Deadly Testimony (Safeguard #2)(23)
Kyle stretched and placed his hands behind his head, leaning all the way back. “This hotel is particularly known for being pet-friendly and family-friendly—a place no one would consider a possibility when looking for me, by the way, I’ve been well-known to love a bachelor’s life—and a goldfish is provided compliments of the hotel for the length of your stay upon request. Families love having a vacation friend. The hotel staff also thoughtfully provides a fish to keep lone business travelers company.”
“Huh.” It still didn’t explain why they’d ended up with one.
Kyle glanced at her sideways without actually turning his head to face her. “Since you seem...uncomfortable alone with me, I thought Frederick’s company might improve your mood.” Kyle paused. “I honestly don’t know for sure if he is a he but his name seems indicative of gender.”
She snorted. Then she paused to wonder whether Kyle had stayed in some hotel alone before with only a goldfish for company despite his commentary. Actually, the alone on business part seemed likely. Question was, how many times? Or more sobering, how often had he stayed elsewhere alone and wished for the company of even a goldfish?
“Thank you.” It came out quieter than she intended but she didn’t repeat it louder.
Kyle was silent for a moment and she thought maybe he hadn’t heard her but after a minute he did speak. “You’re holding up your end of the contract. I’m not the easiest person to be around but I can at least make an effort to make this less of an ordeal. I...have a lot of things to live for.”
She could’ve made light of his statement but he hadn’t delivered it in his usual bantering tone. He’d sounded serious. And unusually introspective. Curiosity tweaked again, she fished for a little more information. And hell, she’d admit she was doing it too. “Most people do value their lives and what they planned to do with them.”
“True.” Kyle’s tone didn’t perk up. If anything, he became even more serious. “Months ago, I’d have said I have things to do. Period. For me.”
She turned to lean against the table, careful not to jostle Frederick’s bowl. “What changed?”
“My life wasn’t just about me being responsible for me anymore.” He kept his gaze on the ceiling. “I have a sister and she wanted to come here to the United States from Korea with her son to live with me.”
“Ah.” Instant family. She tipped her head to one side as she regarded him. “That’s a big life change.”
“I could’ve said no.” Kyle made it sound matter-of-fact. “I did not. Considering why she made the request—what they’d both been through—I couldn’t say no.”
She waited. No pushing or coaxing. She got the sense that if she did, he’d drop back behind his carefree bachelor facade.
“I decided I needed to live a...cleaner lifestyle if they were going to come stay with me.” He sighed. “I have the skill set to land another good job with comparable salary after this trial is over. What I needed to be sure of was that I wouldn’t end up incarcerated for white-collar crimes when my family needs me.”
Made sense. The court documentation she’d seen had been redacted thoroughly. This wasn’t a simple trial. Didn’t make what he’d done in the past right, but his reasoning had a certain logic to it. She’d done enough in her own past to consider herself the last person to judge someone else’s right to a fresh start.
“Most of what I’ve done wrong was limited to keeping quiet when I had knowledge of illegal activities. Other people actually committed the insurance fraud or the illegal dumping.” Kyle pushed himself up to a sitting position, swinging his legs down off the sofa and resting his elbows on his knees. “My silence was tacit support.”
“So you’re not testifying just because you cut a deal.” If so, she thought better of him for it. She touched the side of the glass fishbowl gently and Frederick swam over to investigate.
He shook his head. “Not just because, no. I’m testifying because it’s time to share what I know.”
She folded her arms across her chest considering him. “Insurance fraud and illegal dumping, even biohazard material, don’t seem to be enough to go through all the trouble we’ve seen over the past twenty-four hours.”
He huffed out a laugh. “I did not expect the level of spite my company has gone to.”
“But you were sure your life was in danger.” And neither she nor Gabriel Diaz had disagreed with his assessment. Those men sent after Kyle the night before had been too happy to draw their weapons to be planning to just intimidate him into not testifying.
Kyle finally raised his gaze to meet hers and the look in his eyes was bleak. “I was certain. And I am still afraid.”
She pressed her lips together. “It’s not just about getting to you at this point. Something about your testimony was worth firing on two police officers. They’re going to up their game coming after you and there has to be a better reason than what you’ve told me so far.”
Kyle surged to his feet and began to pace. “Take valuable chemical reagents intended for laboratory research and realize they’ve expired or gone past effective use date. Recoup the loss by having those supplies dropped overboard en route from Korea to the US and then file insurance claims for the purportedly valuable lab supplies ‘lost at sea.’ It’s repeated illegal dumping of biohazardous waste in ocean waters followed by insurance fraud. Those are incredibly serious criminal and civil charges with enough instances on record to bankrupt Phoenix Biotech. I have knowledge of each instance, the time they occurred and the resources assigned to those transport ships. I even have records on the shipping container numbers to identify them if they are recovered. All this, I knew about and tracked as an effective project manager, but I didn’t stop to think about whether it was ethical. Not until I realized I needed to look beyond my comfortable lifestyle and provide for someone else.”