watching me through my smart system?” The idea that people had been watching her made her sick. How could she ever not feel eyes on her again?
“Yes,” Cara replied bluntly. “But only the last few weeks, and only to ensure you weren’t actively working with Layne.”
There was so much she didn’t understand. “Why me? I’m not close to Layne.”
“Because my person on the inside might have said that if anyone was working with her, it was you. Look, I didn’t realize how angry she was at first. I had to check out her claims. She was honest about a lot of things, just not you,” Cara said.
“Are you talking about Madison?” It was the only thing that made sense.
Cara put a hand on the folder she’d brought in. “Yes. Madison contacted the FBI when she started to suspect what was going on at Genedyne. It was six months ago. We spent a long time with Madison trying to get us the information we needed to prove what’s happening at Genedyne. Madison inferred that you might be in on it in the beginning. I came to realize she said that because she was angry with you for stealing one of her techs.”
Noelle took a deep breath because this was a lot to process. “Was she talking about Pete?”
“Yes,” Cara replied. “She admitted it later on. She was jealous of you because everyone wanted to work for you. She knew what the rumors about her were. But the reason I’ve stuck close to you is that before Madison died, she sent out a single text, and it was your name. I think that was all she was able to do. Her phone was destroyed in the fire, so if she put any information in but wasn’t able to send it out, we’ll never know.”
“My name? Why would she do that?” She’d known Madison hated her, but the extent hit her squarely. Madison had tried to implicate her in… “What am I being accused of?”
“Nothing,” Hutch said quickly. “They know you had nothing to do with this.”
“Then why would you be worried I could be prosecuted?” His story didn’t make sense to her.
“It’s a leverage tool,” Chris admitted. “One the feds use a lot. Even if they know you don’t have a level of culpability that would make prosecution reasonable, they will use the threat to gain your cooperation.”
Noelle turned to Cara. “Is that what you were going to do?”
“If I had to.” Cara sent Chris a frown. “It’s not like the cops don’t use it, too.”
“I cut a deal with them.” Hutch broke into the conversation. “That’s what I was doing this morning. I was ensuring that they don’t have any leverage over you.”
“But you didn’t even ask me if I wanted you to do that,” Noelle shot back.
Hutch’s eyes narrowed. “Of course you did.”
“Hutch, what did you trade for my safety? Shouldn’t I have had a say in that?” She understood that he might have thought he was doing what was best for her, but he’d made a life-changing choice without giving her any input.
Hutch stared back at her, not giving an inch. “I traded the information they need to prove that Genedyne is involved in fraud.”
“Apparently he also caught a third party.” Big Tag was studying her. “Hutch wasn’t the one who used your keycard, and he definitely wasn’t the one who called the police. The woman who was in the server room with Hutch downloaded your research.”
“Why would she do that?” She was starting to feel queasy.
“I don’t know,” Tag continued. “Why would Jessica Layne meet with representatives from three of the biggest natural gas companies in the world this evening?”
That information stopped Noelle in her tracks. “Why would natural gas companies want to invest in my technology? Helium is often found when they drill for natural gas. Helium is something they sell, and it would be in their best interest to keep the prices high. Maybe she was meeting with them for another reason.”
“Then why would she have gotten rid of me?” Kyle asked that question. “She made a last-minute decision to take that meeting, and when she did, she ensured I wasn’t there, even standing outside the restaurant because she knew I would talk to you about it. Damn it. She’s selling your research to keep it from being used. That’s the fraud.”
“That explains why Madison’s research files were empty.” Hutch placed a thumb drive on the table. “These are some financial records that hopefully prove another