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“They’re both dead.”
There was another awkward silence before Burke cleared his throat. “I’m sorry.”
Kaden waved aside his faux sympathy. This man knew something. Kaden could read the fear in his pale eyes.
“Vanna disappeared fifteen years ago in this area.”
“Disappeared?”
“Vanished without a trace,” Kaden said in a hard voice. “My brother spent years and a small fortune searching for her before he died.”
The ruddiness drained from the man’s face, but he clenched his hands and maintained a grim ignorance.
“It’s a very sad tale, but again, I don’t know why you’re in my office.”
“Because your name was in one of my brother’s files.”
Lia made a choked sound at his blatant lie. Thankfully, Burke didn’t seem to notice. He was staring at Kaden with a wide gaze.
“Excuse me?”
“This meatpacking plant was in Vanna’s territory.” Kaden didn’t actually know if the EPA would have any interest in this plant. He was just trying to rattle the man. “She was here.”
Burke scowled. “We have a lot of inspectors. USDA. OSHA. FDA. I can’t remember them all.”
“You would remember Vanna,” Kaden insisted. “She was a gorgeous brunette with a bitchy attitude. Oh, and she threatened you with several violations.”
“You’re mistaken.”
“I don’t think so.”
“Enough.” Burke sliced a beefy hand through the air. “I run a clean, by-the-book operation here. If anyone says otherwise, they’re lying. So unless you’re here to try to squeeze money out of me—”
“Why would you think we would want money?” Lia interrupted abruptly.
Burke flushed, obviously afraid he’d given away more than he intended. “We’re done here,” he growled.
Kaden ground his teeth together. He had a dozen questions he wanted to ask, but Burke’s stubborn expression warned him that he wasn’t going to answer any of them. Not now. Kaden could only hope he could discover a way to put pressure on the man and make him talk.
“I’m still going through my brother’s files,” Kaden warned, giving Burke something to consider after they left. It might give him a few nights of heartburn. “When I’m done, I plan to hand them over to the FBI. No one around here seems interested in investigating Vanna’s potential connection to the skeleton, but I have no doubt I can find someone willing to listen.”
The man’s lips twitched, but they refused to form a smile. “I wish you luck.”
“Do you?” With a shrug, Kaden turned toward the door. “We’ll see.”
They were about to step out of the office when Lia paused and glanced over her shoulder. “Oh, Mr. Burke.”
“What?”
“I heard you were having a loud argument with Barb Hurst a few days ago.”
“It wasn’t an argument,” Burke groused. “It was a discussion.”
“A discussion about what?” Lia pressed.
Burke scowled, clearly annoyed by the question. “Not that it’s any of your business, but the bitch is trying to organize a union.”
“And that makes you angry?” Kaden asked, silently acknowledging that this man had a reason to want to punish the Hurst family. And what better way than running down their son?
