Deadly Cover-Up, page 14
“Maybe nothing,” Jordan answered. “Maybe that file was already on the hard drive for some other reason, and he just didn’t erase it.”
“That can’t be right,” Bailey noted, her tone thoughtful. “Look, the files were all added to the drive the month before Jeremy Sparks died. You can tell by the dates listed here,” she moved her mouse to emphasize what she was seeing on her computer. “In fact, that file and this document were both added on the same date. This PDF in the file seems to be something about a train crash that occurred in Pennsylvania about three years ago. Do you remember that happening?”
Jordan shrugged. “Vaguely.” She quickly skimmed the article. “Oh my gosh. It says that Continental Railways paid over $365 million to the victims of the train wreck. It looks like the engineer was impaired at the time of the crash.” She raised an eyebrow. “Oh, Bailey, you don’t think it’s possible, do you?”
Bailey look at her with a question in her eyes, obviously not following her line of thinking. “What do you mean?”
“The law firm you mentioned earlier, you said they focused on class action suits and personal injury, right?”
“From what I remember. We can check their website to verify that if you want. Why?”
Jordan leaned back as the enormity of the situation hit her all at once. “Lawyers usually earn at least forty percent in fees when they represent victims, and if there are enough of them, a class action suit can be brought against the railroad. Even if all of the victims or their families don’t choose to use the same law firm, they could still pull quite a class together and make a huge amount of money in one fell swoop through the crash and kickbacks.” She threw her pen down on the table and felt nausea swirl in her stomach. “I think those investors are planning on recouping their losses and saving Southeastern at the same time. They’re going to give Mintax to the engineer, and crash the Sunset Special.”
SIXTEEN
Bailey’s face looked horrified. It was the same expression Jordan was sure she was wearing as well.
“But that means hundreds of people could die,” Bailey said angrily. She looked back at the article. “In Pennsylvania, almost three hundred people lost their lives.”
Another thought hit Jordan as the enormity of the situation hit her. “This information was all collected before Jeremy died, which was over nine months ago. A lot can happen in nine months. Can you find out if the Mintax substitute is already for sale in the USA? For all we know, people are already using it.” Panic and fear swirled together and formed a knot in her chest as Bailey typed her queries. It took her about ten minutes, but Bailey soon had an answer. Farnaprixolene was already available in small amounts by ordering directly from the Chinese manufacturer.
Jordan really did feel sick. “There’s another class action suit waiting to happen. If enough people get sick, which they will based upon the studies we just read, Baker and Davis can make even more money by suing the Chinese company. They can claim the Chinese lab altered the formula in such a way that they are responsible for the deaths and seizures. Southeastern can avoid liability altogether.”
Bailey looked surprised. “I don’t know much about lawsuits. Can Americans sue and win an international case like that? It seems like it would be hard to hold a foreign company responsible.”
Jordan shrugged. “I’m no lawyer, but I remember a while back there was a problem with a blood pressure drug coming out of India that was hurting people because it contained cancer-causing impurities. They were able to trace the problem back to the factory. We heard about it when I was working at the labs, and I remember discussing it during a lunch break one day with Jeremy and Samantha. We could check, but I’m pretty sure the victims won the lawsuit. I bet Eddy could find even more examples if we asked him to do a bit of research.”
There were some noises near the front of the office suite, and Jordan looked up from the notes she was taking. When she saw it was Ben and his team returning, she stood and quickly approached him. He looked pleased and welcomed her with a smile.
“Well?”
Ben put his headset on the table. He was still wearing some of his tactical gear but had removed the helmet and assault webbing. He was dressed in all black, from his boots to the heavy bulletproof vest that covered his chest, and the clothing and gear made him look dangerous yet professional at the same time. He smelled faintly of gunpowder and the outdoors.
“We got him, Jordie. They’ll be bringing him in for questioning in just a few minutes. I recognized him right off. He’s definitely the man who broke into my house and pushed our car into the river.”
“That’s fantastic! I knew you would. I can’t wait to hear what he has to say.” She threw her arms around him and gave him a hug to celebrate, then realized what she’d done and quickly pulled back. It had felt fantastic to be in his arms, but she quickly chastised herself for reacting so exuberantly. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that.”
“I’m not sorry,” Ben replied, catching her eye. His expression was suddenly serious. “Jordan, we need to talk.”
“Yes, we do. Bailey and I just discovered...”
“Not about the case,” Ben interrupted as he took a step forward and took both of her hands in his own. “Jordan, we need to talk about us. About our relationship. About the future.”
Jordan took a step backwards, and he released her hands. “Did something happen during the arrest? Is everyone ok?” She was having trouble understanding why their relationship had just jumped to the top of his priority list when the Southeastern case was coming to a head.
“Everyone is fine. We’ll be interviewing the suspect as soon as he is processed. We just...” Ben looked around the office, apparently noting the many people coming and going as they did their jobs. “We need some privacy so we can talk.”
Jordan could see the hopeful glint in his eyes. Still, she couldn’t give him what he wanted, at least not now, when they were on the precipice of stopping Southeastern. She was bursting with the news of what they had discovered, but she could tell that Ben had other things on his mind that were taking precedence over everything else. “I’m not ready to do that, Ben. But I really need to tell you what we just found out.”
“If not now, then when?” Ben pushed.
OK, so she was going to have to think about this now. She took another step back and pushed what they had discovered about the train and the new drug to the back of her mind. She had been ruminating on their relationship for quite a while but hadn’t liked what she had concluded. Coming so close to death in the St. Johns River had forced Jordan to face some important truths.
She couldn’t have done this on her own.
All her life, she had struggled for success and believed she had reached her goals on her own strength. She didn’t like to depend on others. Even working in her lab, she had rarely delegated projects or tasks and had retained as much control as possible over the bulk of her assignments. Her problems with Southeastern were no exception. When issues started to arise, she had tried to face them and deal with them all on her own without help. Now she realized how incredibly selfish and full of hubris she had really been. She also realized how important God’s contribution had been along the way. In fact, she finally acknowledged that she couldn’t have reached any of her goals without God’s help. Each day was a gift from Him. Maybe she didn’t have to do everything herself. And maybe it was okay to depend upon others when she needed help. From now on, she decided to show others around her how much she valued their contributions, and she vowed to increase her efforts to collaborate and to show her gratefulness more to those around her.
She also was learning to appreciate the fact that Ben had gifts that were totally different from her own. She had always known that he had special talents, but she didn’t think she had really respected all of his skills until now, when she’d had a chance to see him in action up close and personal while they had been working this case together. Ben wasn’t a scholar and would never feel comfortable in a lab, yet his athletic ability and law enforcement skills were unparalleled. His unique abilities were undoubtedly the reasons she was alive today. She didn’t think she had truly appreciated him or his skills until this Southeastern problem had risen its ugly head.
It was difficult to be thankful during adversity, yet her relationship with Ben was growing and changing as they spent time together fighting a common foe. She treasured the time they had spent together since her return and was so grateful that God had given them a second chance to grow in their relationship.
But even so, she truly didn’t know where to go from here. Even though after today, she felt closer to him than she ever had, guilt still swamped over her every time she looked at him. She had hurt him so badly. By returning to Jacksonville, she had not only proven that she hadn’t trusted him when she disappeared without a trace, but she had also pulled him right into the middle of this case with deadly consequences. Because of her, his life had continued to be in jeopardy ever since.
Even today, because of her, they’d had to arrest a dangerous mercenary. She knew arresting people was part of his job—and Ben had said that no one was hurt. But what about the next time? She had been living with the magnitude of the danger for a while now, but she hated the fact that Ben was now forced to live with the consequences of her actions. It wasn’t fair to him. Ben was drawing closer. She’d thought he was going to kiss her when they had been resting on the rocks, but now, Jordan felt herself pulling back. She didn’t want to ever hurt him again, and she doubted he could even forgive her for her actions in the first place.
She loved him. And because she loved him, she had to let him go.
“He’s ready.”
Both Jordan and Ben turned to face Franklin Kennedy, who had entered from a different doorway and motioned toward the interrogation room. “Do you want to listen in? I’m about to start the questioning.”
Jordan breathed a sigh of relief. The interruption couldn’t have come at a better time. She turned and moved away from Ben, trying not to react to the look of frustration on his face. “Definitely. But first you have to know what Bailey and I just found on the computer. We were able to break the encryption and get into the hard drive. It impact which questions you ask.”
She waved Bailey over, and together, the two of them described what they had discovered, both from the hard drive and their subsequent research.
Ben shook his head, amazed. “To plan the deaths of hundreds, just to make a pile of money. It’s inconceivable.”
“Inconceivable to us, but apparently not to those men and women who are on the verge of losing everything. They are desperate people, and desperate people do a lot of stupid things.” Jordan replied, although she couldn’t quite keep the disgust out of her voice. “What we don’t know is their timeline. We found the name of one of the train engineers for the Sunset Special, but we don’t know for sure if they’re planning to crash the train. That was just my assumption. It’s possible they have another role for him that we haven’t yet uncovered.”
“Then we need to get this guy talking, no matter what. He could be the key to saving all of those people,” Franklin said grimly. “I’m heading in. Why don’t the rest of you watch from the observation room and let me know if I get off track and need to go in a different direction?”
“Count me in,” Jordan responded, her voice filling with anticipation. She found herself oddly anxious to see the man who had tried to kill her and Ben, as long as she was safely in another room with armed law enforcement officers all around her. She didn’t understand the man’s motivation, or how someone could be so evil. But she hoped that somehow, they would be able to convince him to tell them what they needed to know before the Sunset Special was scheduled to take its final trip.
“Not me,” Bailey said, putting up her hands. “I need to get back to the computer. Now that this perp has been put into the system, I want to see if I can find anything on him that we can use for leverage to get him to talk.”
She turned and went back to her laptop, and Jordan headed to the observation room. Ben followed her into the small room with the two-way mirror separating them from the interrogation and closed the door behind him. She pushed some hair behind her ear and caught Ben watching her closely. His scrutiny always made her nervous. She knew he was incredibly good at reading her. At some point, she was going to have to tell him what she was feeling, but now didn’t seem like the right time or place. She did know that she didn’t want to keep hurting him. And he was right about one thing. They did need to talk soon so she could tell him that they couldn’t be together. It wasn’t fair to him to keep dragging him along. She glanced his way again and noticed he was studying her every move. She knew instinctively that he was still waiting for her to answer him.
“Tonight,” she finally said. “We’ll talk tonight, okay?”
He relented and relaxed his stance. “Deal. We’ll talk tonight.”
* * *
Ben flipped the switch so he and Jordan could hear the interrogation in the adjoining room. He was frustrated by Jordan’s choice to delay in their conversation, but he acknowledged that they probably couldn’t have talked right now anyway in such a crowded, public place. Still, he wondered at her hesitance. Ever since she had returned, she had kept a distance between them. He acknowledged that he had been doing the same thing to some degree, but now he knew what he wanted. Their dive into the river had made him see their relationship with crystal clarity. Jordan was the woman for him.
Still, for right now, all of their focus had to be on getting whatever information they could out of questioning Aaron Rich, so he pushed his personal agenda aside. The man had been processed in record speed so they could quickly interrogate him. He was a professional, so Ben didn’t hold out much hope that he would talk, but sometimes people surprised him. And if he or Jordan wanted Franklin to go down a certain line of questioning with Rich, it was easy enough to pull Frank out, talk about it, and send him back in. He buried his concerns about Jordan and their relationship for now and put all of his attention on the job at hand.
“Can they hear us?” Jordan asked, pointing to the speaker.
Ben shook his head. “No. We can hear them, but they can’t hear us.”
Jordan nodded, indicating her understanding. “Didn’t you want to be in there with Ben, too?” Jordan asked. “I’ve heard you talk about doing interrogations before. I thought that was something you actually enjoyed, and I know you’re really good at it.”
Ben shrugged. “I do enjoy it most of the time. Solving a crime is like putting a puzzle together. If I can pull out some new information from the perpetrator during the questioning, then I’m that much closer to finishing the puzzle. It’s invigorating.”
“But not today?” Her expression showed surprise.
“No, not today.”
She raised an eyebrow. “I don’t understand. That guy could have real answers about Southeastern and their plans with the train. He might even be the one that killed Jeremy and Emma Sparks and Samantha. He could have a lot of the missing pieces to our puzzle.”
Ben nodded. “Yes, he could. And I hope he does. I don’t know if he’ll talk or not, but this is the best lead we have right now.”
“But you still don’t want to be in there?” She took a step closer, a question in her eyes.
“Frankie is really good at interrogation, too, Jordan. He’ll do a good job.”
Jordan’s lips flattened. “I know Frank is good, but I also know you’re even better when it comes to interrogations. I’ve heard the two of you talking and joking about it. I really don’t understand why you don’t want to participate. I thought you wanted to help with this case.”
“I do, Jordie.” He fisted his hands. Didn’t she believe him? Hadn’t his actions over the last few days shown her how important solving this case was to him? He didn’t really want to explain his shortcomings to her and his lack of control, but he could tell that his reticence was hurting her. How could he explain so she would understand, without making himself look unprofessional and weak in her eyes? He grimaced as he watched her pull away from him even further. He reached for her, but she moved slightly, just out of reach.
He let his hand drop but was considering his next move when motion caught his eye through the window. Rich was already sitting across the table, but Frank had entered, opened a file, and started reading over some of the documents. Ben decided he would wait to talk to Jordan tonight and get it all worked out. Hopefully, she wouldn’t push too hard for answers between now and then.
He turned his attention back to the scene playing out in front of him. He studied the man who had very nearly succeeded in killing them. His hands were cuffed to a metal bar that was bolted on the table, and he sat unmoving, with a bored expression on his face. His eyes were dark and his skin held a dark tan, as if he spent a lot of time outdoors. His hair was a light brown and closely cropped in a military style. If Ben hadn’t known him to be a killer, he would have thought he looked and carried himself just like many of the deputies that worked in the building.
Perhaps that was the point. Was he a law enforcement wannabe who hadn’t been able to cut it? He didn’t know the man’s history, but everything about him was causing his blood to boil, and it was all Ben could do to restrain himself from rushing into the interrogation room and tearing the man limb from limb. This man had tried to kill Jordan. Ben never remembered feeling this much anger and hostility toward a suspect, and it was an uncomfortable, ugly sensation that made him feel frustrated and powerless at the same time. He had shared his shortcomings with Frank, but he really hoped he wouldn’t have to go into detail with Jordan tonight. He was being unprofessional. He should be able to remain detached and do his job without emotion impacting his decisions and behavior. But he was finding it almost impossible to restrain himself from going into the interrogation room and wiping that arrogant smile off the man’s face with his fists.
