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“Valen Ward?” The agent holds his hand out for me to take. I shake it. His limp wrist is probably as limp as his dick. “Agent Garfield. This is just to take your statement. Nothing to worry about.”
Are they going to do the good cop, bad cop thing? Well, this should be interesting.
“I’m sure. Unfortunately, a man in my position can’t be too careful. Especially considering Detective Hask’s interest in me.”
Garfield looks at Hask, who sighs.
“I’m just doing my job here, Ward, despite you liking to make me out to be the bad guy.”
“Whatever you say, Hask.”
Garfield interrupts before Hask can say anything else. “We have a team downstairs ready to process the scene if you have someone who can show us where to go.”
“My secretary will take you over. Once you get there, Dr. Jefferies will show you around. He’s the one who discovered the vials were missing and called me.”
“What he should have done is call us himself,” Hask snaps.
“He did his job, following the chain of command and protocol. It’s my job to know what’s happening in my company.”
“You are a suspect. And now you’ve had ample time to hide and destroy evidence?—”
I hold up my hand and cut him off. “It’s my company, like I said. I have access to whatever I want, whenever I want, and you better believe if I took anything, nobody would know. Right now, I’m more concerned about you falsifying evidence so that you finally have something to pin on me.”
Hask tuts. “That’s a serious allegation, Mr. Ward?—”
“I stand by what I said.”
“Since your company is now a crime scene, I will need access to each room, your computers, and?—"
I cut him off again, this time with a shake of my head. “No. There is confidential information kept here. My office and the computers are irrelevant to a theft that happened at our labs in another location. Unless, of course, you have a warrant that says otherwise.”
“The harder you make it for us to investigate, the more guilty you look.”
“I only need to breathe to look guilty, according to you, so excuse me if I don’t believe the bullshit coming out of your mouth.”
I turn to Garfield, who is watching the exchange between us. “I’m ready when you are.” He nods and motions for me to follow him out the door. I wait, looking at Hask because I’m not leaving before he does.
“Detective Hask,” Garfield says when Hask continues to glare at me. Hask turns and leaves the room, anger in his steps.
I follow behind him, and when Garfield leaves, I step around him and lock the door. I turn to Fauna, who is watching me from her desk, and explain the situation.
“I’ll call your lawyer and have her meet you down at the station. Don’t worry about anything here. I’ll handle it.”
“Thank you, Fauna. Agent Garfield and his team will need escorting to the labs.”
“My partner will be arriving shortly, too,” Garfield informs her.
“That’s fine. I’ll take you over and have someone wait here for your partner.”
“Thank you, Miss…” He looks down at the nameplate on her desk. “Bright. I appreciate it.”
She nods and looks at me as if to askis this guy for real? My lips twitch. My secretary is nobody’s fool. She won’t fall for their good-cop-bad-cop routine any more than I would. I can see the angle Garfield will work, though. He’ll sweet talk her, build a rapport, and then later down the line he’ll see if he can pull info from her about me.
He can try, but Fauna is loyal to me. I have no doubt she’ll run him in circles. Hell, by the time she’s finished, she’ll have him convinced that he’s the thief.
Hask is waiting in the elevator when I step in with Garfield on my heels. I turn and face forward, my hands in front of me, my body relaxed as the elevator descends. I nod at the people in the lobby when we step out and greet those who acknowledge me, making sure as many people as possible see me.
Hask is intent on making me the bad guy. I’m not sure to what extremes he’ll go to make that true. If that means I counter by suing for stalking and harassment, then so be it. And right now, it’s not far off. Hell, I’ve seen Hask more than I’ve seen Rue over the last few days, and I’m not sleeping with him.
