Mad, Bad and Blonde - Cathie Linz [93]
“It is to me. And it used to be for you too. What changed? Wait, let me guess. It’s the girl, right? You got whipped by a fancy piece of tail—”
Caine grabbed Vince by his Armani suit lapel and growled, “Watch what you say about her. Not another word.”
Vince just shook his head in disappointment. “Never allow your emotions to affect your business decisions.”
Caine let him go. “Call off the press conference.”
“Why should I?”
“Because you played a part in this mess. You sabotaged the investigation by bribing the West employee originally in charge of the case not to dig any further. Oh, yeah, I know about that. The guy doesn’t work there anymore. He isn’t even in this state anymore. But I tracked him down and convinced him to talk. I have a copy of his sworn deposition. I really don’t think you want me flashing that at your press conference.”
“West still had the chance to review the case for himself, and he didn’t.”
“There’s plenty of guilt to spread around,” Caine agreed.
“I thought I could count on you. I thought your hatred of West equaled mine. But no, they got to you. Weakened you. I hate weakness. Weak people ruin everything. They always let you down. You’ve let me down, Caine.”
“Same here, Vince. Same here. By the way, I quit.”
“Going to work for the enemy now?”
“I don’t know.”
“If you tell him about the deposition you have, I’ll sue you until you don’t have a penny left to your name. You signed a confidentiality agreement when you came to work for me,” Vince shouted after him as Caine left. “Don’t forget that.”
Caine had no intention of forgetting anything. He was still working on forgiving. With that thought in mind, he crossed the street to visit West Investigations. He called ahead first. “We need to talk,” Caine told Jeff West as he entered the high-rise building. “I’m on my way up.”
“I’ll be waiting,” Jeff said.
Jeff was standing by his open office door when Caine arrived. “Faith isn’t here right now,” he told Caine. “Just in case you were wondering.”
Caine didn’t say anything. He took the chair facing Jeff’s desk and waited until the other man was seated before speaking. “I’m not going to sue you, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
“I’m glad to hear that. Again, I can’t express how sorry I am that this case wasn’t handled better. I’ve been reviewing the work done by one of our employees, and I have the feeling that Vince King played a part in there. The person involved no longer works for my company. Even so, I should have caught the problem when I reviewed the case. I didn’t. I’m not trying to pin this on King or heat up the vendetta he has against me. I will, however, be much more vigilant regarding cases and employees in the future. But the bottom line is that even if King had a hand in messing up the case, I should have caught that. The buck stops here with me.”
Caine bluntly said, “I no longer work for Vince King.”
“Faith no longer works for me,” Jeff said just as bluntly.
Caine couldn’t hide his surprise at this news.
“She didn’t tell you?”
He shook his head.
“She’s gone back to the library. She says that’s where her heart lies. She’s a damn good investigator, as are you. If you want a job here, it’s yours. I’d be honored to have you.”
“Thanks for the offer, but no. I’ve got other plans.”
“Involving my daughter?”
“Some of them. I’ve had enough of the investigative business. I want to work with returning Marines, help them merge back into civilian life—get jobs, health care, affordable housing, social support, family therapy. I’ve talked to a couple former Marine buddies of mine who are setting up a nonprofit organization.”
“I’d be honored to make a generous donation to such a worthy cause,” Jeff said.
“You can’t make up for what happened to my dad by writing a big check,” Caine said.
“I know that.” Jeff looked older than his years. “Believe me, I know that. And I’ll regret to my dying day that I didn’t detect something was wrong.”
Caine knew what his father would want him to do. He’d want him to forgive. “Even if you had, there’s no guarantee that you would