“I’ll still need your ex’s name,” Nolan said. “You’d be surprised how resentment can smolder. Some guy working a crap job, looks up at a news story and sees the man he dated is making millions? That’s a motive.”
“I guess. Although I bet he doesn’t even remember my name.”
Nolan pulled out his phone. “What’s his?”
“Leo Knowles.” Fynn shifted foot to foot, looking away from Nolan’s gaze. “He was in grad school at Northwestern when I was, getting his MBA. You’re not seriously going to find the guy and ask if he is stalking me, though? Like, he already thinks I’m self-obsessed. Or did, back then.”
“Give me credit for a little more subtlety.” Nolan put the info in his to-do list. “I’ll have someone check on his whereabouts. He might’ve left the area. Lots of folk do after graduation. If not, we’ll check on his job, finances, get a feel for the guy.”
“It’s not him.”
“Probably not, but we don’t have a great suspect list.” Nolan planned to recheck the fired employees. Maybe the ones supposed to be out of town had returned, or the woman with the toddler was more cunning than Amelia thought. “What about your old company? Any chance they resent you making a mint after leaving them, instead of giving them the patents?”
“I’m sure they’re not thrilled.” Fynn wrinkled his nose, an expression Nolan didn’t want to call cute, but really, that should’ve gotten the guy a hug. “Their own fault for giving employees a plaque and a five-hundred-dollar bonus for any patent we generated.”
“Five hundred bucks?”
“I know, right? Everyone in that lab said the same thing. If we had a great idea, we’d leave to develop it, not let ZomaChem get their mitts on it. Luckily the courts threw out their non-compete agreement when Simpson challenged it. We weren’t supposed to work in the same field for five years? Totally nuts.”
“So you don’t think someone in your old management would be behind this?”
Fynn gave a twisted smile. “I hope they fired my manager for losing me, but no. Kidnapping? That’s totally out of left field.”
Nolan addedex-managerto his list. If the guy really was fired, he’d have a motive for sure. “Was there anyone you worked with, or for, who might think they had a share in your idea? Someone who maybe expected you to take them along when you left?”
“No. None of my coworkers liked me much. I wasn’t good at the socializing part and didn’t really care about their weekends or who was dating whom. Like, five minutes, fine, tell me the gossip, but then let’s move on folks. Work to do, molecules to design.”
That sounded so like Fynn that Nolan had to chuckle.
“Speaking of which.” Fynn turned toward his refrigerators. “I should get to work. I don’t suppose you’re hungry for an avocado?”
“Not really, no.”
“A pity. The ripe ones are accumulating again.” Fynn opened the door of the middle fridge and took three fruits off a marked shelf. “This incubator is kept at a steady seventy degrees. The one beside it fluctuates like a typical indoor space, with a diurnal cycle between sixty-five and seventy-seven. I’m comparing the effects on ripening speed and outgassing for the ’CadoPlanner. When I know the parameters, I’ll have the main lab confirm my findings.”
He set those three fruits in an acrylic tray and turned to the next refrigerator… or incubator or whatever.
Nolan waved. “Go ahead, do what you need to. I’ll hang out over here and do some work.”
He settled on a stool at a counter out of the way with a good view of the door. Pulling out his phone, he first texted Charlie to tell him not to show up at three. Nolan planned to stick with Fynn until he was safely back home. Of course, he got some lip from Charlie about overworking, but not even Nolan’s oldest friend could deny that a kidnapping attempt would shake up a client. Fynn deserved to have the bodyguard he felt most comfortable with. Anyhow, Nolan cut Charlie a lot of slack, but on this he was the boss.
~I have other work for you,he texted.~A list of names and people to locate, check further. I want you to hire PIs in the cities where those ex-employees moved to and confirm they’re still there and haven’t traveled out of town lately. Plus some more local possibilities to look into.He’d start with that ex-boyfriend. Take the bastard off the list. Fynn might’ve acted like the dude was a minor blip in his past, but there’d been a dark look in his eyes when he mentioned Leo.
Nolan thought Fynn’s ex had damaged whatever confidence he had about his attractiveness. Which was damned unfair, because Fynn was gorgeous and special. Sure, his style of conversation took a bit of getting used to, and Nolan wanted to tie Fynn’s phone to his pocket, but he was brilliant and enthusiastic and genuine, in a world full of phony people. The way his eyes lit up when he was in full verbal charge on a topic he loved, the way his lips parted and curved when he was focused on something? Fynn was attractive as hell, and damn Leo for making him doubt it.
Then he texted Amelia a list of security features to have added to Fynn’s Volvo. Fynn’s brother had given him a decent budget for equipment and investigations, but he was already pushing its limit. However, he wasn’t going to compromise, especially now there’d been another attempt. Micah would simply have to open the corporate pocketbooks wider.
No one’s getting to Fynn on my watch.
Chapter 7
Fynn held himself together until he was home. He pretended to work for hours, although he had a feeling his notes would read like gibberish on Monday. He sat upright in the passenger seat of Nolan’s SUV and pretended not to heave a sigh of relief when the unusual route Nolan followed back to his apartment avoided freeways. He’d happily take an extra twenty minutes of driving to not relive that moment when they were about to be sideswiped at seventy miles an hour.
Sheridan had been watching the apartment in his absence, apparently to make sure no one tried to sneak in there while he was gone and ambush him—and doesn’t that conjure up all kinds of lovely visions?He thought Sheridan was supposed to trade off with Nolan, who’d spent all day in the lab, his sturdy presence on the stool a comfort.
After a glance at Fynn, though, Nolan had sent Sheridan off to get takeout for the three of them, and ushered Fynn inside. “I’ve done enough driving for one day,” Nolan said. “He can earn his keep after a day lounging on your couch.”
That sounded like an excuse, but Fynn wasn’t about to complain.
