He switched on a couple of lamps.
No one accepted his offer of a drink. Instead, the three men situated themselves on the sofa and chairs. He slipped off his coat and loosened his tie. He carried no weapon. Guns were forbidden. Another Rule imposed on both himself and his associates. Rarely were they used in processing, the presence of one only drawing unnecessary attention. He settled into one of the cushioned chairs, extracted the manila folders from his briefcase, and tossed them on the coffee table. “We have three new Priorities. I’ll allocate those in a minute. Did all of you get acquainted on the way up?”
They nodded.
“Victor will be joining us as a new associate. I’ve already oriented him generally on our operating procedures, but I wanted to add some further instruction by revisiting the mistake made earlier this month.”
He stared at Richey.
“Milo, please review the facts surrounding what happened with Priority Number 3 from May’s list.”
5:05P.M.
BRENT’S FIRST DAY ON THE JOB WAS DRAWING TO AN END.
Both at the DA’s office and as a private practitioner, rarely had the day ended at five. Long hours were not only necessary, but also expected. The same seemed to be true here. There were a lot of people and departments for only two lawyers to service. But as Martha had noted, the company also contracted with several outside firms, who assisted on the more time-consuming endeavors. The coming contract negotiations would definitely require longer days.
Today had been all about organizing. Not much else. Martha and the others had already left for the day, the secretarial space down the hall quiet. The general counsel himself had been gone since midafternoon for an off-site meeting. So he was alone.
Time to be nosy.
Earlier, Martha had showed him around the company’s virtual world. The general counsel’s office had full access to all personnel, medical, and retirement records, information needed in order to do the job. So he found the main search engine and typed inPETER BATES. The screen lit with Bates’ employment application, performance reviews, and various medical claims, then ended with a termination of employment and pension account. He decided to check the medical claims and learned that Bates had incurred some substantial psychiatric bills. He scanned a few of the reports and saw a consistent diagnosis of clinical depression, compounded by bipolar disorder. Bates had been prescribed, and was taking up to the time of his death, a strong regimen of antidepressants. Which certainly explained the sullenness.
He clicked onPENSION.
The record that appeared noted the date of death. Nearly four months ago. Cause? Gunshot wound, suicide. A notation indicated that the company had specially extended health insurance coverage to the dependents, a wife and two children, for a period of two years, at no cost.
Extremely generous.
What he wanted was the contact information and he found it on the fourth page. A change of address form. Joan Bates now lived in Statesboro.
Not far away.
Good.
They needed to talk.
5:10P.M.
JON WAITED FOR AN EXPLANATION.
Milo Richey was openly uneasy. He should be. The associate had made a mistake, his first since joining the team two years ago.
“The file specified a substitution of medication as the solecriterion for death. I made the switch, upping the milligram dosage to a level that should have proven fatal.”
“But it didn’t,” De Florio said.
“I thought it more than adequate,” Richey said.
“And your source for making that determination?”
“I obtained the information on non-recommended doses from the pharmaceutical company’s website.”
“Why not verify death at the scene?”
“I assumed the dosage was more than sufficient to achieve the desired result.”
“Was anyone around? Any risk of detection?”
