Page 36 of The Tycoon

“Have a seat.”Dave shut the door behind him.

Cole sat at the head of the table.

Dave took the chair to his right.

Regan sat on Cole’s left.

“So, Dave, have you been able to trace the cause of the systems-wide failure?”asked Cole.

“As I said, I believe it was sabotage, but I haven’t found the culprit yet.I’ve denied all leaves until this gets cleared up to my satisfaction.”

“Good.That’s good,” said Cole.“Where are you in the investigation?”

Dave rested his forearms on the table.“First, let me assure you that we have things back to normal.The oil well has been capped, as originally planned.Everyone scheduled to leave is on hold, waiting to be released.”He leaned back in his chair.“I have seventeen workers, sixteen men and one woman that were on duty at the time the well leak was discovered.Let me tell you up front, Cole, this disaster could have been so much worse had they not done their jobs, shut the rig down, and sealed it.Nothing exploded and no life was lost on this platform.”

Cole leaned back.“For that I am grateful, but if one or more of these workers is guilty of sabotage, I will have them prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, regardless of them doing their jobs in the end.”

Dave nodded.“Understood.What now?”

“I want you to question them.I and Ms.Phillips will be present.I want someone to make recordings and written documentation of their statements.”

“Can’t Ms.Phillips do the written statements?”

Cole lifted a brow.“Ms.Phillips is my executive Assistant, not an administrative assistant.Get yours in here now.”

“Yes, sir.”

A few minutes later, a tall, buxom blonde entered the conference room.“Yes, Mr.Chapman.What do you need?”

The way she walked toward and talked to Dave told Regan they were much more than just boss and employee.They had a sexual relationship, if nothing else.

She watched Cole as the woman realized who was in the room.

The woman turned toward Cole and pasted on a big smile.“Mr.Kincaid.It’s good to see you again.”

How do they know each other if Cole has never been to the platform before?

“Ms.Folsom.This is my executive assistant, Regan Phillips.Regan, this is Dave’s assistant, Varia Folsom.”

Regan smiled at the woman.“Nice to meet you, Varia.That’s quite the unusual name you have.Very pretty, though.”

Varia lifted her chin, just enough for Regan to notice.“My mother wanted something different, but easy to remember, and Varia is what she came up with.And it seems to have worked.”She looked over at Cole and a sly grin spread across her face.“I’m very easy to remember.”

Lifting one brow, Regan maintained her smile.“I just bet you are.”With that sentence, Regan had thrown the gauntlet, so to speak.

“Oh, I am.Just ask Cole.”She slid him a sideways look.“I mean Mr.Kincaid.I’m sure he remembers me from Houston.”

Regan narrowed her eyes and glanced at Cole.“Oh, I’m sure he does.He never forgets anything.I often wonder why he needs an assistant, but I do have my uses.”Take that, you witch.Don’t go messing with Cole, you won’t like my claws.Wait!What am I thinking?Well, I’m not taking it back.Cole can think what he wants, and if he wants to spend the night with that…woman, he’s more than welcome to.She let out a deep breath.What is the matter with me?I’ve got no claim on Cole.Once these threats against him stop, he won’t need me anymore, and I’ll move on to the next job.Why does that thought make me so incredibly sad?

Cole turned his gaze on her.“That you do, Ms.Phillips.That you do.”He looked back to Dave.“What are you doing to mitigate the damage done by the spill?”

“We’ve put out booms to collect the oil on top of the water, which is most of it.Some stayed on the bottom but from what we can tell, the greatest amount floated up.”

“How big was the spill?”

“It was actually relatively small.We figure about 10,000 to 20,000 barrels for the entire spill.Compared to the 4.9 million barrels of the Deepwater Horizon accident, it’s almost nothing.”

Cole cut Dave a glare.“Let’s not compare to anyone else.I want to know what and who caused this spill.I don’t care whether it’s small or that the booms appear to be working.I want to know why this happened at all.”He turned his gaze to Varia.“Who took leave before it happened and hasn’t returned yet?”