Mercy (The Night Man Chronicles Book 3), Brett Battles [best books to read in your 20s TXT] 📗

ago of his meeting here. Before that, I’d never heard of Hayden Valley Agriculture.”

“He’s done something?” Neuman asks.

“I’m not at liberty to discuss that,” I say, clearly conveying yes, he has indeed done something. “What I’m hoping for is your cooperation. What I’d like to avoid is having to return here with a subpoena and a squad of agents to go through your records, for what I’m sure will turn out to be only a small point of information in our case.”

“Would you excuse us for a moment?” Neuman says.

“Of course.”

The two men get up and exit the room.

Worst-case scenario, they’re getting their lawyer to sit in on the rest of our meeting. Actually, worst would be them calling the local FBI office. I don’t think I’d get into much trouble, thanks to several well-placed contacts I have in the government, but it could get a little messy. I’m confident Neuman and Davis won’t do that, though. Almost no one ever does that.

When the men return, they’re alone, the only thing different is the file in Davis’s hand. They stop behind the chairs they were sitting in but remain on their feet.

“I’d like to apologize for my hesitation earlier,” Neuman says. “We would be more than happy to tell you what we can.” He glances at Davis. “Since Isaac was the one who met with him, as well as conducted the preliminary interview, I see no reason for me to be here. If you have anything you’d like to ask me after, I can always come back.”

“That works for me,” I say.

“Pleasure meeting you, Agent Springett.”

“And you, sir. I appreciate your time.”

Neuman leaves, and Davis settles back in his chair.

“The interview on the eighteenth was not the first you had with Price?”

“Candidates had to go through a series of steps. Application, background check, and initial interview conducted by our HR department. The people who didn’t get filtered out then had a video interview with me, and whoever made the final cut received an invitation for a face-to-face interview with Mr. Neuman and me.”

“Price made it to the final cut, then.”

“He did,” Davis says, regret in his voice. “He had a decent application, no blips on his records, and he interviewed very well.”

“I would think someone up for that position would need a background in farming.”

“According to his resume, he did.” Davis opens the file he brought in and scans the top page. “It lists growing up on a farm in Mercy County, and a degree in agricultural business and management from Fort Hayes State in Kansas. He also provided recommendations from many in the Mercy area, including the mayor and his local member of congress.”

“We may need to get a copy of what’s in that folder,” I say. “If that turns out to be the case, I’ll get a warrant so that both you and the bureau are covered.”

“If you do, contact me directly and I’ll facilitate it for you.”

I was hoping my assurance would get him to let me take a peek at it, but no luck. That’s fine. I’m sure there are digital records of what’s in that file. Jar and I can pull what we need from the company’s server, if we have to.

“I get the impression that Mr. Neuman ducked out of Price’s final interview at the last minute,” I say. “Why was that?”

“Actually, there was no interview.”

The perplexed look on my face is not an act. “You said you met with him on the eighteenth.”

“I did, but only to tell him the interview had been cancelled.”

“You’d given the job to someone else?”

“We did eventually, but that wasn’t the reason the interview didn’t happen. The night before, I received a message from someone claiming to have information I needed to know, concerning one of the candidates for the rep position. The message did not say which candidate, only that it was important for me to call back. It was the first time I’d ever received a message like that, and—I’m not going to lie—it worried me. These days, one wrong hire and a whole company can be stained by someone’s bad behavior.”

“You did background checks, though.”

“Background checks are far from perfect.”

He’s not wrong about that. With the right skills or access to someone who has them, a person can hide a lot of things.

“I take it you returned the call,” I say.

“First thing the following morning.” He glances down at the file. “The caller identified herself as Cheryl. I have a feeling it wasn’t her real name, though.”

“Did she give you a last name?”

“No. And I did ask for it, but she declined to give it to me. Said it was safer for her that way.”

“Safer?”

He nods. “She told me that Mr. Price’s resume was full of misrepresentations and lies. And while he had attended Fort Hayes State, his major was general business, not agricultural business, and he had dropped out three semesters short of graduation. She also mentioned he’d been arrested several times for drunk driving but never charged, and had a mean streak—I believe that’s what she called it—that had also gone unpunished. She said she could provide names and phone numbers of people who could confirm his behavior, if I wanted them.”

Who had Chuckie pissed off enough to ruin his chances at the job? And why was he looking for a job in the first place?

“Did you take her up on the offer?” I ask.

He shook his head. “It wasn’t necessary. Lying on his resume was enough to get him dropped from consideration. All I had to do was call the university. They verified that he had been a general business student, not focused on agricultural business, and had left before finishing his junior year.”

While that was the right move from a corporate standpoint, it sucks for me.

“Why didn’t you cancel the interview over the phone?”

“His interview was set for midmorning. By the time I finished checking with the school, he was already sitting in our lobby.”

“How did he take it?”

A slight pause.