“I’m sorry, dear. Feel better.” Sherry’s kind words almost tugged loose her self-control.
Mercifully, Iris made it to the door. She sent Sherry one last smile before leaving.
Whoever framed her had taken so much more from her than a project and some money. They’d taken her reputation, budding friendships and the man with whom she was beginning to fall in love, and for what? No matter how long it took, she’d get the answer to that question.
Iris exited Anderson Adventures and crossed the parking lot to her car. Somehow she’d prove to Tyler that she hadn’t been the leak. She’d make him realize he could trust her. Doing that would at least salvage their professional relationship. But what about their personal one? Iris climbed into her car and finally let her tears fall. They were hot rivers of sorrow racing down her cheeks.
Face it, Iris. You and Ty never had a personal relationship. You imagined it.
She slapped her tears away, took a deep breath, then started her car. How could Ty love me and truly believe I could commit such a despicable act?
* * *
An hour later, Tyler knocked on Xavier’s office door. In his opposite hand, he gripped the printout of the report Ted had just given him.
“Ty, come in.” Xavier saved his computer file, locked his system, then turned to Tyler. “How did it go with Iris? Did she tell you why she sent the email?”
“She said she didn’t.” Ty took one of the chairs in front of Xavier’s desk.
His cousin shrugged his shoulders. “I guess that’s to be expected. Lauren suspected her right away. I’m sorry.”
“What was it about Iris that made Lauren suspicious?” The report in Tyler’s hands weighed heavy on his heart.
“I don’t know. Maybe it’s because Iris is the only outsider and we all agreed one of our associates couldn’t have leaked the information.”
“On a hunch, I asked Ted to run a report on the key-card access to Iris’s office for the day she’s supposed to have sent the email to Tipper.” Tyler glanced at the sheet of paper in his hand. “Iris is adamant about her innocence and I can’t believe she’d jeopardize her own project.”
“Computers don’t lie, Ty. You of all people know that.”
“That’s true,” Tyler agreed. “But they don’t always tell the entire story, either.”
“What did you learn?” Xavier gestured toward the report.
Tyler skimmed the report for the fifth time. He could probably recite the whole thing from memory. “I asked Ted to check the small conference room between the hours of 7:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. on May twenty-first.”
Xavier nodded. “That makes sense. You said Iris sent the email at eleven fifty-three.”
“Actually, X, we’re not sure about that anymore.”
“What do you mean?” Xavier’s brows knitted.
Tyler consulted the report, although he didn’t need to. “The first key-card activity that day occurred at 7:24 a.m.”
“Iris arrived early.”
“Actually, Iris and I walked in together that morning.” In fact, they often arrived at the parking lot at the same time. It was almost as though he subconsciously planned it. Chatting with her in the mornings always put him in a good mood. He tucked those memories away and returned to the cold, hard reality of the key-card access report. “The next activity occurred at 9:32 a.m. Then there was activity at 11:39 a.m. But someone other than Iris entered her office.”
Xavier frowned. “Who?”
Tyler looked into his cousin’s onyx eyes. “According to the report, X, it was you.”
* * *
“Thanks for meeting me.” Iris settled onto a chair at Cathy’s circular kitchen table Tuesday morning.
“Not a problem.” Cathy added a plate of chocolate chip cookies to the table. She snatched two before claiming the chair opposite Iris. “Are you sure you don’t want me to fix us some lunch? It’s almost noon.”
In fact, it was only a few minutes past 11:00 a.m. “No, thank you.”