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Darby
“Is that verbatim?” I asked.
“Not exactly. But close enough I’d call it a smoking gun.”
I mulled over what we’d learned earlier, before the accident. “It doesn’t seem to jibe with what I know so far.”
Nettie shrugged. “I can’t help that. I’m just telling you what I’ve found.”
“Could it have been falsified?”
“I don’t know,” said Nettie. “The data we’re sifting through has been deleted, though we’re trying to recover it. But it’s possible. Does this Pierce guy seem like the type who could kill someone?”
“Anyone could kill given the right circumstances.”
Nettie frowned. “I don’t think my great-aunt Chloe could. But then again, she’s 87 and her vision’s mostly gone.”
“You know what I mean,” I said.
“Right. But not everyone has a killer instinct. What about Pierce?”
I frowned, thinking on some of what Mark and I had discussed that day. “Maybe. But we weren’t onto him when he came in yesterday. He does have a record. Not a violent one, though.”
Nettie exhaled. “All right. I’ll keep digging. We’re done, then?”
“I think so,” I said. “I need to scoot anyway. I have a sorta date.”
Nettie lifted a brow as we walked toward the lifts. “A new guy? Oh, do tell, Darby!”
I chuckled. “I’d love to, but I promised I’d meet him, and I only have about ten minutes left, and I still need a shower.”
“You’re no fun,” Nettie said in a mock pout.
“Maybe if you hurry, you can catch Celia before she leaves. I’m sure she’d love to give you the scoop.”
“And here I thought all this time you were sweet on Mark,” she teased.
I frowned as we got on the lifts. “What would give you that idea?”
She shrugged. “The way you two connect. There’s somethin’ special there. Ah, well, you have fun tonight. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”
I watched her get off on the ground floor, waving when she turned back to send me a bright smile.
But as I went down the rest of the way to the locker room, I found myself thinking about her words. What had she been talking about? Our work style? How we played off each other?
Or was it something more? Had our literal connection not gone as unnoticed as I thought?