Page 18 of Fatal Conspiracy

Once Cal and Selina left, she limped into the bathroom, leaving the walker by her bed out of defiance of the entire situation. As she stripped off her dirty clothes and turned on the water, Derek’s face, all battered and bloodied, loomed in her vision. As hard as it was, she would do whatever was needed to avoid the man the rest of the weekend. He had been kind to her and ensured her safety to the best of his ability, but it would be too easy to fall for a guy like Derek. Good thing she was here to do a job and nothing else.

She glanced down at her body, which had more bruises than it had last night, but for the first time in her life, she found pride in herself for what she’d done to help Derek. She dried off and put on her pajamas, knowing that pride in her accomplishments would have to be enough for her. Falling for Derek was just asking for a broken heart.

Chapter Ten

When Derek made his way to the conference room the next morning, he felt much better. At least physically. This morning, the man in the mirror looked more like him than he had the night before. The pain medication Selina had given him, along with a hefty dose of prednisone, had brought the swelling under control and ended his headache. Selina had used medical glue on his split lip, which he’d appreciated because the hospital was not where he’d wanted to go. While his face still sported the bruises, and his lip was still fat, it would be a thing of the past in a few days. Overall, he looked like he’d lost in the boxing ring, but at least he was alive to tell the story. He could thank Alayah Heath for that. And he would, if he could find her.

Last night, when he asked Selina how she was, the answer was asleep, which was understandable. Selina told him Alayah had a sprained ankle after being dropped from the SUV, which sat like a lead ball in his belly. It wasn’t fair that she got hurt helping him. He spent most of the night kicking himself until exhaustion finally pulled him into sleep for a few hours. The conundrum of who killed Hugo hadn’t taken up residence because there was no way he was puzzling that out with his head pounding and half a concussion. Now that the light of day was here and hefelt better, he’d do anything they asked of him. He wanted justice for Hugo, and to do that, they had to clear his name. Until they did, they couldn’t focus on finding Hugo’s killer.

Walking into the room, he homed in on Alayah immediately. She was sitting at a table with Cal and several guys, including Roman, the only one he remembered from last night. He promised himself that he’d keep it professional until he and Alayah were alone. He really wanted to find out how she was, but he wouldn’t do it in front of everyone and risk embarrassing her.

“There’s the man of the hour,” Cal said. “Grab some breakfast and then join us.” He motioned at the buffet. So, after a good-morning to everyone, he walked to the buffet and filled a plate. He was surprised by the spread the hotel had put up in the room. He was grateful to have hot food for his belly for the first time in almost a day.

Derek rejoined the team and sat in the only open seat…next to Alayah, who was trying her hardest to ignore him. If she didn’t want to talk, he wouldn’t push her. For all he knew, Cal had punished her for helping him last night. He doubted that, though. He may have given her a stern talking to, but the fact that she was sitting at the table told him she was still part of the team. He tucked into his breakfast as everyone else was also eating, so starting a conversation was pointless until everyone was done.

Unable to resist, he leaned toward Alayah slightly. “Thanks for your assistance last night with the lawyer. It made all the difference.”

“That was Cal,” she said, setting her muffin down and brushing off her hands.

“Not the way I heard it,” he said, then popped more bacon into his mouth and waited for her to respond. She didn’t. Apparently, he was on her blacklist even if no oneelse was mad at him. Sad as it made him, he’d have to respect her and not push. While he wanted to get to know her better, that didn’t mean she felt the same way about him. He’d help with the investigation while he tried to earn back her respect. Maybe he didn’t need that, but he wanted it because he had nothing but respect for Alayah Heath.

“We’re waiting for the conference committee to decide if they’re resuming the event, but the early indication I got was they will be,” Cal said, leaning back in his chair. “They’re going to move the presentations to a different theater. It won’t hold as many people, but they don’t expect any of the other speakers to draw the kind of crowd Hugo did, so they think it will work out fine. Sorry, Derek.”

He held up his hand until he finished chewing. “No need to apologize every time you mention his name. I’m coping with his death by refusing to address those feelings until I’ve cleared my name and his killer is behind bars. It’s the only way I can figure out how to keep my mind sharp and not focus on the grief and anger of losing a friend.”

Cal nodded once. “When you have an analytical mind like you do, that’s the best way to approach it. There will be time to grieve, but right now isn’t the time. Now is the time to figure out who killed him. Grieving feels never-ending when a murder charge is hanging over your head.”

Laying his fork down, Derek leaned in over the table. “For full disclosure, I planned to quit in January. Even before Hugo started feeling poorly, he was unable or unwilling to do much of anything for himself, which meant there was no such thing as time off. It’s been three years since I’ve had more than one day to visit the cabin, and that was only because he was otherwise occupied. This would have been the first vacation I’d had since becoming his assistant five years ago. He only allowed it because I was less thanthirty minutes away and could return quickly if he needed me. I expected to, just not for this reason.”

“Wow,” Roman said, shoulder-bumping his brother. “And I thought you were a taskmaster. Hugo was next level.”

“Don’t get me wrong,” Derek said, holding his hands out to them. “There were no hard feelings between us. He paid me well for my devotion to him and the company, and I respected him for his contributions to the tech world, but it’s a hamster wheel I can’t run on anymore. I want a life that doesn’t revolve around my work. Hugo had become a father figure for me, and fathers teach us a lot. In this case, he taught me that the last thing I want to do is wake up thirty years from now and be him. Someone with no family and no love in his life other than that which he paid for.”

“Amen to that,” Roman said. “There’s the rat race, and then there’s that.”

“All of that said…” Cal lowered his voice as he leaned in over the table. “It’s important that you play the grieving assistant as far as the official investigation.”

“I am grieving, even if it’s tempered,” Derek said, his spine straight as he faced off with the team. “More than that, I’m angry that someone thought it was okay to kill someone I loved. It would have been much easier to hand in my resignation letter in January than to lower him into the ground in October.”

Cal tipped his head in agreement before one of the other men asked, “Do you stand to gain anything from Hugo’s death?”

“I’m sorry but I don’t remember your name,” Derek said when he turned to him.

“I’m Zac. We met last night in the woods, but it wasdark, and you were pretty jacked up. Your face looks much better this morning.”

“Thanks for the assist last night, and as for my face, Selina is a miracle worker. Will I gain anything from Hugo’s death? The answer is no. Since I worked for Hugo and not Black Marlin, with his death, I’ll need to find a new job.”

“Then who does gain from his death?” Zac asked the follow-up question he had been expecting but didn’t know how to answer.

“That’s information I’m not privy to, nor would I want.”

“I’ll get Mina on that,” Roman said, taking out his phone and leaving the table as he punched in a number.

“Our plan for the day is to split up the work,” Cal said now that everyone had finished eating. “Zac and Declan will go over the logs from our programs to see if we missed something, while Roman and I go through the security cameras and the logs from those tracking our movements. Alayah and Derek, I’m going to pair you together. Derek, I want you to tell Alayah everything you know about Hugo. From his shoe size all the way to who hated him and why. Every piece of his life should be accounted for on paper. Once that’s done, go through the footage, looking only for Derek and Hugo from the time they arrived at the center until he collapsed. I want to know everywhere they went and who they talked to.”

“Boss,” Alayah said. “Maybe there’s someone else better suited for that job. You’ll need me to do the cloud work.”

Derek could tell she didn’t want to question her boss, but he also heard in her voice that she didn’t want to work with him. He wasn’t sure why, but once they were alone, he’d be sure to apologize for insisting she stop at his cabin last night. If she was in hot water because she helped him, he’d make it right.