Leah bit back the response that rose in her throat. Only Heather could complain about a five-million-dollar windfall, she thought. Instead, she waited a beat and asked for details. “When will you know if you qualify?”
“I asked the partner to send over a copy of the policy so I could read it, but he hasn’t yet. I’m guessing they’re pretty swamped with calls from investors right now, so I’ll give it a little while.”
“You’re probably right. Well, keep me in the loop. I’m headed down to one of the portfolio companies to interview the president.”
“Yeah? Which one?”
“Ravstar.”
“Oh, sure. Patrick Reagan.”
“You know him?”
“I’ve met him a few times, with Richard, at social events. Seemed like a nice enough guy. Richard was really excited about his company. They do something with bomb detection or security, right?”
“They’re making a scanner for airports.”
“I knew it was something like that.”
“Okay, well, I wanted to make sure you were still in one piece after all the wine over the weekend.”
“I never want to taste chardonnay again. Even the smell…yuck.”
Leah terminated the call with a smile. She knew what Heather was going through, and wouldn’t wish it on an enemy, much less a friend.
Traffic south was light in the early afternoon, and she reached the Ravstar building with ten minutes to spare. She parked in one of the guest spots, checked her messages on her phone, and responded to a couple of emails before walking to the entrance. A receptionist looked up from a monitor when Leah entered the lobby, and Leah offered her name and told her that she was there to see Susan and Patrick.
Five minutes later an impressively dressed woman emerged from the doorway that led to the offices and approached Leah with her hand outstretched.
“Susan Levins. I’m so pleased to meet you, Ms. Mason.”
“Likewise,” Leah said, matching her smile.
“Let me show you to Patrick’s office. He’s waiting for you.”
“Please.”
Leah trailed her through a maze of cubicles to a large corner office. Susan rapped on the doorjamb and Leah recognized Patrick when he looked up from some paperwork on his desk.
“Come in,” he said pleasantly. “Welcome, Ms. Mason. Have a seat. I’m just finishing up.”
Susan indicated a chair in front of his desk and offered Patrick a smile. “I’ll be in the lobby if you need me.”
“I’m sure everything will be fine,” Patrick said. “No need to stick around if you don’t want to.”
“You sure?”
Patrick appraised Leah and nodded. “I think I can handle this on my own. I’ll yell if I need help,” he said with a grin.
“I won’t bite,” Leah said.
“See?” Patrick said. “Nothing to worry about.”
Susan left, and Patrick pushed the paperwork aside and folded his hands on the desk. Leah noted that his watch was a gold Patek, in keeping with his expensively elegant clothes.
“So, Ms. Mason, you’re interested in Ravstar?” he asked.
“That’s right, Mr. Reagan. I saw an interview of yours, and I thought the technology you’re working on might be something my readers would find as interesting as I do.”
“Please – Patrick. No need for formalities,” he corrected.
“Okay, Patrick. And I’m Leah.”
“That’s better already,” he said. “How much do you know about the company already?”
“Let’s pretend I don’t know anything. That I’m a typical reader.” Leah removed her voice recorder from her purse and placed it on the table. “Do you mind if I record our chat?”
“Be my guest,” he said.
She switched the device on and murmured the date and Patrick’s name, and then gave him the nod. “You were saying?”
Patrick launched into a well-rehearsed five-minute overview of Ravstar’s history and its product development philosophy. Leah listened attentively, pretending she hadn’t already heard it in several of his online interviews. When he was done, she asked a series of on-point questions about the application of the company’s scanner technology, as well as its advantages over current solutions. When she’d exhausted her general questions, she moved to the company’s early years.
“You were venture funded,” she said.
“That’s right. We were very fortunate that a number of groups immediately saw the potential in what we were proposing and stepped up to the plate.”
“How many rounds?” she asked.
Patrick blinked twice but didn’t stumble. “Three. A seed round, and two consecutive raises.”
“And now you’re publicly traded?”
“That’s correct. For almost a year.”
“I looked at some of your filings, and I saw that one of your big shareholders is Palladium?”
“That’s right. They’ve done well on their investment.”
“Did you see the news about the founder? He committed suicide a few days ago.”
Patrick’s expression grew somber. “Yes, I saw that. A tragedy. It came as quite a shock. He’ll be missed. Richard was more than just a venture partner – I’d like to think he was a friend.”
“You were close?”
Patrick gave a slight shrug. “Close enough. He was a valuable partner in the building of the organization. We went through a lot in a short period. Without his help, we wouldn’t be the company we are today.” He sighed and then brightened. “If you like, I’ll give you a tour of the facility. We’re in negotiations for a much larger building in the next couple of months as we ramp up production.”
“Sure. That would be nice. Can I take photos?”
“I’m afraid not. Susan would kill me if you do. But just contact her for anything you need and she’ll supply it.”
Patrick stood, and Leah saw that he was well over six feet tall and athletically trim for his age, which she knew from her research was sixty-two. She rose and accompanied him through the offices and into the back of the building, where there was a production line with test equipment beside it and more offices along both sides.
“This is where we build the prototypes. So far we’ve done two, and we’re in the process of putting the third together for official trials. It should be done by the end of next week, and then we’re off to the races.”
Leah looked around. “Where is everyone?”
“Oh, in the lab, I expect. We’re waiting for some components to arrive, as well as the housing. We outsource the fiberglass work, and the scanner is modular, so we can test each section as we assemble it. When we’re in full production, we’ll employ thirty technicians, although much of the work will be done using robotics.”
“Really?” she asked.
“Yes. It’s the future, and Ravstar is going to be on the cutting edge of using it.”
“This is impressive. You must be proud of what you’ve built.”
“It’s the culmination of a dream,” Patrick agreed.
“I saw in your filings that your technical director is Rayansh Dasai? Is he available to interview as well?”
Patrick’s eyes flitted to the side. “I’m afraid not. He’s out of town for a week or so on business.”
“Oh. That’s a shame. I’d hoped to get his thoughts on some of the comments I saw on your stock message board. Relating to the technology.”
Patrick waved a hand. “You can’t believe everything you read on those things. There’s no screening. Often if you read negative commentary, it’s either a competitor or someone short the stock trying to knock it down a few points with bogus concerns. Just the occupational hazards of being successful, I’m afraid.”
“I’m surprised you’re putting the finishing touches on your test machine without your technical director here,” Leah said, watching his reaction.
He waved a hand. “Oh, all the hard work’s been done. Now it’s just a matter of putting the
pieces together.”
“Is there anyone else I can talk to? Who’s supervising the assembly in his absence?”
Patrick’s face was a composed mask of indifference, but Leah thought she saw a flicker of annoyance in his eyes. He removed a phone from his pocket, dialed a number, and spoke softly into it before turning back to Leah with a smile fixed in place.
“Gohar Shah will be here momentarily. He’s standing in for Rayansh.”
A dark-skinned man in a peach polo shirt and jeans emerged from one of the doorways, and Patrick waved him over. “Gohar, meet Leah Mason – a journalist who’s doing a feature on Ravstar. Leah, Gohar is the supervisor of our engineering team, in addition to being a technical genius. He can answer any questions you have.”
Leah stepped forward and offered her hand. Gohar shook it shyly, his eyes darting around the room. Leah removed her notes from her purse and read from them, asking about technical concerns that some of the message board posters had raised. Gohar did his best to address them, but Patrick stopped him several times with curt interruptions.
“I’m afraid there are limits to what we can discuss before earnings are released. We’re entering a quiet period, so I don’t want to go into too much detail on that,” he explained the first time. The next two times he simply shook his head and said, “No comment.”
When Leah was done, she handed Gohar a card with her office and cell phone on it. “If I need more fleshing out for the article, can I call you?”
Gohar pocketed the card and looked to Patrick, who seemed conflicted. “I’ll ask that you run everything through Susan. I want to ensure everyone stays focused on their job. I’m sure you understand. The next few weeks are critical.”
“Oh, sure,” Leah said. “I get it. Thanks, Gohar. That answered most of my questions.”
Gohar left, and Leah eyed Patrick. “He seems so young to be heading up something like this.”
“He’s older than he looks, actually. And an Indian Institute of Technology graduate. A true wiz. We’re lucky to have him.”
“And Rayansh?”
“We’re fortunate to have him, too. Both immensely talented and hard workers.”
Patrick escorted her through the lab, pointing out various pieces of equipment, and finished back at his office. “So that’s our story. You get everything you need?”
“Yes, I think so,” Leah said. “I’ll be sure to contact Susan if there are any loose ends.”
“Please. We pay her a small fortune to handle our press. She’s very responsive.”
“She seems so. Thank you for seeing me on such short notice,” Leah said, offering him one of her cards.
“My pleasure. I hope the article captures the excitement we have over developing our cutting edge technology.”
Back in the Honda, Leah checked her recorder to make sure it had gotten everything, and fast-forwarded to listen to the interview with Gohar. Her initial impression had been that he’d seemed tentative and reluctant when she’d hit him with the tough questions, and that Patrick had stepped in when he’d been unsure of how to answer rather than when he was poised to say too much.
Patrick was easy to understand within the first few minutes. He was a salesman, his smile insincere, his enthusiasm as contrived as a prostitute’s. Gohar, on the other hand, had been real, but he’d seemed worried by the interview, as well as by her questions.
Which reinforced Leah’s impression that for all outward appearances, something wasn’t right at Ravstar. She realized she might have been predisposed to view the company suspiciously, but after meeting with Patrick and Gohar, she felt that at some level, her suspicion was justified.
The problem being that she had not the faintest idea why.
Chapter 36
Leah was pulling into her usual parking space at work after an hour-and-a-half slog from the Valley, annoyed at all the bad drivers who’d seemed to be determined to make her drive miserable, when her cell phone rang. She answered, and it was Heather.
“Hey. You find out about the insurance?” Leah asked.
“Not yet. The guy said he would be by more like five-ish. No, I just wanted to tell you that Patrick Reagan was just here.”
Leah switched off the ignition. “At your house?”
“Yes. It was kind of…odd.”
Leah frowned. “Has he ever stopped by before?”
“No.”
“What did he want?”
“He said that Richard had an important file that he needed. Something about Ravstar. I told him that the FBI had cleaned out his office, and he got really edgy and couldn’t wait to leave.”
“You know anything about some file?”
“No. I told him to check with the junior partners at Palladium.”
“That’s so weird. I was just at Ravstar interviewing him.”
Heather’s tone changed to one of surprise. “You were?”
“Yeah. But I didn’t tell him I know you.”
“Why did you go there?”
“I kind of had to, Heather. I’ve spent so much time on this story that my editor expects to see some work product, even if it doesn’t go anywhere. I told him I’m investigating Palladium. It was the only way I could justify investing so much into this.”
“Well, I suppose that’s kind of true,” Heather said doubtfully.
“I just need to finish up a few more loose ends, and I’ll tell him that it didn’t pan out.”
“You haven’t had any luck figuring out where the money went?”
“Not really. Wherever, it’s going to take someone with more chops than I have to track it. You should hire a PI, Heather. Seriously. Otherwise it’s not looking good.”
“I know. I suppose there’s not much to lose at this point. If you can’t untangle it, I guess I’ll have to.”
“Either that or it looks like the money’s gone forever.”
“That’s occurred to me, Leah,” Heather snapped. “Oh, crap. That’s the door. It must be the insurance adjuster. I have to go.”
“Bye,” Leah said, but Heather had already hung up.
Leah sat in her car for several moments, considering the oddity of Patrick’s appearance at Heather’s house, asking about a file. Could that have been why the FBI had raided? It seemed unlikely that a publicly traded company Richard was only a passive shareholder in would warrant the feds raiding his office and home, but Leah didn’t claim to be an expert on how the FBI worked.
She slid from behind the wheel and locked the CR-V, and was unaccountably happy to see Adam’s Audi a few spaces down. The more time she spent with him, the more she liked him, but she had too much going on to do much besides have an occasional dinner with him. He seemed satisfied with that, for now, but she knew the male of the species well enough to know that wouldn’t last, and it was unfair to keep taking advantage of his generosity if this wasn’t going to go anywhere. Add in that he was technically her superior, even if she didn’t report to him, and it got tricky – perhaps too tricky to let it go much further.
The office was mostly empty as Leah made her way to her cubicle and checked her email messages. There was nothing critical, so she set her recorder on her desk to remind herself to listen to the full interview the next day and walked to Adam’s office. He was on the phone when she waved from the doorway, and he pointed to one of his chairs and continued listening to whoever was talking until he apologized and ended the call.
“So?” he asked, regarding her. “How did it go?”
“Uneventful. There’s a real company there, and they’re building stuff, but…I don’t know. I may be seeing ghosts.”
“What is it?”
“I got the feeling that the president was a professional liar, for starters,” she said.
Adam laughed. “Sounds like just about every CEO I’ve ever met.”
She threw him a perturbed look. “I’m serious.”
“I am too. It’s kind of part of the job description. They’re spin doctors, whom the media – that’
s us – generally refer to as ‘visionaries’ and ‘gurus.’ That’s not a reliable indicator of anything but that the guy is made for the job.”
“I know, but I just got a strange vibe. I can’t put my finger on it. Like they were defensive or something.”
“They have a lot at stake with the launch of their debut product. Could be nerves, nothing more.”
“You’re probably right.” She leaned back. “You learn anything?”
“Well…” he said, looking through a pile of paper to the right of his monitor. “I had someone pull a credit report on Richard, and it looks routine to me. Here it is. Check it out,” he said, handing it to her.
Leah read the report quickly and then did a double take at one of the last line items. “Am I reading this right? He’s got a lease on a condo in San Francisco?”
“Yup. For almost a year and a half.” Adam sat back. “Why is that significant?”
Leah couldn’t tell Adam that his wife had never mentioned it, so she made do with a puzzled frown. “Oh, it’s just that his house is down in Atherton. So why have a place in the City?”
“Maybe for trysts away from the family. Wouldn’t be the first time it happened.”
Leah fought to keep her expression neutral. “That sounds about right. It’s in keeping with everything else about him.” She hesitated. “Anything on the investors? I met one of them – a guy named Marco – and he looked familiar to me.”
Adam’s eyebrows rose. “You met him?”
“Yeah. I stopped by the Palladium offices to check them out,” Leah said, hating that she had to lie to protect Heather.
“Marco, huh? I’ll add that to the list. Any idea of his organization or fund’s name?”
Leah tried to remember his last name from when she’d met him. “It was…Marco…Marco Santini. Like the movie, The Great Santini.”
“Okay. I’ll plug it in and see what the black box spits out.” He ferreted into the pile of papers and withdrew another. “Here’s a copy of the police report.”
“You’re a magician, Adam,” Leah said as she scrutinized the two-page document. “And here are the two witnesses. Sarah Camden and Lauren Kelly, from San Mateo and Berkeley.” Leah frowned. “There’s no contact information for them on the report.”
A Girl Betrayed (A Leah Mason suspense thriller Book 2) Page 20