Chapter 16
After coffee Kai looked at him and said, “What do you want to do now?”
He closed the laptop, placed it off to the side and turned to look at her. “It’s Saturday. What would you like to do?”
“I think we should return to the office, go through Warren’s computer, find out if there’s anything we should know about.”
“I have no problem with that. You should probably stop by the lawyer’s too, if he’s willing to see us on a Saturday.”
“Will the detective give us an update?”
“Hard to say. I can call him later and see.”
“Okay, breakfast first? If you’re hankering for pancakes.”
He grinned. “I’ve always got room for pancakes.”
They showered and dressed quickly. He drove to the restaurant and sat down with yet more coffee.
“You think there is any chance the autopsy will be done today?” Kai asked.
“I doubt it, but considering it’s now a murder investigation, I can’t say for sure.”
They ordered breakfast. When they were almost done, Tyson got a phone call from Ice. “Good morning to you too.” Tyson smiled, put the phone on Speaker and laid it on the table. “You’re on speakerphone, Ice. Go ahead.”
“The coroner is doing the autopsy this week. We’ll hopefully get a full report by Friday. It will give us something solid to go on. Her tone was such that Kai knew it was more worry about them than thinking they were taking too many chances. “We have several investigations ongoing here but answers on some fronts take time. I don’t need to warn you guys about being careful.”
Kai chuckled. “I’m not planning on doing anything major. Right now we’re having pancakes.”
“Lucky for you guys. I missed breakfast. However, Alfred’s making me something right now.”
“Lucky you.” Kai laughed. “I’d take Alfred’s breakfast over restaurant food any day.” She caught Tyson’s strange look but ignored it.
“We’re heading into the office afterward,” Tyson said. “We want to check Warren’s computer, particularly if this is a murder investigation. The police are likely to come and take everything.”
“That’s not a bad idea. Make sure you go through any physical files and whatever else might be pertinent.”
The longer she sat there, the more Kai worried the police would do just that before they had a chance to look for themselves. She faced Tyson and said, “I sense a sudden urgency to go.”
He got up to pay the bill. By the time he was done, Kai waited impatiently at the front door. As he hopped into the vehicle, he asked, “Any reason in particular?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know how long before the autopsy is completed. Once it’s declared a murder investigation, I’m afraid the company will shut down for a while.”
He drove straight to the business and pulled into the parking lot. She was surprised to see several vehicles there. “Why is anybody here? We’re closed today.”
“Let’s go find out.”
“Has Ice said if anything unusual has shown up on any of the security cameras we installed?”
“No, and that means no one has. She won’t relax on this one.”
When she let them into the office, they found Tommy and Larry sitting off to the side. Tommy looked a little worse for wear. When he saw her, he walked over, his arms open wide. She gave him a hug and held him. For all his brainpower, he was still just a big teenager.
“I’m so sorry, Tommy.”
He sniffled and stepped back. “Still can’t believe it.”
“I know. The autopsy is this week.” She walked over to Warren’s office door and tried to open it, but it was locked. She turned toward Tommy. “Did you lock it?”
Tommy shook his head. “I figured you did. I came in to make sure everything was secure. I started to think about the police shutting us down. I tried getting into his office but couldn’t.”
“How long have you been here?” she asked, suspicion still driving her instincts forward. She glanced at Larry. “And you?”
“We came in together. Just got in about ten minutes before you,” Tommy said.
When she turned back to Warren’s office, the door was open. Tyson gave her a bland look. She walked in, headed to the back of Warren’s desk and turned on the computer. His laptop was still here. She frowned. She took hers home every night. Then again how many did he have? She only had one. “Was there a laptop in Warren’s apartment?” she asked Tyson.
He shook his head. “No, there wasn’t. Were you expecting one to be here?”
She frowned. “I knew he had one. I just wondered if he had two.”
“I take my laptop back and forth,” Tommy said from the doorway. “Warren has two laptops, I think. But one was so old it almost wasn’t workable anymore. I think it’s in the bottom drawer of the filing cabinet.”
“Has anybody touched the servers or accessed the computer in the last twenty-four hours?” she asked, walking over to check the filing cabinet. Sure enough a laptop was there.
Tommy looked at her in surprise and frowned and then horror hit his expression, and he bolted to his desk.
Her stomach sank as she said, “I guess we’ll find out in a few minutes.” She sat down and opened Warren’s desk drawers.
Larry walked over. “Should you be doing that?”
“Yes, I should. Seeing that I’m the remaining partner in the business, I need to know what the hell’s going on.” She didn’t watch his face, only got an odd look from him when she glanced up. “That bothers you?”
“Tommy might be the other partner now.”
She looked at Larry for a long moment, realizing nobody really knew about the legal side of this yet. And how many of the employees knew about Tommy and Warren’s relationship? “That might be. But if you think I’d do anything to destroy the business, you’re wrong. I need to know what’s going on, and that means going through Warren’s desk. Regardless of who gets Warren’s shares, I’m still the majority shareholder.”
Larry shrugged, stepping back slightly. She watched him as he glanced over at Tyson. But Larry’s face was hard, his glance steady on the doorway.
“Did that seem odd to you?” she asked in a low enough tone so Larry couldn’t hear them.
“Oh, yeah. I’ll contact Ice and see if she ever got a full report on him.”
She nodded. “Do that.”
She went through all of Warren’s desk. In the file drawer he had several matching folders like the ones she kept her contracts in. However, also in the drawer was a sealed black leather case. She pulled it out, opened it up and inside found the Burning Edge material. While Tyson went over the laptop, she pulled out the paperwork and took a closer look. It included copies of emails, contract details on the product and more that she handed over to Levi for testing. “Well, isn’t this interesting?”
“What did you find?”
“The Burning Edge folder. And what appears to be a contract.”
“So he was doing this without your permission?” He studied her carefully. “I’m sorry.”
“Me too. I wonder if I ever knew him.” She started to pore over the contract, not liking the terms, not liking anything about it. If he’d already made a deal with them, albeit without her permission, why was it he’d been okay with her taking the VR system to Levi as a prototype? According to the contract before her, Burning Edge would have had exclusive rights to develop and market the VR system.
When she got to the signing partners’ signatures, she found a spot for hers, but no signature was there. And she was pretty damn sure that made the contract illegal.
She’d have to read the contract and see what the details were but later, much later. Even after that she’d have to run it by her attorney. She folded it up, put it away and continued looking in the rest of Warren’s desk drawers. Leaving the black leather case on the desk, she walked over to the filing cabinet and went through it. She’d been through these files many times before as these were the only hard copies of the company’s files. Behind all the files was a strong box. She drew that out. “And this is interesting too.”
Tyson looked up, his gaze lighting when he saw the box in her hand. “Put it down here. If it’s locked, I’ll pop it open for you.”
She put it on the desk, and of course it was locked. She looked in the top drawer, finding a small jewelry box where Warren kept the key. Inside was cash. A lot of cash. Hearing footsteps outside, she quickly closed it and put it on her lap so nobody walking in could see it.
Tommy came in. “It doesn’t appear anything’s been touched on the servers.”
The relief in his voice made her realize just how much Tommy had invested in this company as well.
“Good. Now can you check if anybody used Warren’s log-in to gain access, and, if they did, what files they looked at?”
Tommy nodded. As he turned away, his gaze landed on the black case. “Oh, that’s Warren’s. I saw him with that earlier.”
She looked up, patted the black leather case and said, “You mean this?”
Tommy nodded.
“Inside is a contract he signed with Burning Edge for exclusive development and marketing rights on our VR system.”
“What?” Tommy looked shell-shocked. “How could he do that? They have a horrible reputation. I know he’s my father with a shitty company, but … I had no idea he was such an asshole.”
“Yeah, that could be why Warren’s dead. Warren signed a contract—without my signature—to give Burning Edge the VR system.” Inside her stomach hurt. She needed to contact her lawyer on that one. Why would Warren do that? Fast cash? Or did his stepbrother have something to hold over Warren’s head as leverage? It would have to be something major …
Tommy stared at her in horror. “Please tell me that contract’s not legal.”
“I’m not sure yet. But I sure as hell didn’t sign this contract. The lawyers will have to hammer it out. And then they’ll have to hammer out Burning Edge, but I’m hoping to confirm the contract is not binding.”
“You know what we have going here is huge, right?” His earnest expression showed even through his mop of hair covered most of his face. “We can do so much better than that nightmare company.”
“And that’s why I don’t understand why Warren did it.” She shook her head. “It doesn’t make any sense. Maybe he knew it wasn’t legal. Maybe he did it to get them off his back, and when they found out …” She let her voice trail off.
Tommy winced. “Oh, I can see that. Burning Edge has an ugly rep.”
“How good are your hacking skills?” Tyson asked him.
Tommy gave him an innocent baby-blue-eyed look. “Hacking is illegal.”
“And we all know about your history. It looks like Warren has his laptop security coded. Any idea how to get into it?”
“Man, why would he do that? This is his office unit,” Tommy said.
“Exactly. Which is why we need to get into this computer. We need to know if somebody used his log-in information. How good is your security here?”
“The best,” Tommy said. “It’s what I do.”
“You mean, it’s what you used to do,” Kai said with a chuckle. “Now you’re only involved with legal activities.”
“One has to learn how to break the bank in order to understand how to stop others from doing the same thing,” Tommy said absentmindedly. His gaze focused on the laptop. “I’ll use password breaking software for this. It won’t take too long. Then I should be able to get in through the network. But that won’t allow me into his personal emails. He has a company email we can access without any trouble. But his personal emails are a different story.” He picked up Warren’s office computer. “You want me to do this now?”
“Yes. Before the police show up with a warrant and take anything they want.”
Tommy looked at Kai in horror and raced out the door.
Tyson stood and whispered, “I’ll watch him. We need everything on that laptop.”
“Go do that. We have to figure out why Warren has so much cash sitting at his desk.”
Tyson gave her a hard look as he walked out. “Because he needed it to run.”
He closed the door behind him, giving her a chance to open up the strongbox again and take a serious look at the money. Over thirty thousand in cash sat in the box. As she stared out the window, she had to wonder. “Warren, did you take a bribe? And, when they realized the contract wouldn’t stand up in court, did they come after you? Thirty thousand wasn’t worth killing you over.”
She closed the box and placed it inside her bag. It was a damn tight fit, but no way would she leave that kind of money here. Not when the guys all had access to it. She didn’t know how this worked. Did she have the rights to it? Yet another question for the lawyers.
*
Tyson followed Tommy out to the main office where he sat down in front of a hard drive connected to his main computer, then connected it to the laptop. Instantly, Tyson saw the password cracking program start working on the laptop. He smiled to himself. “How often do you get to use that program?”
Tommy gave him a sheepish grin. “Not enough, that’s for sure.”
Larry sat down at his own desk, but he made no attempt to work. He put his feet up and watched Tommy.
“You know anything about what Warren was doing?” Tyson asked him.
Larry shrugged. “Nope, I sure don’t.”
His tone of voice was less than caring. Tommy didn’t seem to notice. Tyson wondered at the relationship between Tommy and Larry who appeared to be eight to ten years older. Tommy was just young enough and stupid-smart enough to be taken in by somebody. He was geekwise, not worldwise. Tyson had seen it happen time and time again.
He decided to sit back and just watch the two of them. While he kept up via texts in the ongoing conversation with the detective about details and with Levi forwarding information, Tyson quietly took pictures of Larry and Tommy.
He knew Ice could pick up on body language in a spooky way. Even via photos. Merk and Rhodes were really good at that too. But both of them were off on jobs. Stone could read others too yet tended to be home more now. It wasn’t that his leg kept him from doing whatever he needed to do, but more that his security-related skills were needed at the compound. He was doing a big overhaul on the security system to encompass all the new apartments being remodeled.
While Tyson took care of his own business and kept watching the two young men in front of him, Tyson also watched as Tommy worked his way through the system to see if Warren had logged in within the last twenty-four hours.
“He logged out yesterday afternoon before he stormed out of here,” Tommy said quietly. “He didn’t log in again.”
“So that’s good.”
“Why’s that good?” Larry challenged Tyson. “I don’t understand what you have to do with any of us.”
Tyson ignored him. He wanted to see just how aggressive the young man would get.
Tommy looked at Larry who sat beside Tyson, then switched his gaze back. “Do you have any right to know this stuff?”
Tyson nodded. “Yes, I do.”
The relief on Tommy’s face made Tyson realize just how young Tommy really was.
“So you say. You’re nothing but her latest lay,” Larry sneered.
Tyson straightened ever-so-slightly. Larry’s feet hit the floor, and he backed up. Tyson measured the younger man with cold eyes. “Who are you talking about right now?”
His voice was so soft, so deadly, it sent Tommy into a spiel. “He didn’t mean it. He talks about all women that way.”
“He will never talk about one woman again like that.” Tyson pinned Larry in place with his gaze. “Do you understand?”
Larry tried to puff up his chest but caved in quickly. “Yeah, I understand.” His voice was solid but his demeanor was cowed.
Tyson studied him for a long moment. “It might be time to look for another job.”
Both young men stood in front of him. “There is no reason for that,” Tommy said anxiously. “Larry’s really good at what he does.”
Tyson turned his head sideways, looking at Tommy. “What exactly does Larry do here?”
Larry frowned and looked at Tommy. “I do all kinds of stuff.”
Tommy nodded, puzzled. “Why?”
“Because nobody who appreciates their job and understands just what a delicate balance they’re in right now would talk about their boss like he just did,” Tyson said.
“She doesn’t have anything to do with the business. This was Warren’s company. Warren explained it all to me,” Larry said, finding his bravado again.
At that both Tommy and Tyson looked at him. “What do you mean, Larry?” Tommy asked.
Larry looked at Tommy and scoffed. “Hey, you know how it goes. She brought in a little bit of money, and she acts like she owns the place. Now look at him. He’s dead, and I bet she killed him.”
Tommy shook his head. “No way. That’s not how it was.”
“Warren told me how she didn’t pay full price for everything, that she barely gave enough to bail him out of trouble. Her presence here was temporary, as part of the contract that he could buy the shares back as soon as he raised the money.” Larry went back to reclining in his chair, his feet up on the desk. “She killed him. I don’t know why the hell anybody would be looking any further than her. It should be your company, Tommy. Everybody knows that.”
Tommy shook his head. “No, that’s not true. This was Mark and Warren’s company first. I came on soon after so I was there almost from the beginning. But I was just a kid then so not official in any way.”
“Everything should come to you. But what do you want to bet that bitch there will find a way to make sure you don’t get it?”
Tyson eyed Larry steadily, listened quietly, wondering just what Larry’s role in all of this was.
Tommy sat down. “I’d rather have my uncle than his company. Besides, Kai told the truth. She has a controlling interest in the company, not Warren.”
Larry shoved his chin out. “No way.”
Tommy nodded. “I asked the lawyer yesterday after they argued.”
Tyson filed that away. Interesting Tommy had the smarts to do that.
Larry stared at his friend in shock. “No way! That’s wrong. I know she was lying. Warren warned me how she would spread lies like that. And she did when we talked about it before. No way Warren would give up controlling interest of the company. Who are you going to believe? Her or our boss?”
Of course Larry had never thought of Kai as his boss. Warren had been here first. She was nothing but an upstart to the both of them. Too bad. Kai deserved better.
“He had no choice in it,” Tommy said. “He was in bankruptcy. She bailed him out too, and that meant all our jobs. And I appreciate that she did. I don’t know that I would fit into too many other places. This is the best job for me. When Uncle Warren brought me on, I was delighted. You know what I’m like when I get around strangers or people who don’t know who I am. I’m awkward. I just don’t function well.”
Larry stared at him in horror, then glanced at the closed door. “You mean she actually owns the company?”
Tommy nodded. “Yeah, she has since Mark died.”
Tyson watched Larry’s face as a gray cast suddenly overtook his features. That this was news was one thing. That it was incredibly bad news was a whole different story.
“Now that Warren’s dead, it should be yours. Warren would have a will. Surely he left his half to you.”
“I don’t think it works that way when it comes to businesses.”
“But he had you, Tommy. You’re his nephew. You might not see that bond as blood but he viewed you as family. He said you inherited everything—remember that?”
Tommy looked at Larry. “He was joking. I’m pretty sure it was part of the business agreement. If she died, he got the company. If he died, she got the company.”
“No, that can’t be.”
“Why not, Larry?” Tyson asked. “Because then you killed Warren for nothing?”
Fear stabbed the man’s eyes. He shook his head rapidly. “No, no, no, no. That can’t be. The company is yours, Tommy. You’ll just have to figure it out. This guy’s full of shit.” He waved at Tyson. “You don’t belong here. It’s that bitch you’re with.”
Tyson took a step toward him. Larry jackrabbited out of his chair and raced backward. “Don’t let him hurt me, Tommy.”
Tommy stood, his tall lanky form a beanpole between the two men. “What Tyson said,” Tommy asked Larry, “was he right?”
“No, of course he wasn’t right. I never hurt anyone.”
“Unless hurting Warren would have helped you, Tommy, and then Larry by default. You’ve been friends for a long time, haven’t you?” Tyson asked lightly, his mind suddenly seeing how this would work.
Larry nodded. “We’ve been friends since forever, haven’t we, Tommy?”
“Yes, we have,” Tommy said. “He’s like an older brother to me.” Yet, Tommy stared at Larry as if he’d never seen him before.
Tyson understood why. When one finally understood what people were capable of, it was often a shock. “What did you do when you found out Warren was leaving?” Tyson asked Larry. “That he was running away, out of the country, and leaving everything to collapse behind him?” Tyson heard the door to Warren’s office open quietly. He realized Kai must’ve heard or seen something to make her aware of what was going on out here.
“I went to his apartment, talked to him. I asked him if he was leaving. If he realized the company would collapse if he left. He denied it. He denied he was leaving.
“He had a lot of cash with him. It was a down payment on a contract. But he needed it to start his new life.” Larry shook his head in bewilderment. “He was going to leave Tommy and me, and she couldn’t possibly keep the company going. I knew it would go under. Warren explained to me how she didn’t have any power to do anything. She would lose her job, not that I cared about her, but Tommy and I’d been here for a long time. This was our company too.”
“You killed Warren, didn’t you, Larry?” Tyson asked quietly. He glanced down at his phone to make sure it was recording the video as it played out.
“But I didn’t mean to. I didn’t mean to hurt him. We fought, and he fell. I guess I hit him a bit too hard. I don’t know if it was my punch that made him hit the bathroom counter as he went down. I didn’t mean to hurt him.”
“So why did you put him in the bathtub and cut his wrists?” Kai asked quietly from the doorway. “And then go back and clean up the blood. Why not call for an ambulance and get him the help he needed?”
Larry’s face turned to fury. “Because he was still leaving us. As soon as he got better again, he would still leave us.” He shrugged. “I put the money I found at his place back in the strongbox in the office. That’s where he took it from. It’s where it belonged. The company is Tommy’s. I’d never steal from him.”
“You did steal from him. You stole his family, his mentor—the man who helped pay for Tommy’s education through the years, the man who gave Tommy holidays and helped him when his mother couldn’t.”
“No! You see? It was an accident.”
“It was an accident,” Tyson said, “until you cut Warren’s wrists and let him bleed out.”
“And then it became murder.” Kai’s voice was soft, gentle. But she wasn’t looking at Larry. She was studying Tommy. The young kid had gone from fear to anger, and now he looked like he was ready to burst into tears. She walked closer and put her hand on his shoulder. “Sit down, Tommy.”
He collapsed into his chair as he stared at Larry. “Please tell me that you didn’t kill Uncle Warren.”
Larry held out his hands. “I didn’t mean to, Tommy. And then I panicked. I didn’t know what else to do. He wasn’t bleeding, but he was breathing. He was still alive when I put him in the bathtub.”
“He was still alive when you cut his wrists? In other words, if you’d called the ambulance, you might have saved him?” Kai asked. “Instead, now it’s murder. And you were the stalker, weren’t you? You’re the one driving me crazy? The one texting me, telling me to make a decision? Inputting fake names into my cell phone? Following me, stealing my underwear? Tracking me?”
Larry shrugged. “Yeah, but I did it at Warren’s request.”