Justine Davis - In His Sights

“Convenient,” was all Draven said.

“Yeah, I wondered about that, especially finding out about it like I did. But the town’s so small, everybody knows everything.”

“Different.”

“Very,” Rand agreed.

“Your cover going to work?”

Rand had been offered a cover inside the Redstone facility here, but had decided it might work better if he was on the outside. Besides, there was a new security guy on board at this plant, Brian Fisher, a kid Josh himself had hired. He had been trying to investigate the thefts, and Josh didn’t want the twenty-two-year-old’s confidence crushed. So Rand had taken out the camera gear that had sat unused for too long and headed for the rural Northwest undercover.

“I think so,” he said. “Josh is right, it’s beautiful up here. It’s the kind of place that draws photographers like flies.”

“So does dead meat,” Draven said dryly.

“Yeah, yeah,” Rand retorted, long used to the man’s off center sense of humor. “I’d better get started if I’m going to find out what’s making those insulin pumps magically disappear between the time the trucks are loaded and delivery is made, with no sign of break-ins.”

“I don’t believe in magic.”

“No, I don’t suppose you do.”

Rand knew what John Draven did believe in. He’d asked him once. The answer had been Josh Redstone, the randomness of life and the stopping power of a .45.

“Report when you have something to say,” Draven said.

“As usual,” Rand said, smothering a wry grin. Draven was nothing if not a master of brevity.

He understood, though. It had been a rough couple of years for Redstone when it came to employees. And that was unusual enough that Josh was a little touchy on the subject. He chose his people carefully, then gave them free rein to do what they did best, and it very rarely backfired on him.

But this bad stretch had begun with Bill Talbert, the employee Draven had caught feathering his own nest at the expense of guests at one of the Redstone resorts. Then Phil Cooper, found only in death to have been slime to his wife and son if not to Redstone itself. And just a few months ago, corporate secrets from Ian Gamble’s research being sold to a competitor by someone inside. Considering the size of Redstone, it wasn’t all that much, but Josh tended to take such betrayals personally.

And he wasn’t the only one—everybody at Redstone circled the wagons when someone tried to damage the place they all loved so much. Josh was the kind of man who inspired a loyalty that couldn’t be bought, and every last one of the security team was dedicated to keeping things just the way he liked them: honest, clean and profitable.

Josh had made liars of many who insisted the three couldn’t exist together in the business world. Rand wasn’t about to let that change, not even out here in one of the smaller Redstone outposts. He’d find out who the thief was, and they’d come face-to-face with the other Redstone inexorable—justice.

As she did almost every morning she went to work, Kate paused after she turned off the road and into the driveway of Redstone Northwest. It seemed a small miracle, this place. Joshua Redstone had insisted a manufacturing plant could be built without destroying the countryside, and he’d proved it here.

Redstone Northwest looked more like an exclusive hunting lodge than a factory. Each building was clad in siding milled from the trees they’d had to clear. The entrance drive curved through big trees that had been intentionally left standing to mask the actual size of the building. It made bringing bigger supply trucks in and out a challenge, but when that point had been brought up to Josh he had merely nodded and said if the driver couldn’t do it, he shouldn’t be driving for Redstone, and if he wouldn’t do it, he didn’t understand Redstone.

When she’d been interviewed for this job by the great Josh Redstone himself—in a process that had seemed more like a casual conversation than a job interview—he’d concluded their meeting by asking if she had any questions. The one that was obvious to her slipped out before she could stop it.

“Why here?” she had asked. “Why did you build a Redstone facility here, in tiny Summer Harbor?” She loved the little town she’d recently moved back to, but still wondered why a company the size of Redstone had located here.

“You don’t like it being here?” the lanky, gray-eyed man had asked, not in a challenging tone but in the way of someone genuinely interested.

“No, no,” she’d said quickly. “I’m happy you decided to build here. It’s been great, done wonders for the town. I’m just curious. We’re sort of at the crossroads of nowhere and can’t get there from here.”

Josh had laughed, and Kate had found herself smiling at the sound of it. She’d done a little research before she’d applied for the job, and had read that the man didn’t laugh often anymore. Rumor had it that the death of his wife a few years ago had taken the laughter right out of him. That she’d managed to make him do it pleased her much more than she would have thought, given she’d only just met the man.

“Perhaps for just that reason,” he said.

“Whatever your reason, I’m glad,” she told him. “And I would love to be part of it.”

He had gestured at her résumé, on the table in front of him. In what she had since come to learn was typical Josh Redstone fashion, he had chosen to conduct interviews outside. She had arrived for this interview to find one of the richest men in the world seated at an ordinary card table under a large madrone tree in front of the building that was still being finished.

“You’re a bit overqualified,” he’d said.

She hadn’t argued that, she knew it was true and wouldn’t insult his intelligence by denying it.

“But I’m a lot overqualified for any other job in town,” she had said. “And I’m staying here, no matter what, so I’d like the most challenging job I can get.”

Josh Redstone had studied her for a long, silent moment. So long that she’d wondered if she should have been so blunt. Finally he’d stood up and held out a hand to her.

“Welcome to Redstone, Ms. Crawford.”

And so now here she was, she thought as she finally continued on to the parking area on the far side of the building, distribution manager for Redstone Northwest. And while it wasn’t the high-power, moving-millions-of-dollars-a-day job she’d held in Denver, it was enough to keep her mind sharp. Even more important, it let her stay in Summer Harbor, to take care of her grandparents. And right now that was the most important thing in the world to her.

She pulled into her usual parking spot, the one she’d picked at the far end of the lot, although she could have had one with her name on it closer to the doors. She wanted this one to add a bit more exercise to her crowded days. The extra walking, coupled with lunch breaks frequently spent in the small basement gym Redstone had built, kept her in shape and the sneaky extra pounds off.

“Too much stuff,” she muttered to herself, not for the first time as she gathered up her purse and heavy satchel. The canvas bag that held both ends of her record keeping spectrum—her traditional clipboard and her more modern PDA—was a far cry from the elegant leather briefcase she had once carried. But it was far more practical—and less conspicuous—here in the casual Northwest.

She headed for her office, remembering how joyous her first months here had been. In fact, her work here had been immensely satisfying, and the longer she worked for Redstone the more she liked it. And the idea of someone stealing from the company made her very angry.

Furthermore, the idea that what they were stealing was being taken from people who desperately needed the help of Redstone’s newest invention turned that anger to fury. It was a fury tempered only by apprehension; she had some suspicions about who might be involved in this string of thefts—if two could be called a string—and she didn’t at all like the possibility that she’d come up with.

As she turned down the hall and headed for her office, nodding and greeting the staff she encountered, she renewed her determination to put a stop to this. Josh had opened this facility here because he loved the area and wanted to help the local economy, and she didn’t want him to ever regret it. She felt as if the reputation of Summer Harbor was at stake. She would not let what had so far been a small problem become a large one for Redstone.

To her surprise, when she got to her office the usually locked door was already open. She took another step forward. Not only that, but there was someone inside and that someone was sitting at her computer.

The computer where the schedules for the shipments of the insulin pumps were stored.

Kate stepped into her office quietly. There was no mistaking who the unexpected occupant was; the maroon streaks in her brown hair didn’t leave much room for mistakes.

Kate watched for a moment before speaking. There was a spreadsheet on the computer screen, but she couldn’t see from here which one it was.

“Mel?”

“Oh!” Melissa Morris spun around, clearly startled. “Ms. Crawford, I didn’t hear you.”

“Looking for something?” Kate asked, not taking her eyes off the girl while she set down her purse and canvas bag. It wasn’t unusual for the girl to be there, but Kate was touchy these days.

“Yes. Those old shipping numbers. So I can finish that practice analysis you wanted.” She looked embarrassed. “I lost my copy.”

Kate relaxed. Inwardly, although she knew her critical data password was protected, she was grateful there was such an innocent explanation for Mel’s presence and her actions. Outwardly, she frowned. “Don’t you have a term paper to finish?”

The sixteen-year-old, who had adopted the nickname of Mel for the hated Melissa years ago, nodded. “But I keep getting them confused. If I sit down to work on the paper, I think of the analysis report. If I sit down to work on the report, all I can think about is the term paper.”

Kate, who could remember being in a very similar position in school more than once, smiled. “The brain sometimes sabotages you, doesn’t it? No matter how hard you try to focus on one thing, other things keep sneaking in.”

Mel gave her a look that trumpeted her relief that Kate understood. “Yes, exactly.”

“So, what are you going to do?”

Mel hesitated. “Aren’t you supposed to tell me that?”

Kate smiled. “The mentor program is supposed to give you the chance to learn. Sometimes the best way to do that is fight through to the answers yourself. And learn how to do that.” She shrugged. “I’m just here to nudge if you head down a wrong path.”

“Oh.” The girl looked disconcerted for a moment, then thoughtful. “Well, while I was trying to do my term paper, I had some ideas about a different way to do the distribution analysis I thought were good. So I came here to get that done, while the ideas were fresh in my mind.”

“All right,” Kate said. “But you need to balance that. We don’t want the work experience counselor revoking your privilege to spend mornings here. Tonight you work only on your paper.”

The girl perked up. “Okay. I think maybe I can finish the rough numbers today, and that will be enough to get it out of my head so I can concentrate on my paper.”

“If you can’t get around the roadblock, sometimes you just have to tear it down,” Kate said.

Mel’s nose wrinkled. “Is that another one of your grandfather’s old sayings?”