Covert Attraction

by Linda O. Johnston

  But this at least gave him a reason to stick around.

  Chapter 9

  Beth had burned with curiosity as the first visitors had begun to arrive at the cafeteria while she finished her cleaning detail.

  By the time she’d left, she had ached with a desire to stay there somehow and listen to the people, who she’d gathered were mostly doctors being primed to love and prescribe Corcoris Pharmaceuticals products, especially the highly hyped new weight-loss medication that had only recently passed its clinical trials and first gone to market.

  How did they really feel about the drugs before the lure of a fancy meal—and the totes filled with all kinds of swag that were stacked at each table?

  Did any have patients who’d had bad experiences with Corcoris Pharmaceuticals, the way Andrea had heard before fleeing?

  While she had worked here in PR, she had been involved in downplaying the few lawsuits against the company that were made public. All pharmaceuticals companies had claims against them, but, she’d been told, those that were filed against Corcoris were because of individual bad reactions not described in their warnings, not because there was anything wrong with—or unsafe about—their products.

  But she had come to suspect otherwise. Since then, she had watched the news for lawsuits against Corcoris, but still no major claims had arisen—or at least been publicized. Even so, she didn’t doubt what Milt had hinted to her. Was Preston paying off those who’d been harmed, both for their injuries and also to keep quiet?

  She wouldn’t put it past him.

  He could be saving a lot of money by using inferior ingredients and fudging test results. And she would, somehow, find the evidence to prove it.

  Beth had seen Daniel with those two men downstairs, then walking into the cafeteria with them. That was a good thing. Maybe he would be able to listen to what was said and extrapolate any bad stuff. Maybe he could even get any doctors who’d seen bad results to send him information that they could use against Corcoris.

  He’d have to be careful, but that was Daniel’s job. And Beth had no doubt he could do whatever was necessary to accomplish it.

  But she needed to acquire more information on her own.

  And she had an idea how a mere member of the cleaning crew might be able to at least listen in on some conversations.

  Fortunately, Mary Cantrera wasn’t there when Beth parked her cart inside the storage area, and neither were any of her fellow cleaning staff. She picked up some rags, brushes and bottles of liquid cleaning supplies, stuck them into a storage basket from one of the carts, and headed out.

  She did see fellow cleaner Gabrielle approaching from down the hall and managed to duck into the stairwell before she was noticed. She definitely didn’t need any questions or conversation about what she was up to.

  Although she did have more questions for Gabrielle about the kind of mess that they’d cleaned in the lab yesterday. But there had been no appropriate downtime for her to ask anything yesterday, and this certainly wasn’t the time, either.

  Fortunately, no one else was in the stairwell. The basket wasn’t too heavy, and Beth walked up to the third floor with no interruptions.

  When she arrived there, she opened the door slowly and carefully, looking to see if there was anyone to notice her.

  Not that it really mattered. Her planned cover should work just fine here.

  The hallway was empty, and as she walked toward the ladies’ room she heard a voice amplified by a loudspeaker projecting from the cafeteria.

  She nearly froze. It was Preston Corcoris.

  She would never forget his voice.

  She stood still for just a moment, listening. He was talking about all the planning and testing that went into each new pharmaceutical developed by Corcoris. A standard spiel.

  Before, when she’d been Andrea and had been working here in public relations—before it all went south—she might even have written a speech like that for him.

  Grimacing, Beth ducked into the restroom. There, she set the basket on the floor and began slowly working on cleaning the sinks.

  Eventually, some women would venture in here from the luncheon. Would they say anything useful? She could only hope so.

  She wondered where Daniel was at the moment. Probably inside the room, sitting at one of the tables, enjoying his lunch.

  It would be much easier for him to pick up something said by one of the people attending the lunch.

  But was this day a waste of time for both of them?

  * * *

  It was late now, past normal working hours. While in the restroom, Beth had heard some interesting conversations between visiting doctors as they’d washed their hands, sometimes criticizing Corcoris and its products. She’d made a mental note of what they’d talked about. There had been other times when the guests had asked questions of some Corcoris female executives. Without more, all she had eavesdropped on was just hearsay and couldn’t be used as evidence, but Beth had hopes that at least one of the topics would lead to something helpful.

  Once she had walked back out of the restroom, practically invisible as one of the cleaning staff, and headed downstairs, she had taken her own lunch break. Later Mary had sent her and most of the other cleaning-crew members back to the cafeteria to clean up. But that was after everyone had left. And she’d still had no good opportunity to try to elicit a discussion about yesterday’s laboratory mess, let alone something more useful.

  Now the rest of the cleaning staff had gone home, even Mary. Beth felt somewhat frustrated after believing there could be a breakthrough today with all the conversations around—yet finding nothing.

  She decided to return to the lab floor and do some “cleaning.” If no one was around, she could try once more to get into the computers.

  At least now, after hearing a little criticism of Corcoris’s new weight-loss medication, she would have a better starting point of where to look.

  And on one of the lab floors...well, there was always the possibility of running into Daniel again. If he had heard something helpful he, too, might be following up on it.

  For this effort, looking official was more important than invisibility. She wheeled her cart down the hall and pushed the button for the service elevator. It came almost immediately, and Beth pushed the button for the second floor.

  Before deciding which lab area to use for her undercover efforts, she began peeking inside the doors to see if any were occupied.

  The third one was. And not just by any lab rat conducting tests or working on reports.

  Daniel was there, sitting at a desk in a cubicle and working on a computer.

  He looked up as she entered, appearing startled behind his dark-rimmed glasses. And then he smiled at her.

  Despite their phenomenal lovemaking, she didn’t know him that well, but she thought she read relief on his face.

  “Cleaning crew,” she piped up, partly in case there was someone else around whom she hadn’t noticed and partly just to be funny. Were there security cameras in this lab? She glanced around but saw none. Not that she could trust that.

  “I’ve got a mess over here for you to clean up,” Daniel said, then made a come-here motion with his head that made her smile. She obeyed, leaving the cart by the door and moving over to join him. As always while on his job here, he wore his white lab jacket—even as he had done while showing those doctors around.

  “Where’s your mess?” she inquired, pretending sternness as she stopped behind him and looked over his shoulder.

  “I’m working on it.” But he stood slightly, just enough to give her a small kiss on the mouth.

  There had better not be any security cameras around, she thought. But Daniel, who’d spent more time in these labs and was better trained to observe such equipment, would be aware of where any wer
e located.

  And how that little touch sent such streams of fire through her she wasn’t sure. Anticipation, she supposed. But that was ridiculous here, let alone anywhere else with Daniel. Been there, done that, and there was to be no more.

  “Let me know when you’re ready for me to clean up,” she said. “I’ll—”

  “Look,” he said quietly. “Don’t know if it’ll lead anywhere, but I’m into a different part of the computer system than that I’d been able to look into before. I heard some stuff today at the lunch, but more important, I got to help one of the execs, a woman seated at my table. Poor thing lost her cell phone for a few minutes, too. I happened to find and return it—but not before I uncovered a couple of key passwords.”

  “Is that why you’re on the computer this late?” Beth knew she sounded excited. “Have you found anything that could lead to some tangible evidence?”

  “Working on it, but nothing yet.” He turned up toward her again. “I’d like to get together with you later. I heard some things that might ultimately be useful and want to run them by you.”

  “Me, too.” When he looked at her quizzically, she said, “Women sometimes chat in restrooms, and the one near the cafeteria was really dirty today. I thought it a reasonable time to clean it up.”

  He laughed. “Good girl. Look, give me about half an hour here. If I haven’t found anything by then, I’ll still need to get off-line. We can go out for a quick dinner and conversation, if that’s okay with you.”

  Feeling a little cocky, Beth said, “Fine. But one of these days I expect you to cook me dinner at your place.”

  His light brown eyebrows rose. “Deal,” he said, “but not tonight.” He glanced at the computer screen. “It’s seven-thirty now. I’ll call you on your cell at eight.”

  “Fine. Meantime, I’ll see if there’s anything I can get into on this floor for the next twenty minutes or so.”

  She met his eyes, smiled sexily, then shook her head as she left. No use flirting with the guy.

  But if they could share information that turned useful... Yeah. That was why she was here.

  She pushed the cart back into the hallway—and froze. Preston Corcoris was just exiting the main elevator.

  It was her turn this time to protect Daniel. She wished she could duck inside the lab, tell him to log off and disappear.

  That wouldn’t happen. Corcoris had already seen her. Where was he heading? Maybe he wouldn’t come too close, wouldn’t get near this door at all.

  But she couldn’t count on that. Instead, she began fussing over items on her cart, as if looking for some piece of cleaning equipment. As Corcoris approached, she prayed that she didn’t resemble her former persona, Andrea, in any way he would recognize.

  She ran through the checklist in her mind.

  First she bent her knees to look shorter and splayed her upper lip just a little to appear as if she had a mild case of buck teeth.

  She now always wore her Beth makeup—deeper complexioned than Andrea had been, eyebrows darkened and at a sharper angle. Her violet contact lenses were in. Her hair was black, in a pixie haircut, instead of the light brown highlighted locks Andrea had always worn long.

  Edginess and working out made her thinner than Andrea.

  And she’d keep her voice low, subservient. Her gaze down at the floor.

  It could work. Should work.

  Despite Daniel’s help the last time, Beth always knew she would run into Preston Corcoris. Now was as good a time as any to test her new persona.

  He approached where she stood, and she examined him with her fleeting glance. He seemed taller than his nearly six-foot height now, but that was undoubtedly because of her assumed shrinkage. He wore a white shirt, red-striped tie, black trousers and shining dress shoes. All executive, but of course, he’d been entertaining people earlier.

  His mouth was a thin, irritated line. She’d seen that before. In fact, it was his usual expression except when he had leered at her as Andrea. His face held a hint of pudginess accentuated by the straight brown lines that were his brows. Fortunately, he apparently accepted the fact that she was a nobody janitress and barely looked at her despite her being somewhat in his way.

  She forced herself not to quiver. “Hello, sir,” she said loudly, wanting to be sure that Daniel could hear her. “Have a good evening, sir.” And then she began pushing the cart away.

  “Good evening,” he repeated.

  She felt relieved that he didn’t appear to pay much attention to her. Her disguise was working.

  Plus, he seemed determined to get into the lab where Daniel now worked.

  Had Daniel heard her? Had he gotten off the computer or at least logged off the sites he wasn’t supposed to have entered? By using someone else’s password, he should be safe from being identified via the computer—she hoped. But she had a feeling that Daniel McManus knew his way around stuff like that and could protect himself.

  Given enough time.

  Just in case, she frantically combed her mind for something else to do or say that wouldn’t give her away but would nevertheless again give warning as well as buy Daniel more time. Push the cart in Corcoris’s direction, as if by accident?

  Too obvious.

  Shout out some other kind of greeting? Like what?

  Ask him a question—the time, perhaps? But she was wearing an obvious cheap watch. Even if he didn’t recognize her, he would wonder what she was up to.

  Okay, then. She could—

  She nearly gasped as the door opened just as Corcoris reached for the knob.

  Instead, Daniel was the one to gasp as he stood there staring. A false gasp, she figured, but it made sense. “Oh, hi, Mr. Corcoris,” he said. “I didn’t expect to see anyone here.”

  Did that ring false? After all, she’d spoken loud enough to be heard.

  But then she noticed that Daniel had earbuds in his ears, wires running down toward the breast pocket of his white lab jacket. As if he’d been listening to music on some device and couldn’t have heard her.

  Smart man.

  She turned away and began pushing her cart down the hall. She didn’t need to eavesdrop now. But she would want to touch base with Daniel later, make sure he hadn’t been found out. Hear what Corcoris had wanted.

  And learn if Daniel had, in fact, found anything that could help them reach their goal.

  * * *

  “I didn’t expect to see you here, either, er...” Corcoris looked at Daniel expectantly.

  “Daniel, sir. McManus. I was just so excited about some of the ideas those doctors mentioned at the lunch today that I wanted to get right to work on jotting down a couple of blending ideas I had.” He didn’t want to lay it on too thick, though, so Daniel made himself appear chagrined. “I guess I tried too fast, or without enough time thinking them through. But I’ll brainstorm with some of the other lab guys tomorrow so we can all come up with the best approach together.” He smiled once again, a big dorky grin that he hoped looked like a guy who never gave up—even when outclassed.

  Like by the company’s head honcho.

  “Good idea,” Corcoris said.

  Daniel wanted to get by him into the hallway, get a glimpse of where Beth had gone without being too obvious about it. She’d given him enough warning that he’d gone off-line and done his magic to delete the history of what he’d done on that computer.

  He wanted to thank her, but definitely not here or now. There’d be time for that later.

  For now... “Is there something I can help you with, sir?” he asked Corcoris in a voice intended to sound hopeful, as if he wanted to impress his ultimate boss.

  “No. Thanks.” Corcoris nodded curtly as if to end their conversation, then edged past Daniel into the lab.

  Why was he there? Daniel didn’t get
why Corcoris had shown up on this floor as much as he had during the past few days. His dad might have started this company, and Preston might have some knowledge of chemistry and blending of drugs, but he wasn’t a Ph.D. He was more likely to be savvy about the pharmaceuticals industry—development, sales and all that. He could and did hire the folks who did the hands-on work.

  Did he want to oversee every aspect of the work?

  Was he ensuring that no one else was breaking glassware in the labs as had been done the other day apparently out of anger?

  Or had he come here himself to break something?

  Daniel felt as if his curiosity could cause an eruption inside him, but he had to bolt down the lid. Maybe someday he would be able to ask Corcoris his rationales for everything, if ever they became buddies.

  And that was as likely to happen as Daniel’s finding a way to take over the leadership of Corcoris Pharmaceuticals.

  The door closed behind him. He was now alone in the hallway. Beth must have taken her cart and headed back to its storage area in the basement.

  He glanced at his watch. Ten till eight, a few more minutes until the time he’d said he would call her.

  Time to head for his car. And look forward to his discussion with Beth that night.

  Before he left, though, he stood very still, listening. Was there anything Corcoris was doing, like talking on his phone, that Daniel might be able to hear?

  Nope. He wasn’t going to get any further information here tonight.

  But maybe Beth would be able to clue him in on something of interest. He, at least, had a little to tell her.

  * * *

  Beth was in the company parking garage, walking briskly along the concrete floor toward her car, when her cell phone rang. She pulled it from her purse and recognized Daniel’s number.

  She glanced at the time. Exactly eight o’clock, when he’d said he would call.

  The guy seemed reliable, at least when it came to the little stuff. The big stuff, like finding something useful? That remained to be seen.

  She answered, “Hello?”