She pointed to a broad-shouldered boy with a strong jaw and his arm around her shoulder. "That's Marcellus. We went to the same boarding school."
Now that she mentioned it, I saw all the children wore the same collared uniform with the same emblem on their chests.
"Anyway," Eleanor said, setting the photo down on her desk. "I'm sure Marcellus would agree to meet with you if I asked it as a favor. And the Marcellus I know would soften if he heard your story. I think it's worth trying, at least."
"I don't know how to even begin to thank?—"
"You could start by using an umbrella next time it's pouring rain," she said with a smile. She walked over to a bucket by the door and pulled out a black umbrella with a gold handle, extending it toward me. "Keep it. It matches Sir Quackington's top hat."
I laughed despite myself, clutching the umbrella. "Thank you, Eleanor."
"Don't thank me yet. You still have work to do." She gave my arm a soft squeeze. "Though between you and me, that Foster boy of yours could still use someone to shake up his perfect little world. Maybe once you've cleared things up with Davenport, he'll see reason and forgive you."
I doubted it, but didn't bother saying so. I didn't feel like I particularly deserved forgiveness. Whether he forgave me ornot, I was going to do everything in my power to fix the mess I'd created.
I couldn't undo my mistakes. But maybe I could still make things right.
Starting now.
38
EMBER
"So what exactly am I looking for?" Kora asked, hunched over her computer in the empty break room at Northman Group. It was nearly nine at night, and the office was deserted except for the cleaning crew.
"Anything about Cole's plans for the Davenport factories," I said, pacing behind her. "Or other similar projects. There has to be something that explains why he wants this contract so badly."
"You know this is probably illegal, right?" Despite her words, Kora's fingers flew across the keyboard. "I mean, I still have access to Cole's files because he's too lazy to have IT update permissions when people change departments, but still."
"It’s only illegal if you get caught."
“That’s… not technically true.” She paused, squinting at the screen. "Oh. Oh shit."
"What?"
"Look at this." She pulled up a folder labeled 'Davenport’.
There were several files that included land value assessments and records of the geological surveys that had been done before the factories were built.
“Wait… why would he want the geological surveys?” I asked.
“He would need those if?—”
“He wanted to build something where those factories stand. Is planning to demolish them? But Davenport would never stand for that.”
“While he lives, no,” Kora said slowly. “I wonder if Cole has some plan to stay in control of them after his death.”
“He wants to trick Davenport into trusting him with the factories just so he can turn around and destroy them as soon as Davenport dies?” I felt sick to my stomach.
“Look,” Kora said. “Profit projections. These don’t saywherethe hotels would be built, but something this size wouldn’t fit on any open lots I know of. And there are three of them… Three hotels and three factories. I don’t think it gets much more clear than this. Cole wants to demolish those factories and build hotels.Thatis why he wants the Davenport contract so badly.”
My head swam, but not just because it would be a terrible betrayal of an old man’s trust if he could pull it off. My head swam because it made too much sense. “Cole’s not the only one who would have realized this.”
"What?"
I shook my head. "Nothing. Keep looking."
An hour later, we had a more complete picture, but everything we had admittedly relied on a healthy dose of assumptions. That was until Kora clapped her hands with satisfaction.