Page 47 of Elliot

“You weren’t?” Asher scratched his cheek. “That’s strange, isn’t it? I mean, Demeter Pharma sponsored all the media for the event. They paid for the venue and the awards, and the list was released over a month ago. How did you miss the fact she would win again this year?”

“Lucky, I guess. I’m the CFO; I manage the budget, not the day-to-day activities of the company.” Dillon closed his eyes.“I’m tired. If you don’t mind, I’d like to go to sleep now.”

“Then we’ll get out of your hair. Thank you again for taking the time out of your day to talk with us. We hope you recover quickly.”

Dillon gave them a snarky smile and looked at the door. They walked down the hall to the nurses’ station, where Asher presented the release of information form, his badge, and credentials and asked for a copy of Dillon Ulman’s medical records. As they waited for the person behind the desk to figure out how to comply with the request, they moved to a small alcove holding vending machines.

“You know something about Demeter you haven’t shared?” Elliot quietly asked as they pretended to be patient.

Asher nodded. “The company bought out the sponsorship after it had been awarded. They went after the event hot and heavy. I contacted the Vice President of Demeter yesterday, and he said Dillon was the driving force behind going after the sponsorship. According to the VP, Ulman has been in the weeds on this event for the last year. There was no way he didn’t know Maya was at the ceremony.”

Elliot connected the dots. “You think the injury is subterfuge, or maybe the shooters were pissed?”

Asher shrugged. “As soon as I get the reconstruction of the shots fired, where Dillon was found, and the rest of the injuries, I’ll have a better idea, but yeah, both those scenarios crossed my mind.”

Elliot’s mind flashed to a million different scenarios but settled on one that made the most sense with their current information. “Can we get his financials?”

“To see if there’s a money trail to the shooters? Yeah, I can get a warrant, but I’m going to need something solid to tie him to the shooters.”

“We’d have to go back over a year and work forward,” Elliot mused. “If he contracted them, they’d want some money upfront.”

“And a way to claim the money after. I wonder if they cashed in before someone cashed them out?” Asher chuckled at his own joke.

Elliot groaned. “Horrible.”

Asher laughed. “Bullshit, admit it, it was good.”

“Never.” Elliot laughed with him.

“Sir?” the nurse behind the desk called them back. “If you go down to administration, they can pull the records for you. I put the room number and the person you’ll want to talk to here.” She handed him the release form, which had the information printed on the back.

“Thanks.” Asher pocketed the form, and they made their way down to the office. It took another hour to get the forms. Asher looked at him. “I happen to know a doctor who’ll look at this for us and decipher the lingo. She works here. Care to have lunch with us?”

Elliot glanced at the file in Asher’s hand. “Will I be crashing a date if I do?”

“Not at all. She’s my sister-in-law.”

“Then lead the way.” Elliot accompanied Asher up to the cafeteria while he made a call. They went through the line and grabbed some food, found a table, and had most of their food eaten before a gorgeous woman with dark skin, darker eyes, and a lean, athletic, smoking-hot body jogged up to Asher and hugged him. Asher picked her up and swung her around once before depositing her back on her feet. “The kids have wondered if you’ve moved out of state.” She laughed when Asher let her go.

“Tell them I’m still here. Cara, this is Elliot Sawyer, a colleague of mine from Guardian.”

The woman’s smile was brilliant as she extended her hand. Elliot stood as he was introduced. “Hi, nice to meet you.”

“You, too.” Elliot smiled at her and shook her hand. Her bubbly effervescence was contagious.

“Cara is a baby doctor,” Asher said.

“The term is a pediatrician,” she huffed.

“Yeah, that. So, let me get you some food while you take a look at that pile. My main question is if there’s any indication of the angle the bullet hit him from.”

Cara sat down where the file was but looked up. “Nothing too greasy, okay?”

“You got it.” Asher winked at her and headed to the food line.

“Angle?” She looked at Elliot. “So, let’s see. The bullet entered … and exited …” She read another page and then another. “Huh.” She went back to the first page. She ruffled around the back of the stack and pulled out what looked like pictures of X-rays.

She looked at Elliot. “So, where was the person with the gun?”

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