“Why not?”
“I only saw Trevor within the confines of this factory,” he said. “We’re not social here like they are in corporate.”
“Sure.”
“And as you might guess if you’ve met him, Dylan Welch has never visited our lab.”
“Not even once?”
“Well, he was here when we cut the ribbon on the factory,” Rand Carlson said. “But by and large, Mr. Welch isn’t the kind of person who likes seeing how the sausage gets made, so to speak.”
“He’s not a scientist,” I said.
“Correct,” he said.
“Not much of a CEO, either?”
“That’s a matter of opinion,” he said. “I think he’s more of a…delegator.” He seemed pleased with himself for finding the right word.
“How about Trevor?” I said. “Anything unusual about his behavior lately?”
“Unusual?”
“Did he seem tense or agitated during those weeks before vacation? Was he on his phone more than is typical? Eating less? Performing at a lower level? Or maybe it was the opposite and he was spending more hours at the office than usual?”
Carlson bit his lip, those eyes widening more than I’d thought possible. His mouth grew tiny and his skin flushed—his infantile face conquered by a dawning idea.
“What is it?”
“Just what you said about spending time at the office,” he said.
“Yes?”
“Four or five months ago, corporate wanted to brainstorm new ways to change the formula,” he said. “The COO asked for my best and brightest, and Trevor is young and brilliant—graduated MIT at just nineteen. I sent him over. God, I mean to say hewasyoung and brilliant. I can’t believe he’s…”
“How did he seem to feel about that? Being sent over to corporate?”
“Happy. Excited,” he said. “At least at first he was.”
“And then?”
“Then, maybe…I don’t know. Tired, I suppose. A little on edge. Those business and marketing people can be very draining. We’re pretty much all introverts. They’re the opposite. I think he was glad to come back to the lab.”
“So you’re telling me that, even though you’ve never seen Dylan Welch within the confines of your office, Trevor potentially had ample time to meet Dylan and get to know him.”
“Yes, yes!” He grinned, his face brightening as though he’d just discovered we spoke the same language. “That’s exactly what I’m telling you.”
I nodded. “Trevor never mentioned Dylan, though.”
“No.”
“You never knew about Trevor making plans with Dylan Welch, attending a party he threw, et cetera.”
“No, but also, now that you mention it, I did see him on his own phone a lot. He was leaving the lab to take calls. He’d go to the stairwell. It got to a point where I reprimanded him for it once. Which is something, for Trevor. Like I said…”
“He was your best and brightest.”
“Yes,” he said. “My God…” He swallowed hard, his thin neck moving visibly. “Trevor’s gone. He’s…I’m sorry. I just can’t believe this happened.”
