Duty and the Beast by Chelsea Field

Author:Chelsea Field [Field, Chelsea]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: JFP Press
Published: 2018-01-30T22:00:00+00:00

13

“I suppose we’ll have to pay another visit to Tony Callahan,” I said, feeling like the ball in a game of Ping-Pong. We were back in the SUV after finishing up with Damon. “How are we supposed to figure this out when all we have are conflicting versions of events and only one man’s word against the other’s to go by?”

Connor answered before Adeline this time. Probably because she was busy admiring the piñata she’d insisted on buying for some party tonight.

“This is a game to them. So we keep applying pressure until it stops being fun. I just wish the bastards had the decency to work closer together.”

Adeline put the colorful dinosaur down and spoke up from the backseat. “Are you sure applying pressure is the right approach? I mean, you’re not getting very far with them, and I was watching YouTube videos last night, and they said the best method of interrogation is actually to establish rapport, make them feel like you understand them and that kind of thing. I could give it a go if it’d help. I’m great at getting people to like me.”

Connor and I shared a look and politely declined.

Half a long hour of politeness later, we were back in Ocean Park. Tony Callahan was not pleased to see our group again. Not even the oh-so-likable Adeline. But he allowed us into his office anyway.

The poor receptionist had taken the extra chair away since we’d left and so had to fetch it back. I nabbed it for myself, figuring it would be more comfortable than the aluminum ones and had the swivel capability to boot.

Since Connor had suggested we apply pressure, I didn’t bother with small talk. “Damon Wood told us you stole intellectual property from a friend of his. That that’s why you broke up.”

Tony let out a long-suffering sigh. “Did he tell you about my Japanese sex cushion too?”

What? Eww. “No.”

Adeline scribbled in her notebook.

“Oh good. He must have finally stopped spreading that rumor.” Callahan leaned back in his chair, folded his arms, and made direct eye contact with me. The unspoken yet clear-as-day message was that he couldn’t care less. That I was wasting his time.

I smiled pleasantly and gave him my own unspoken message: suck it up, princess. Aloud, I said, “We’ve confirmed the timing of your breakup coincided with landing the vehicle fleet management contract.”

The corners of Tony’s mouth turned down, reacting to my unspoken words rather than the spoken ones. “So what the hell does that prove? That he can spin a good lie? He was upset, he fixated on the break-in, and he either realized it was a great story that would be impossible to wholly refute or was deluded enough to convince himself it was true. Regardless, it doesn’t make his claims any less false.”

Tony’s denial didn’t prove Damon’s claims any more false either. But he wasn’t going to acknowledge that, so I stuck to the facts. “Then you fired him and blackballed him out of the industry.

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