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“If one of those people was me, that’s not possible,” Inez says. I look at her in question. “I left early on Tuesday. My sister’s kid got sick at school, and she needed me to pick them up. I’d planned to make up the hours after I got home that evening. I even sent you an email when I was able to get back online.”
I’ve always held the policy that if my team needs to take a couple of hours off for an appointment or whatever, they could make up the hours at a later time. Then they’re not forced to use their PTO for a small amount of time. Seeing as how I haven’t been able to catch up on my emails very fast, I’m inclined to believe her. I still search through them to see if she’s telling the truth. It doesn’t take long to find it. Which only leaves Paul to give an explanation. “Paul, do you have anything you want to add?”
Paul drops his head into his hands, his fingers running through his hair. “I didn’t have a choice.” His whispered words are barely understandable.
“Walk us through it. We can only help you if you’re honest,” Tom says.
His shoulders slump in obvious defeat. “I didn’t know it would go this far.” He runs his fingers through his hair once more before sitting up to face Tom. “About seven months ago, Dr. Hutton approached me with an offer. As cliché as it sounds, I quite literally couldn’t refuse it.
“My mom’s dementia had started to progress more rapidly than we were prepared to handle. We had to get her into the only facility that had space, and it was so expensive. I was running out of money fast, and Dr. Hutton offered me twenty thousand dollars to find a way to change the RetLab scoring program. If I’d turned him down, I would’ve been homeless in a matter of weeks.”
“Oh, Paul.” Inez places her hand on his shoulder.
“I thought that would be it. No one else was using the program, and if Hutton was willing to screw up his study, who was I to say anything about it?”
Tom and I sigh at the same time. That’s not really how things work, but Paul’s desperation wouldn’t have led to logical thinking.
“Then we started building the database, and things went sideways so fast. Dr. Hutton kept pressuring me to ensure RetLab stayed the way it was. I tried to say no, that my part in this was finished and I wouldn’t help anymore. He blackmailed me with the proof of my involvement, so I had to change the program in the database. And then…” Paul’s gaze flicks over to me and then back to the table. “Carter started digging into the errors.”
To my utter shock, Paul starts to sob. Inez and Tom straighten in their chairs.
“Paul, we’ll figure something out. It’s going to be okay,” Inez says. She places her hand on his shoulder to get him to calm down. We all feel sorry for Paul, but I’m not sure there’s much we can do to help him. He’s in this entirely too deep to escape some form of consequences.
“I didn’t know,” Paul cries. “Nobody was supposed to get hurt.”
The blood drains from my face. “What are you saying, Paul?”
He turns to look at me. “I’m so sorry, Carter. I didn’t know. I swear, I didn’t.”
“You’re going to need to give me more than that.”
“Dr. Hutton sent guys to your house to scare you off. But he got your address from… from me. He told me they were just going to give you a message to back off. I never would’ve done it if I knew they were going to hurt you!” He dissolves into more tears, and my stomach cramps.
I want to rage at him. How stupid could you be? After everything Hutton has done, Paul truly believed he wouldn’t do anything bad to me? I swipe my palms down my face to gather my composure. When I look back at the screen, Inez and Tom are staring in shock.
I have no words to say right now. There’s nothing more to be done. Paul has confessed to what he’s done. It’s time to bring in the authorities.
“Tom, we need to take this to the VP and contact the police.”
“I know. I’ll call him.”
I nod. I’m all out of words at this point. There’s not much to say anyway. The next steps need to be handled by people with higher pay grades than mine.
The ripple effect of Dr. Hutton’s shady practices will impact our company for years to come.
And I have to decide if I’m going to ride it out or go somewhere else.
CHAPTER 37
Sam
“What are you thinking about?” I ask Carter. His soft hair sifts through my fingers. Having his body pressed against mine, his head lying on my chest, will never get old. Our hammock slowly rocks with the breeze, and the green trees hovering over us provide plenty of shade to keep us cool in the heat of the summer. I don’t think I’ve ever felt more content than I do right now.
“That I’m more relaxed than I’ve been in a very long time. It’s wonderful.” He presses a kiss to my chest.
“I was just thinking the same thing.” I give him a squeeze. It’s incredible not having to hold back on account of his injuries.
It’s been over a month since he was attacked. His body has healed, and we’re finally back to our normal lives. We have to be mindful of the potential for his lung to collapse again, but he’s been cleared to return to his normal activities.
