B007GFGTIY EBOK (14 page)

“Are we done?” Hayden asked.

“Sure,” Santiago conceded with a sigh. “Thanks for your time.”

“Your car is ready,” Rice said. He handed Hayden release paperwork for his Mitsubishi.

Hayden shook hands, signed out, and hurried out of the sheriff’s office. He didn’t have to search for Rebecca. She was waiting for him outside. She gunned the engine and her VW came to an abrupt halt in front of him. He fell into the passenger seat and she hit the gas.

Her features were tight with nervous excitement. She had a stranglehold on the steering wheel and her knuckles stretched her skin taut.

“What’s going on?” he said.

“Malcolm Fuller called me after I let you out.”

“Who?”

“He’s an engineer at Marin Design Engineering. He was at Shane’s funeral.”

Hayden didn’t remember anyone called Malcolm Fuller, but he didn’t care. Someone was alive. “What does he want?”

Rebecca peeled out of the parking lot and pointed her car toward San Rafael. “He didn’t go into MDE yesterday because he’s got the flu. He’s frightened and he wants to talk.”

He had plenty to be frightened about, Hayden thought. “If he’s frightened, he should see Santiago.”

“That’s what I told him, but he said we can’t trust the cops. Maybe we can still talk him into seeing Santiago.”

Hayden liked the sound of that. “Where does he want to meet?”

“Somewhere public. We’re meeting him at the Fourth Street farmers’ market.”

His expression said it all.

“I know, I know,” Rebecca said, “but if we want to talk to him, then we have to do it his way.”

Hayden didn’t like this. He thought his part in the MDE nightmare was over. He’d come too close to dying. He was ready to put Shane’s suicide behind him, but it didn’t look like that was going to happen. Nothing was solved. Bellis hadn’t killed his staff. Someone else was responsible. The reason for the slaughter still existed.

Whatever the reasons for the deaths were, they had gone to the grave along with the Marin Design Engineering employees. All that Hayden could surmise was that MDE had gotten involved with some kind of underhanded business activities. It was the only explanation for why Bellis had done what he had. Death before dishonor might have been the reason Shane, Chaudhary, and Bellis had all taken their lives. He was willing to accept that and wanted no more.

“I’m not sure this is a good idea,” Hayden said.

“I thought you wanted to know what all this is about,” Rebecca said.

“I do, but it’s over. Everyone’s dead.”

“But they aren’t. Both you and Malcolm Fuller are still alive.” Rebecca reached over and placed a hand on his. He looked down at her hand, then at her.

“Please come with me,” Rebecca said. “This may be something or it may be nothing, but I have to know. OK?”

Her face begged support. He couldn’t deny her. “OK. But don’t expect too much.”

She nodded and smiled. “Thanks.”

She drove into central San Rafael and parked on Third Street. They walked up one block and entered the thick of the Fourth Street Farmer’s Market. A ten-block section of Fourth Street was shut down for the weekly event, which had expanded from produce stalls to a whole variety of cottage industries selling their wares. Hayden followed Rebecca as she threaded her way through stalls and shoppers to City Plaza. The plaza—composed mainly of a water feature and benches—sat in the shadow of Luther Burbank Savings. Rebecca snagged a bench.

“Where is he?” Hayden asked.

“He said to come here and he would find us,” Rebecca answered.

They waited for several minutes. As Hayden scanned the droves of people passing by for a man he’d never met, he wondered what the hell he was doing. After yesterday’s fire, it was all too much. Someone had tried to kill him. The smart thing would be to give it all up to Santiago. Let him worry about it. He was the cop. It was his job. He pulled out his cell to call the detective.

“What are you doing?”

“Calling Santiago.”

“Hayden, no.”

“We aren’t the cops. Yesterday taught me that.”

“I know, but Malcolm reached out to us. If he knows something about Shane’s death or any of the deaths at MDE, then we should listen.”

Hayden put the phone away. “OK, but if this guy is blowing smoke, then I’m calling Santiago.”

She didn’t argue.

Suddenly, a small man cocooned in a fleece over a thick sweater dropped down next to Rebecca. He tugged a Kleenex from a travel packet and blew his nose into it.

“I’m glad you came, Rebecca,” he said, putting the tissue away in his coat pocket.

“Well, Malcolm, you made it sound like it was in my best interest,” Rebecca said.

“It is,” Fuller said. “The same goes for you, Hayden.”

Hayden didn’t recognize Fuller. He hadn’t been one of the engineers he’d met at the Giants game or the funeral. But considering his red-raw nose, bloated face and puffy eyes, and the copious layers of clothing he was wearing, it didn’t surprise Hayden that he didn’t recognize him.

“Malcolm, you should be in bed,” Rebecca remarked.

Fuller ignored the statement and stood. The wind ruffled his greasy hair. “We need to keep moving. We’re sitting targets here.”

They left the bench behind and lost themselves among the shoppers on Fourth Street. Fuller made the pretense of checking out the produce on show and putting it down. Rebecca followed Fuller’s example. Hayden refrained. He was more interested in keeping his eyes on Fuller. He didn’t know what this guy might do. He noticed they were walking in the opposite direction of Rebecca’s VW.

Fuller took a haphazard route between the stalls, stopping only to check his surroundings before moving on. Hayden guessed this was so he could spot his pursuer, but it made him very conspicuous. Hayden found the tactic disconcerting and it left him feeling edgy.

“What are you afraid of, Malcolm?” Hayden said. “Trevor Bellis is dead.”

Fuller snorted. “You don’t believe that Trevor is responsible for the deaths yesterday, do you?”

Hayden didn’t anymore, and neither did Santiago nor Rice if he read them right, but he decided to play devil’s advocate. “That’s what the police believe.”

“What do they know?” Fuller said scornfully. “They don’t know what was going on at MDE.”

“But you do?” Rebecca asked.

Fuller didn’t answer the question. “None of us are safe,” he said and checked over his shoulder again.

“Why aren’t we safe, Malcolm?” Rebecca asked.

“Because you’re associated with MDE. Everyone connected with MDE is in danger.” Fuller dove into his pocket for another Kleenex and sneezed violently into it. “Our work is too dangerous.”

Fuller checked over his shoulder. Hayden checked, too. If Fuller feared something or someone, he didn’t see it. The paranoia reminded him of Shane. Shane had seen bugs that weren’t there. Fuller had yet to hit that level of paranoia, but it made Hayden wonder if Fuller had been hitting the same drug as Shane and Chaudhary.

“What’s dangerous about the work?” Hayden asked. “I was there and I didn’t see anything.”

“I have an idea, but I don’t have proof. Sundip Chaudhary might have, though. He saw something. He started asking questions, putting something together.”

“Did Sundip tell anyone about his suspicions?”

“Not at first. He was a chatty guy, always had a joke, but he went quiet. He started staying late and working long hours. I don’t think he was leaving the office until midnight each night. Whatever he worked out, he took it to Bellis. I’d gone back to the office one night to pick up my cell, which I’d left on my desk, and caught Bellis chewing him out.”

“Did you hear anything that was said?” Rebecca asked.

“No,” Fuller said, shaking his head. “To be honest, I didn’t want them knowing I’d seen them. It was heated. Lots of finger-pointing going in both directions. After that, Sundip became quite vocal about us being deceived, but Bellis shut him down. He put him on notice for ruining staff morale, if you can believe that. Sundip kept his mouth shut after that, but I know he kept burrowing away for answers.”

“When did all this happen?” Hayden asked.

“About two months before Sundip died.”

“So Bellis was behind all this?”

Fuller shook his head. “Trevor’s hands were dirty. He knew something but not everything. My guess is that he killed himself when he found out what was going on.”

“What makes you say that?” Rebecca asked.

“Something was weighing on him last week. I thought it was Shane’s funeral, but it was more than that. He’d gotten real withdrawn. He spent his days in his office gazing out the window.”

Fuller was building a lousy argument. He knew little and was inventing the rest. Hayden saw no point in delivering him to Santiago without something concrete to anchor his skepticism.

“Then who is responsible?” Hayden asked.

“The man who’s following me. I think he’s a cop or possibly an agent. Certainly someone official.”

Despite not buying into Fuller’s paranoia, the hairs on the back of Hayden’s neck stood on end. He brushed his hand over them to smooth them down. He didn’t want the paranoia surrounding MDE to suck him in. Not yet anyway. A truth lay among the ashes of the building, but he wasn’t ready to believe in shadowy figures stalking their every move. He’d been there at Shane’s death. No one killed him. He did it to himself.

“Who’s been following you?” Hayden asked.

“I don’t know who he is. I saw him a couple of days ago watching the building when I left to go home. Then I saw him again yesterday afternoon outside my house.”

“What did he look like?”

“Tall. Strong. Athletic. Around forty. Dark haired.”

Some of the description fit the man who’d jumped Hayden yesterday. He could testify to his assailant’s strength and build, but not age or hair color. Since Fuller’s stalker could be his arsonist, it was enough to give Fuller the benefit of the doubt. What were the chances that there were two people stalking the staff at MDE? It disturbed him to think in those terms.

“Have you told the police?” Rebecca asked.

“Good God, no.” Fuller yanked out another Kleenex and checked for his mystery man. “I can’t trust the police. They’re probably in on it.”

Santiago, dirty? Hayden didn’t believe that, but didn’t bother pointing this out to Fuller. “Why talk to us?”

“I can trust you because your lives are in as much danger as mine.”

Rebecca shot Hayden a glance. Panic filled her expression.

“What makes you think we’re in danger?” Hayden asked.

Fuller made way for a large woman coming in the opposite direction. “Because they’re cleaning house. Everyone involved is being eliminated. They started with Chaudhary, then Shane, and now the rest of us. We’ve all got to die.”

Hayden grabbed Fuller’s arm, bringing him to a dead halt. “What are you talking about?” He failed to keep the fear from his voice. “Who’s cleaning house? You’re not making sense.”

“The only way to keep a secret is to make sure that no one is around to talk about it.”

“Someone witnessed Chaudhary’s suicide,” Hayden pointed out.

Fuller snorted. “Yeah, but the nine-one-one caller was probably the killer. Hayden, wake up.”

Hayden had woken up. Fuller was full of crap. The guy added conjecture to some meager facts and called it truth. Fuller couldn’t help them find answers, and it was time Hayden proved him to be the deluded fool that he was. Hayden knew something that couldn’t be disputed.

“Shane wasn’t killed. I was there. No one pushed him—he jumped.”

“Trust me, Shane and Chaudhary didn’t commit suicide. I don’t know how it was done, but they were killed as surely as if someone jammed a shotgun under their chins and pulled the trigger.”

“But how?” Rebecca said. “You can’t make someone commit suicide.”

“The drugs,” Fuller said, clawing for an answer. “It had to be the drugs. They pushed him to suicide.”

Hayden shook his head. Fuller was pushing the limits of believability. Santiago had said he hadn’t seen a drug of this type before, but a suicide drug? It didn’t seem possible.

“How did my brother fit in?” Rebecca asked.

“He and Sundip were close work friends and they got even closer after Sundip was mugged.”

“Mugged?” Rebecca said.

“Yes. He was attacked outside his home a month ago. I think when Chaudhary died, Shane started to dig deeper.”

“OK, that may explain the suicides but not the fire,” Hayden said.

“You don’t get it, do you?” Fuller said excitedly. “The project’s finished. Saturday was the project hand over. Yesterday’s contract termination was turned into an extermination.”

Fuller’s tone and agitated body language attracted glances from passersby. It wasn’t a good thing for a man who wanted to be inconspicuous.

“Malcolm, let me take you home and we can discuss this when you’re not so upset,” Rebecca said.

“I can’t go home. I’d be putting my family at risk. The moment I saw him outside my home yesterday, I slipped out.”

“You haven’t been home since yesterday?” Hayden said.

“No.”

“But what about your family?” Rebecca asked.

“They don’t know what’s going on. That’s the best thing for them.” Fuller was looking all around him now, not focusing on Hayden or Rebecca. “I’ve managed to evade him so far. I suggest you go into hiding as well. Don’t go home. Don’t go anywhere you would normally go. You’re not safe.”

Hayden felt his grip on his temper slip. He was tired of Fuller’s ramblings. He grabbed Fuller’s arm. “Look, Malcolm, drop the cryptic bullshit and tell us what’s going on. What was MDE doing that was so dangerous?”

“It’s a weapon. We were designing a weapon.”

A weapon?
Fuller was more deluded than Hayden thought.

Fuller froze, his gaze locked on to something in the distance. He started to tremble. For a moment, Hayden thought Fuller was going to come apart at the seams.

“He’s here,” Fuller muttered.

“Where?” Hayden demanded.

Hayden looked in the direction of Fuller’s gaze. The market was busy with vendors and customers. No one stuck out among them or made a sudden move. Certainly not anyone matching Fuller’s description. Hayden wanted to see Fuller’s stalker. He wanted to know if his stalker and the arsonist were the same person. He’d only glimpsed his assailant for a second, but he hoped his subconscious would kick in and recognize a face. It didn’t.