Something behind them rustled, and Casey jumped to her feet.
Willems stared at them from his broken doorway, two security guards in front of him.
“Eric?” He glanced at his son, and then at Casey, his expression hardening. “What the hell are you doing?”
Eric swallowed audibly. Casey moved to get between him and Karl, but he held out a hand, keeping her back. “You weren’t exactly truthful with us the other day, Karl.”
Karl’s lips twitched, and he dragged his eyes toward Eric. “I don’t know what—”
“I’m not stupid, Dad.”
Eric’s hand curled into a fist, hard against his hip, but Casey had no urge to comfort him this time.
“We found it,” Eric said. “Him. The boy who died.”
Karl nodded, his eyes not leaving Eric’s face. “Gentlemen, you may go.”
The security guards hesitated, but Karl pushed between them and jerked his head back, an unmistakable gesture of dismissal. “Out. Back to your posts.” They left. Karl stepped into the room. “It’s not what it looks like, son.”
Eric snorted. “And what exactly do you think it looks like? I think it looks like you were covering up the death of a child. A death caused by a HomeMaker product.”
“Oh, is that what you think?”
“It’s more than that,” Casey said.
Karl turned to her. “And what do you know?”
“I know how these things work. Businesses and deaths and law suits and confidential contracts.”
“I see.” He stepped further into the room.
Casey got past Eric this time, and stood between the two men. “Why don’t you stay right there?”
Willems regarded her thoughtfully, then nodded. He stepped over to one of the chairs in front of his desk and sat in it, crossing one leg over the other. “You can’t have found much. Security called me only ten minutes ago to say you were here.”
“Ten minutes for security to get here?” Eric said. “They were slow.”
Willems shrugged. “Soon it won’t matter anymore.”
“Right,” Casey said. “When the company moves to Mexico.”
Willems shook his head. “It’s a shame, but there was nothing else to be done. No matter what some people thought.”
No matter what Ellen thought, he meant.
Eric sank down onto Karl’s desk, his shoulders slumping.
Casey stayed standing. “You’re sticking to the story that the company needs to move because of the union’s demands?”
“It’s not a story.”
“Maybe not.” She held up the folder. “But this isn’t a story, either. At least, it’s not a fabricated one.”
He hesitated. “That has nothing to do with—”
“A little over a year ago,” Casey said. “One of HomeMaker’s dryers killed someone. A child. Why wasn’t there a lawsuit?”
Karl shrugged again. “HomeMaker wasn’t at fault.”
“Wasn’t it?”
“Well, ultimately it could be seen to be. But it’s not like HomeMaker purposefully put out a dangerous product. The mother was just as responsible.”
Casey’s breath caught in her chest, and she forced herself not to smack him. “Was this the first time you knew of a problem with the latches?”
“Of course.”
But Casey had seen it again. That flicker in his eyes. “How long before?” she asked. “How long before had the first complaint come in?”
“I told you that was the first.”
“And would Yvonne say the same if I asked her?”
“Of course she would.”
Casey had seen the fear on Yvonne’s face. She would say whatever Karl Willems wanted her to say.
“The boy’s death is the real reason you’re moving the company to Mexico,” Casey said. “If it’s actually even moving.”
“What?” Eric’s voice rose.
“Your fath—Karl has his own reasons for escape, don’t you, Karl? How do we know the company’s not simply going to cease to exist?”
Eric looked back and forth from Casey to Willems. Willems met his gaze defiantly.
“Dad,” Eric said. “What did you do?”
“Nothing. I did nothing.”
“Yes, Karl,” Casey said. “That’s exactly what you did.” She pulled the second contract from the folder and handed it to Eric. “Take a look at this, Eric. See everything your father didn’t do.”
Karl made to get up, but Casey stepped forward, crowding him back onto his chair. “You,” she said. “Sit.”
He sank into the leather seat. “It wasn’t my fault. They had no right—”
“Shut up, Karl.” Rage burned behind Casey’s eyes. It wasn’t my fault. I had no way of knowing such a little thing could cause such an accident. Who would’ve thought those complaints about the faulty fuel pump could have told us more? Don’t blame me, Casey, blame Pegasus if you have to blame someone. How was I to know? I’m just an employee, I do what I’m told…
“You’re the leader, Karl,” Casey said. “The Chief Executive. You’re supposed to protect the little guy. The employees. Your customers. Little boys who see a dryer as a good hiding place. If nothing else, you should’ve protected your company.”
“The company? What do they care? They would’ve hung me out to dry in a heartbeat.”
“So you decided to make this entire town pay in your place?”
Eric cried out, and Casey looked at him, keeping her position over Karl.
Eric held out the paper. “You knew? You knew there was a problem with the latches. How many complaints had you gotten? Four? Half a dozen?”
Karl waved a hand. “It was a door latch, for God’s sake. A door latch. Not the heating element. Nothing electrical. Who would’ve thought some kid would be dumb enough to crawl inside? And that his mother wouldn’t even notice? What kind of a mother is that? A poor excuse for one, if you ask me.”
“And Ellen?” Eric’s voice cracked. “She found out about this. About the boy. Did you kill her, too?”
Karl’s eyes sparked. “I didn’t kill anybody. Not the boy, and certainly not Ellen. What am I going to do, go to her house and force her to OD on her own sleeping pills? Grow up, Eric. Grow up and see that she’s the one who did it. Your perfect angel Ellen killed herself. It wasn’t anybody else’s fault. Not yours. Not HomeMaker’s. And it certainly wasn’t mine.”
Casey leaned over and jabbed the pressure point at the back of Karl’s jaw. His eyes widened, and she thrust her arm against the side of his neck, cutting off his carotid artery. He slumped over in his chair, but she kept the pressure on.
“Casey!” Eric leapt forward. “What did you do? Is he—”
“He’s fine. He’ll wake up as soon as I take off the pressure.”
“But…but how are you doing that?”
Casey sighed heavily. “It’s not hard.” She rubbed her free hand over her forehead. “I just…I needed him to stop talking.”
Eric glanced down at his father, whose head lolled onto his chest, his mouth slack. “Well, he did.”
“And now,” Casey said, glancing at the broken door. “We need to leave.”
Chapter Forty-Three
They didn’t bother trying to avoid the cameras this time, as they only had half a minute, at the most, until Karl would wake up. He would be disoriented, which would give them a little more time, but he would soon remember everything that had happened, and be after them with a vengeance.
Casey kept her eye out for the security guards, in case they hadn’t gone back to their posts as ordered, but none appeared. Casey and Eric didn’t wait around. They ran straight out the front doors and through the parking lot to the neighboring property, where they found and pulled on their dark sweaters.
Once they’d gone a couple of blocks Eric stopped, bending over and putting his hands on his knees. “I’ve gotta stop, Casey. I’m not made for this.”
Casey grabbed his elbow and pulled him upright. “Not here, Eric. We have to keep moving.”