CHAPTER XV
Molly Matthews placed her tray of food on the dinner table and sat down amongst her colleagues, her attention firmly fixed on Bobby who sat amongst the managers nearer the other side of the room. Staff were encouraged to eat together, it helped form their 'joined up thinking' culture that the company held dear.
Bobby Sanderson was eating and joking, he had had a great time and was impressed by what he had seen. Molly wondered what it meant, her prized alien dust was locked up for the moment, she was hoping to get her own side project to study it, maybe she could get her own staff too.
Molly observed Bobby as he glanced at his mobile phone, answered and rose to his feet, walking to the adjacent corridor, his expression changing. Molly could still see Bobby through a round portal window in the door which closed behind him as he began to get upset about something.
"WHAT? Well......are there any casualties?"
Bobby , hand on forehead couldn't believe the reversal in fortunes.
"What do you mean you don't know!? Jeezus Christ......right, listen, this is what you are going to do once we hang up.....one, you're going to offer assistance to any rescue efforts that might be necessary, then you're going to get someone with a corporate logo down there and check in on the hospitals, there's probably going to be counselling and shit to organise.....in the meantime you get me Loughlan on the line, understood?.....and I want updates .. Good, now go!" Bobby banged the underside of his fist onto the wall as he hung up.
"Jeezus Christ how can he call me with this shit and not know...frikkin moron" Bobby ranted to himself.
Then his mobile rang again.
MIKE LOUGHLAN
"Mike.....yes I just heard.....yeah, he told me, I've kicked his arse into gear....no don't worry about that, he'll take care of that, you focus on the rest of the ship. Now what's the damage.....uh huh......ok...........oh.................ok liquidise everything you can, we need some firefighting money. No, I think the product is fine, it's just an accident probably but we need time to assess the situation, I'll come back to the office as soon as possible. Now put together a press release.....MAKE DAMN SURE you mention the workers FIRST, the product LAST, I don't want them thinking we don't give a crap, understand?....Good....ok bye"
Bobby hung up and rested his forehead against the wall of the corridor.
Share prices had been hit hard, the oil company took a dive, it was relying on new tech to make it a winner but with that in doubt it might be worth a fat zero. Worse, the PETROFORCE product now had a big question mark over it too. What had been double win might end up being an epic double lose situation.
"Problem..........brother?" whispered a voice.
"Fuck you, Kim...." thought Sanderson to himself.
"Tut tut brother.......you know I can fix this for you.........no killing, just harmless play....you have everything you need......." whispered the seductive voice.
"What do you mean?" whimpered Bobby
"Oh you know....she can't die.....but you can bind her.....make her just weak enough...and she will be my plaything.....forever....." The voice said gently.
"You won't kill her....? You swear....." Bobby said to himself.
"Cross my heart.....I just want to make her pretty.....and you will be rich." Kim said, gently fading out.
"Mr Sanderson?" Said a voice.
"Wha....oh, it's you....... Dr Matthews......." Bobby said, raising his head from the wall.
"Is everything ok...I could see you from the canteen .......I...." Molly faltered.
"A setback....but.....I can fix it...so tell me, that green dust, what can it do....." Said Bobby sinisterly, approaching Molly.
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Lisa was ecstatic, she got her confession secured after several interviews. She had dealt away a string of mugging charges in exchange for a limited murder charge but it was worth it. His confession and preliminary data from the screwdriver looked solid, he was even able to describe the murder scene vividly.
When asked why he had stabbed Victor he said it was a reaction, VIctor had taken something from the wallet before tossing him the rest and so thought whatever it was had been valuable. Feeling cheated he lashed out to stop Victors escape only to discover that it was just some gibberish on a scrap of paper. Victor grabbed the discarded note with his last faltering breaths as his killer fled.
Lisa wondered if Lucy ever got around to determining what the note was about exactly, not that it mattered anymore, it had merely been the catalyst for the murder, it didn't serve any direct purpose in the case. And now at least she could archive those financial files and take on something new, but not now, today's working day was almost gone.
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Lucy was watching the news, images of the damaged oil platform were starting to come through, a large module at one end of the structure badly scorched and smoking heavily, the support vessel spraying the superstructure with water.
NO CONFIRMED FATALITIES - 32 INJURED - NO MAJOR INJURIES REPT'D
The repeating banner revolved along the bottom of the screen reporting the news.
It hadn't been reported yet but the cynic in Lucy strongly suspected she knew who's oil rig it was, somehow Victor knew this would happen. The closing bell had already rung on the markets, if Victor Reeves had managed the 'short' trade the Helman guys had mentioned he would have been quite rich on Monday morning.
Lucy relented, time to give Lisa the news.