d bet my bike that something more than just the threat of a whistleblower triggered the need to keep Dr. Kato silent. We need to know what that is.”
Everyone murmured their agreement as Kara rose. “I’m going to leave that to you all, but what I will say is this: if what Scipio says is true and these people were all exposed to something at Navios that made them predisposed to DIC, it’s an anomaly. To the best of our knowledge, the occurrence of DIC isn’t latent. It may take months to cause an issue, but not years.”
“That sounds ominous, but I’m not sure why,” Mantis said.
Kara flashed him a wry smile. “Because DIC is already hard to diagnose. Couple that with its severity and the thought of it lurking in our systems, waiting to show itself? Well, it has a bit of a horror-movie feel to it. That said, if we find these six people all worked in the same lab or on the same project, then we can identify who else worked there and run preemptive tests. So while it’s scary because it’s unknown, what Dr. Kato found might help us save lives.”
“I’ll anchor myself on that,” Lina said.
Kara offered her a soft smile. “Call me if you need anything and keep me posted,” she said before gathering her empty plate and heading out.
“What’s the plan of action?” Philly said.
The night Lina had met Jackson, Joey offered to introduce her to either Jackson or Philly. With charmingly tousled hair and a playful glint in his dark blue eyes, Philly was a compelling man. But when she looked at him, she saw a younger brother, even though he was probably a few years older than she. He’d be fun to hang out with, maybe get into a few scrapes with. And they’d definitely laugh.
But he didn’t hold a candle to Jackson.
She glanced at the man she chose that night. He had an easy smile, too, but his held a heated promise that drew her in, an earthy appreciation that sank into her the instant his dark eyes connected with hers. When he looked at her now, his gaze hadn’t changed, but it reflected more—he fulfilled his promises and knew it. And he looked forward to continuing to fulfill them.
He glanced over, and the hint of well-earned arrogance and possessiveness in his expression made her want to be alone with him. Made her want to disappear in him—in them. Even if for only an hour or two.
Setting his drink down, Jackson slipped his hand under the table, sliding it over her thigh, the tips of his fingers dipping between her legs. Her muscles twitched, and he inched his hand higher. High enough to make her squeeze her thighs together.
She cleared her throat. “We need more information about the people in these death certificates. Navios, too. I propose that we”—she gestured to her and Jackson—“take Navios. We may not find all the dirty secrets, but we should be able to find out a lot if we search the right way.”
“I’ll take the six former employees,” Leo said, nodding to the documents on the table. “Once I identified that they all worked for Navios, I intended to look deeper, but a few things came up that I had to prioritize. I’m open for the rest of the afternoon and have tomorrow off. I can pull together decent dossiers by then.”
“Why don’t we do that,” Scipio said. “Understanding Dr. Kato’s connection to the deceased is critical. How did he identify them? How did he connect them to Navios, and, most importantly, how did Navios get wind of his interest? That’s information that takes more skill to find than Philly and I have.”
Philly nodded. “Our six deceased have living family. Scipio and I can call and see if any of them are willing to talk with us.”
“They also likely have friends,” Mantis added.
Scipio nodded. “To the extent we can find them, we can interview them, too.”
Leo nodded, but Lina frowned. “That’s a good point about my father, Scipio. He didn’t travel much. Really only to conferences. How did he learn about all those people? And our quick look at Navios said they have over five thousand employees. My dad identified six former employees. Former employees who’d moved away from the North Carolina headquarters and were living different lives. If someone at Navios is behind his death—which is what we’re all thinking—how did they find out about him and what he was looking into?”
Leo nodded again. “I’ll take Dr. Kato. Scipio and Philly will take the family and friends of the deceased. Viper and Lina will take Navios.”
“Mantis?” Jackson asked.
He shook his head. “I’m here if you need me, but otherwise, I have quarterly taxes I need to work on.”
Lina laughed at the look of horror on everyone’s faces. “I’d offer to help but…”
Mantis glanced at Jackson, smiling as he rose. “I may take you up on that next quarter. For now, you have your hands full.” With a nod to the room, he left.
Jackson’s fingers twitched on her thigh. She squeezed them together again and shot him a narrow-eyed look. He grinned.
“So, I don’t have a computer,” she said, turning her attention back to the group and ignoring—or trying to—the heat of Jackson’s hand. “I left it at home when I had my client meeting, and I haven’t been back.”
“I thought that might be the case,” Leo said, reaching into his bag and pulling out a sleek laptop much nicer than hers. “We had this in storage. It’s all set up and should have everything you need.” He handed it over, and she eyed it. If Leo or his team ever used it, they would have wiped it clean within an inch of its life. She couldn’t help but wonder, though, what it had seen in its tenure at HICC.
“Thank you,” she said.
He nodded and began packing up. “The password is on a sticky note, but you’ll want to change that when you log in.”
She planned on doing nothing other than internet searches on public sites, but she nodded.
“Should we reconvene tonight?” Leo asked.
“Tomorrow morning,” Philly countered. “I’m on shift at Rita’s tonight. I’ll work on this until then, but it would be better if we meet in the morning.”
Jackson glanced at her in question. She shrugged. “Works for us,” he said. “Ten o’clock?”
Everyone nodded, then filed out of the room, leaving her and Jackson. “It’s two o’clock,” she said. “How long do you think it will take us to find everything we can about Navios?”
“Not every hour between now and ten tomorrow,” Jackson said.
“I assume you have internet at your place?” He nodded. She set her hand on his and slid it higher. “Then let’s head to your place, maybe de-stress a little, then find out what kind of company would come after my dad.”