Page 41 of Fury In Death

“What? Yes?”

“Mr. Chu, I’m Lieutenant Dallas, and this is Detective Peabody.”

“I need to talk to you. I need to know . . . something. We’ve just come from seeing my father. My father,” he repeated, and pressed a fist to his forehead.

“We’ll go this way.” She led him down the hall toward the lounge.

“You’re here alone?”

“Yes. Brad and I, we went to see our father. Just the two of us. My family’s with my mother. Everyone’s with Mom. She’s—you can’t imagine.”

“I’m going to get you some water,” Peabody said as they walked into the lounge.

“Thanks, but I—I need answers. They warned us, even advised us not to see him. But we had to. We had to. Dr. Morris stayed with us the whole time. What they did to him, it’s . . . I need answers.”

“Sit down.” Because she sensed he could break at any moment, Eve urged him into a chair while Peabody got the water. “Mr. Chu.”

“Nate, just Nate. It had to be more than one person, didn’t it? To do that?”

“We believe there was a single attacker, one who had accessed your father’s security code in order to disengage the window lock on the office.”

“But why? For what reason? You had to hate somebody to do that. Nobody hated my father. He’s never hurt anyone. He works, he’s dedicated to developing ways to help people.”

“We can’t verify a motive at this time. We can tell you that your father is our priority.” She waited a beat until Peabody set the water in front of Nate, then sat. “We’re pursuing every avenue to get the answers you need.”

“Like what?” he demanded.

“We’ve just come from talking to his direct supervisor,” Peabody told him. “His team, Jacob Wyst.”

“What would they have to do with it? They valued my dad. I know he was a good boss because he taught me to be one. He’s won awards. He’s headed projects that have saved lives.”

“Nate.” Eve drew his attention back to her. “We have to pursue those avenues. Someone knew your father well enough to gain his security code, to gain access to his communications. This individual knew your father would be in his office, would be alone.”

“It has to be some crazy jealous competitor. Some corporate hit because of my father’s work. Why aren’t you pursuing that avenue?”

“Do you know what your father was working on?”

“No, not exactly.” He heaved out a breath, then drank some water. “Usually several projects at a time, but with one prioritized. That’s the kind of thing we talked about because that’s how I handle my business. That’s how he taught me. You might learn something from one project you can apply to another.”

“Would you have any specifics?”

“No. I have some science in my work. With plants, soil, and my brother’s seriously smart. Brad might understand a little more than me, but Dad didn’t talk specifics much, not about the work, until the project was public. I mean he had top security clearance in Banner-Wyst. We didn’t.”

“What do you know about his relationships, at work, outside of work?”

“He got along with everybody. I like to say it’s his superpower. He’d just find the common thread.”

He took another breath, another drink. “I’m sorry. I’m not handling this well. I don’t know how to handle it. I came straight from . . . from the morgue. I know I worked myself up, and I know it hasn’t even been a day. I just hoped you could tell me something. Something I could take back to my family.”

“I’m meeting with the best profiler in New York, and, in my opinion, beyond that, within the hour. We’re looking at every angle, Nate.”

“Okay, okay, and you can’t do that if you’re sitting here patting me on the head. I’m sorry.”

“He’s your dad,” Peabody said gently.

“Yeah. Thanks for talking to me.”

“We will keep you informed,” Eve promised. “We may have more questions.”