She did not say anything for several seconds.

She tapped her pen against her tablet.

“The Redmond site was Nathan’s first major project as lead partner,” Evelyn said quietly.

“Is it true?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” Evelyn said. “But we have to find out before the board meeting starts.”

My phone vibrated again in my hand.

This time, it was a text message from an unknown number.

I tapped the screen to open it.

It was an image file.

It showed a scanned document with Nathan’s signature at the bottom, next to a lab stamp that had been marked in red ink.

My thumb hovered over the screen as the second text message arrived from the same number.

It was a single sentence from Victor.

*Show this to Evelyn.*

I slid the phone across the polished mahogany table toward Evelyn.

The screen remained bright, displaying the red-inked lab stamp and Nathan’s signature.

Evelyn did not pick up the phone immediately.

She stared at it, her pen poised a fraction of an inch above her tablet.

Diane leaned forward, her eyes darting between me and the screen.