Page 36 of Fury In Death

“You have a job to do. It’s understood. One second.” He used the interoffice to contact his admin. “Please escort the lieutenant and detective to the small conference room. And arrange for Director Chu’s team to report there.”

“Yes, sir. Right away.”

“How many worked under him?” Eve asked.

“I believe twenty-four. There are, ah . . . four interns in addition. They rotate.”

“Detective Peabody and I can split them between us, take them two at a time, for efficiency.”

He smiled. “We value efficiency.”

After a quiet knock, Mae opened the door. “Lieutenant, Detective, I would be happy to escort you to the conference room.”

Eve rose. “Thank you for your time, Director O’Brian.” She held out a hand. “Again, we’re sorry for the loss of your friend and colleague. If you could arrange a meeting with Mr. Wyst, that would be very helpful.”

“I’ll certainly do what I can. I hope you find who did this. Larry leaves a hole in Banner-Wyst, in the world of science and discovery, and in our personal lives.”

“If you’d follow me?”

Mae led them down another corridor, then into a conference room.

“May I bring you more coffee?”

“I’m good. You good, Peabody?”

“I’m good.”

“How long have you worked here, Mae?”

“For three years, and for six months as Director O’Brian’s coordinator.”

“You knew Director Chu.”

“Yes.”

Eve waited a beat. “And? Impressions, comments, opinions?”

“He seemed like a very nice person. He would use your name. Many don’t. He would thank you, and many don’t. I’m sorry this happened to him.”

“Do you feel he was well-liked?”

“Yes, I do. He often made Director O’Brian laugh. Even Ms. Reynolds would sometimes smile.”

“Yeah, she didn’t strike as the jolly type. Do you like working here?”

There was a moment, very fleeting, that Mae’s face went blank. “The company values its people, and sees we have a clean, safe, hospitable workplace.”

“Okay, thanks.”

Eve waited until she stepped out.

“She doesn’t like working here as much as she wanted to. I wonder why.”

“The stone-faced, tight-assed admin might play into that,” Peabody suggested.

“Yeah, she might. O’Brian was cagey—oh, so friendly, cooperative, and cagey. Nobody runs a department and never has any problems, issues, never has to give somebody a knock or a push. He should’ve given us a little more there, just to tie us up some, but it’s more important to get us out of here.”

“He didn’t want us in the labs.”