“It’s okay,” Sebastian said, his voice gruff. “I asked you for the truth and you’re giving it to me.”
Ashley knew this news wasn’t any easier on him.
“Do you have the name of the person Mrs. Knight dealt with at Sparrow?” Sebastian asked.
Katherine nodded. “Jasper Nichols.”
Sebastian blew out a long breath. “Thank you, Katherine. You can go back to work now.”
She stood up, obviously shaken.
Sebastian rose, too. “Your job is safe, Katherine. You did as you were told. It’s fine.”
Her eyes lit up in relief. “Thank you, Mr. Knight. Thank you.” The other woman rushed out of the room, leaving Ashley and Sebastian alone.
He glanced at her, concern in his eyes.
“What are you thinking?” she asked him.
“That we need to find out more.”
She nodded in agreement. She glanced down at her hands, realized she was twisting them together just as Katherine had been. “Right. Just because Mandy paid more for components than the company had in the past doesn’t mean the parts are bad, right?” she asked, holding on to hope.
“Right. But–” Sebastian frowned, causing her stomach to flip in renewed concern. “The fact that this Sparrow Electronics doesn’t have a legitimate business record isn’t a good sign.”
She swallowed hard. “Then we keep digging.”
He nodded. “I need to talk to Greg Munson, our head engineer. Find out if any of the Sparrow components could be causing an issue. The damn problem is so intermittent, it’s been hard to narrow down. And we need to track down this Jasper Nichols and find out what his business relationship was with Mandy.”
“All before we tell Ethan, right?” she asked.
“Right. I don’t want to hand my brother another blow when he’s just begun to grieve.”
Ashley’s heart softened at Sebastian’s love for his sibling. The fact that he didn’t want to hurt Ethan without one hundred percent proof spoke volumes about the man Sebastian was deep inside.
A man Ashley was very afraid she was falling for.
Chapter Eight
After making an endless number of phone calls to Sparrow Electronics to speak with Jasper Nichols, only to be told he was out of the office, and having the man not return his messages, Sebastian called Parker once more. This time he asked his brother to look into the man himself. They pulled in Sierra, as she was the social media guru and they needed to find a way to locate the man, swearing her to secrecy about mentioning anything to Ethan.
In the meantime, it was time he saw the campus where the failing locks had been installed. They’d only put them in on one building, having discovered the flaw in the design immediately on installation.
He called Corinne Fields and asked her to get him permission to enter the Keystone campus. A little while later, he and Ashley had shown their IDs at security and signed a non-disclosure agreement that had been left waiting for them, and their car pulled up in front of the main building.
They left the driver out front and headed inside. A security guard met them at the door and showed them to an office where a tall man with military bearing met them.
“Mr. Knight? Ms. Easton? I’ve been expecting you.” The man shook each of their hands.
“I spoke to Mr. Romano and he said to let you walk around the building. We’re not up and running yet, so you can see what you need to and check in with me again before you leave. Every office room has a lock,” he informed them.
“Thank you.”
Sebastian placed his hand on Ashley’s back and led her out of the room.
“Tell me about the smart locks your company is doing for Keystone,” she said as they took the elevator up to the fifth floor, where Sebastian had been told the first locks were installed.
He glanced around. The entire building had been wired to provide what the occupant needed without being asked. Smart heating and cooling, occupancy sensors that acknowledged when people were in various parts of the building and turned on accordingly, and emergency notification systems that communicated with both the main Keystone office and local police and fire departments. Among other things.
Including the smart locks.
“Let’s see. Smart locks are designed to lock and unlock a door upon receiving instructions from an authorized device using wireless protocol and what’s known as a cryptographic key to execute authorization process.”
She laughed at his technical explanation. “I’m almost sorry I asked.”
“It’s a little confusing,” he acknowledged with a wry grin.
“But, in essence, you need a lock and key to work, except the key isn’t a physical one but a smartphone or special key fob configured to wirelessly perform the process.”
“I understand. Sort of. It’s wireless communication.”
“Correct, but there is also hardware involved, as you saw from the purchase orders.”
She nodded in comprehension as they walked to the open room they saw there. “Like these.” She placed her hand on the metal casing on the door.