All of the men nodded. Davis looked more than a little impressed. Joel wondered what he’d say if he knew about all of her skills.
“Forensics teams are swarming all over the place,” Connor said.
Cam half stood up and reached across the table for the coffeepot. “Why aren’t we there?”
“Jurisdictional nonsense, but we get a look at everything. Raw data, samples whatever we need.”
Davis chuckled. “You convinced the police to do that?”
Connor smiled. “I can be very persuasive.”
Some of the building tension that came with talking about tough subjects seeped out of the room, but Hope continued to frown. “I still don’t get the outpost here.”
“Baxter is in town and I want to be where Tony Prather is right now.” Connor’s smile grew, as if he relished the idea of going to battle with this guy. “Let him know I haven’t forgotten him or the promise I made to solve this mystery.”
“Plus we have two murders and an explanation that’s half-as—”
She chuckled over Davis’s sudden stoppage. “Yes?”
He cleared his throat. “Let’s go with unbelievable.”
Cam nodded. “Nice save.”
“The Perry versus Mark fight Tony is trying to sell doesn’t hold together.” Connor scanned the notes in front of him. “How could Perry start the fire in his condition and why would he?”
Joel filled in the blanks in case she didn’t follow the jumping conversation. As a group they sometimes talked in shorthand and forgot to cut that out when others joined in. “We all know Perry was out of it. Cam checked on him about ten minutes before you smelled gasoline, and the guy was out cold.”
“So, supposedly Perry sprang up and was oriented and stable enough to go find gas, which he hadn’t used up until then, pour it all over the cabin, light the match, then lie back down and go to sleep.” Cam snorted. “I don’t think so.”
Davis shrugged. “The police buy it.”
Hope’s mug hit the table with a sharp whack. “Come on, really?”
“Tony Prather tells a good story. The man is a natural salesman, after all,” Connor said.
“He didn’t do anything for me. And this is the same executive who didn’t go along on the executive retreat even though he set it up?” She added an eye roll to the end.
“Wait, go back.” Connor stilled. “Tony insists Mark is the one who wanted the retreat.”
“That’s not what Tony told me when we talked about what he wanted on this job.” She took out her cell and started scrolling. When she landed on a specific email, she turned the phone and showed Connor. “I asked why he wasn’t coming along and he gave me some excuse about not being able to take time away from running the company but said it was necessary for everyone else for morale and team building.”
“The guy is slippery.” Connor finished reading and then passed the cell phone to Davis. “Tony didn’t want to send out a search team and didn’t seem all that concerned about Mark or motivated to get out there for a rescue.”
“A great guy all around.” Davis slid the phone back to her.
She put it in front of Joel and returned her hand to his knee. “But why do all of this? The executive retreat is a lot of trouble.”
“With a lot of moving parts.” That’s the point Joel didn’t understand.
If you wanted to get rid of an executive or pit two against each other, there had to be easier ways. Out in the forest the control vanished. There was the human element, plus weather and animals and accidents. The list went on and on.
Connor rested his elbows on the table and reached over to refill his already empty coffee cup. “I think we’re looking at the oldest reason in the world—money.”
She groaned as she rubbed her eyes. “I was afraid you’d say that.”
“With the help of a skeptical member of the board who didn’t want Tony hired in the first place, Ben has been back at Corcoran headquarters digging through the Baxter records. He’s had access to notes and files and reports so boring your head would spin,” Davis explained.
“How’d he get stuck with the job?” she asked as a smile tugged at the corner of her mouth.
“Newest member.” Joel had been in that unenviable position and celebrated when someone came in after him.
He was no longer the new guy, though he often felt that way. Still getting his footing and learning along the way. He knew the basic skills coming in and could match, or beat, any of them at shooting and tracking, but strategies and tactics were a different skill set. Connor and Davis excelled at those.