Elodie lowered her gaze in thought for a moment. "You don''t need to worry. I''ll find


    a way to handle this. There are several people assisting me at work, and they''ll all be questioned as well. Maybe something just went wrong somewhere along the line."


    "Let''s wait and see," Charlie said. "I''ll reach out to Klein again and see if there''s anything to rify. Don''t be afraid." He didn''t know the details, but he trusted that Elodie wouldn''t make a mistake.


    Elodie nodded in agreement.


    There were quite a few people on the team.


    But the person who handled most of the important tasks with her was Lily Lockwood.


    Everything Lily submitted, Elodie reviewed first.


    Which meant the problem had to have urred right before submission.


    As for Lily, she was clearly less of a suspect. She had nothing to gain by tampering with the data, and Elodie had a personal rtionship with Jarrod—a marriage in name, if not in spirit.


    Besides, Elodie didn''t believe Lily bore her any deep grudge that would make her risk everything to frame her.


    After all, if Lily got caught, she''d lose all the hard-won opportunities she''d fought for.


    When the call ended, Alexander finally turned to her. "So, what''s your take on all this?"


    At the moment, with Elodie under investigation, her work with Project 719 would be put on hold. She''d have to step away from the facility to ensure an impartial review of the situation.


    Once she was suspended and off-site, she wouldn''t have a chance to prove her innocence. She''d be left sitting on her hands, just waiting.


    Elodie shook her head. "I have a lot of ideas, but nothing I can be sure of yet." Alexander considered this. "You think Jarrod has anything to do with it? Maybe the batch of materials he sent you for testing was alreadypromised?"


    He didn''t know the specifics.


    He wasn''t clear on how Elodie''s work was run, or how things went between her and Jarrod''s team. But the fact remained: Elodie had gotten caught up in a mess originating from Jarrod''spany.


    He knew the organization''s internal protocols were strict; mistakes like this almost never slipped through. By all reasonable analysis, if there was a variable, it was likely on Jarrod''s end.


    Especially since things between Elodie and Jarrod were tense-seriously tense.


    Just over the matter of the child, Alexander thought. A man like Jarrod could he really let it go?


    He''d heard from Esmeralda Mercer that Jarrod and Elodie had a huge fight over this, and it hadn''t ended well.


    That meant Jarrod cared about the child.


    And, unfortunately, he med Elodie for “getting rid of it.”


    A man as calcting as Jarrod could he really not hold a grudge against Elodie?


    It might have sounded a bit


    paranoid, but after all the hardship Elodie had endured over the years, Alexander couldn''t bring himself to fully trust Jarrod, not as her brother.


    Elodie shook her head almost immediately. "No. All the data I tested was clean.


    The tampering happened right before submission, from the inside."


    She understood Jarrod.


    Even if he did hate her, he wouldn''t stoop so low. He was always


    direct brutal, even-but,


    underhanded. He didn''t need to go to such borate lengths.


    "Tampering? Who would be that bold?" Alexander was startled.


    He quickly added, "If it was sabotage, thatplicates things."


    Still, he had to admit, Elodie was handling it better than most would. She hadn''t lost herposure.


    Most of the time, he admired her for that strength.


    But for now, there wasn''t much else to analyze. They''d have to go home and regroup.


    The car started up.


    Elodie nced out the window.


    Jarrod''s car was still parked across the lot; he hadn''t left yet. It looked like


    whatever was happening on his end would take a while.


    Elodie didn''t hear from Jarrod that night.


    The next day, she got a call from Watts.


    He wanted to meet.


    Curious to hear what Watts had to say, Elodie suggested the café by the entrance


    to her apartmentplex.


    When Watts arrived, he drew more


    than a few appreciative looks from


    the young women inside, but his


    gaze never wavered. He spotted Elodie the moment he walked in and headed straight for her.


    "Been waiting long?"


    "Not at all. Have a seat." Elodie had already ordered him a ck coffee.


    Watts sat down, eyebrows furrowed in concern. "Are you all right?"