“Everything’s fair in marketing and war.” Peter took a deep drink of coffee from his ceramic mug. His movements were easy and relaxed.
Iris wanted to slap the mug from his hand. “You’re capable of schmoozing one of your inside contacts into sending you the old test results, then passing those documents to the media as though they were the most recent product tests.”
Peter almost choked on a mouthful of coffee. Almost, but not quite. More’s the pity. “You just keep telling yourself that, Iris. Maybe you’ll eventually be able to convince yourself that’s what happened.”
Either Peter was telling the truth or he had Sir Anthony Hopkins–sized acting chops. Iris shook her head. He had to be lying. “What did you hope to achieve? Were you trying to hurt me or Anderson Adventures?”
Peter shook his head as though in pity. “Until you told me, I had no idea that Anderson Adventures had a security breach.”
“You’re lying.”
“This is the first time anything like that has ever happened at that company. And it happened on your watch.” Peter grinned with glee. “How does that feel?”
“It will give me the greatest satisfaction to tell them you’re the one behind this leak.”
“You’d be lying.” Peter sobered. “I told you from the beginning that you’re out of your league with this client.”
“The campaign was progressing well before you played your games.”
“This would never have happened if I’d been on the account.” Peter sat forward, reaching for his phone. “Should I call Ty to give him my condolences?”
Iris’s heart raced as her anger grew. “Just remember, Pete, payback’s a bitch.”
“You’re out of your league, little girl.” Peter crossed his legs and leaned back in chair. “Way out of your league.”
Iris racked her brain to come up with some way to trick Peter into confessing but nothing came to mind. It was obvious she wasn’t going to get him to admit to his involvement in the security breach.
She clenched her teeth and turned toward the door. “I still have the account, old man.”
She’d find another way to fix this. Not only was her reputation on the line but this leak threatened Tyler’s chances of succeeding his father at the family company’s helm. With any luck, Tyler would receive the results of the email investigation today and they could start to put the matter behind them. She kept her fingers crossed.
* * *
Iris arrived at Anderson Adventures shortly after 10:00 a.m. Tuesday. She exchanged a brief but cheery good-morning with Sherry. She was still distracted by her earlier exchange with Peter Kimball. What would Tyler think about her theory?
She stopped in his doorway before continuing to her conference room. Tyler sat at his desk. Iris took a moment to enjoy looking at him. He was so handsome. His broad shoulders were covered in a copper pullover. He stared contemplatively at his computer screen. Lost in thought, he seemed miles away.
She knocked tentatively on the door. “Ty? Do you have a moment?”
“Where have you been?” He seemed to be looking
through her. His question wasn’t accusatory. Instead he sounded almost resigned.
This morning, she’d wanted to bring him a resolution to this crisis. She’d hoped to take away his troubles. Instead, she could only offer him more questions.
“I went to speak with Pete Kimball.” Iris frowned. “Didn’t you get my message?”
“Close the door, Iris.”
She nudged the block of wood out from under the door, frowning at Tyler’s stiff tone. “This must be serious.”
“I got your message.” Tyler took his time saving his computer file, then turned to face her. “But I don’t understand why you went to speak with him.”
Iris walked farther into the room. There was a chill in the air. And she was getting a weird vibe from him.
“I think Kimball is behind our security breach.” Iris lowered herself onto one of Tyler’s guest chairs.
Tyler gave her a skeptical look. “Why do you think that?”