“So the two cases aren’t connected?” Simon asked. “That doesn’t seem plausible.”
“Oh, they’re connected,” West said. “Whoever paid off Xander also paid off the spy who came after him.”
His guts twisted. “That means...”
“That means this is a conspiracy,” West finished for him. “Which is why we need to question Dover staff. We’ll start with you, but we’d also like to talk to your newest assistant. Heather Hall, was it?”
“She’s unavailable at the moment,” Simon replied quickly.
“I hear she got shuffled to a new department,” West muttered. “Doesn’t sound like you suspect her of wrongdoing, which is strange considering how quickly you got rid of Xander.”
Simon narrowed his eyes in annoyance. Detective West kept steering the topic back to Heather. Insinuating that he was protecting her for some nefarious reason. Of course, Simon was protecting her, but not for anything nefarious. He just refused to toss Heather to these people, especially considering how they were treating Xander. They seemed more intent on making powerless assistants pay for the crimes of obvious power players. Knowing that now, Simon not only knew he had to shield Heather even if she was guilty but he was also starting to wonder if he shouldn’t have tried to protect Xander sooner.
“Dover is still investigating the matter,” Simon said. “When Xander was let go, we considered the evidence against him overwhelming.”
“You don’t think the evidence against Heather Hall is overwhelming?” West asked.
Simon shook his head. “No.”
Bartlett and West exchanged a knowing glance that made Simon uneasy. Sometimes cops knew a lot more than they let on. Often, to catch people in lies or to catch them off guard.
Simon cleared his throat. “I really wish I could help further, but I don’t think I can go on without talking to my lawyer first.”
“Of course.” Bartlett got to his feet and buttoned up his coat. “We won’t take up any more of your time.”
“I’m guessing this means we won’t be able to question anybody else at Dover.” West narrowed his eyes.
“We advise our employees to discuss legal matters with their lawyers present,” Simon said.
“Of course you do.” West shoved his hand into his coat pocket and pulled out a card. “If you think of any information that might be useful to our investigation, don’t hesitate to get in touch with me.”
Simon took the card from him. “Thank you. I can show you out.”
West stood up. “Don’t worry about that. We’ll show ourselves out. Remember, no detail is too small.”
Bartlett smiled. “It was nice meeting you.”
“Same here,” Simon said tightly.
The detectives strode over to the door and West paused before stepping out. “If I were you, Mr. Diesel, I’d tell Ms. Hall it wouldn’t hurt to get a good lawyer.”
SHE COULDN’T BELIEVE Simon had talked her into locking herself in her old office. Heather had been sitting at the desk for what felt like hours, silently waiting for some police detectives to kick the door down and drag her away.
The sudden loud knock on the office door made her heart jump into her throat.
“You can come out now,” said Simon’s muffled voice.
Heart beating wildly, she placed her hand over her chest and inhaled. The stress was finally getting to her, and she slowly got to her feet on shaky legs.
She walked across the office to open the door, but Simon was nowhere to be seen. Anger flared. Asking him for help had been a complete mistake. The moment she had asked for his help, he had gone too far by commanding she go hide like she was guilty.
Ignoring the small voice in her head that was telling her to calm down, she marched over to Simon’s office, flung open the door, and stormed inside.
She found him half-dressed, slipping his shirt off. The eyeful of his bare chest made all the words on the tip of her tongue vanish.
He flung his shirt onto the desk, the hard muscles in his chest and arms rippling with each movement.
Heather had come in here to give him a tongue-lashing, but now she was so tongue-tied at the sight of him shirtless that she was practically melting into a puddle. The temperature was suddenly boiling now that she was so hot under the collar.