He drew in breath, held her eyes, and answered, “I can’t, baby. Sal got this intel. Sal put himself and his name out there to get it. We don’t know what’s goin’ on or who’s behind it. The hit isn’t interrupted by anyone but Sal, Sal is gonna be vulnerable, and Sal doesn’t like to be vulnerable.”

“Shit,” she mumbled, getting it. Then she focused intently on him and asked slowly, “And you’re okay with that?”

“I’m okay with it ’cause Sal’s lookin’ after this Furlock guy. He’s also lookin’ into this whole situation fully. And if I wasn’t okay with it, then Sal wouldn’t be okay with me, and I’m about two months away from bein’ really f**kin’ happy. I don’t need that shit, but more, we don’t need it.”

She looked worried. “Do you think he’ll take care of this Peter guy?”

“I think Sal would not make me live with a decision he’s gotta know I didn’t like very much and let this Peter guy swing.”

“Okay, I…okay…” She shook her head. “I don’t get it. What’s going on?”

“Sal doesn’t get it either. But he’s goin’ to and I’m gonna help.”

“What?” she whispered.

“Your colleague, the guy who does the East Coast sales, he’s bangin’ his secretary.”

Her eyes went huge again as she breathed, “How do you know that?”

He cocked his head to the side. “You know that?”

“No, I was guessing,” she told him.

“Were you guessing in a way that anyone around could make that guess?” he asked.

“Probably. They’re not out about it, but body language and the time they spend together screams it.”

“Is that frowned on in the company?”

“Well, I was pretty good at reading my employee handbook when I started, Ben, but I didn’t memorize it. That said, even if it wasn’t against policy, it’s still frowned on.”

“If Bierman has that on your sales guy for the East, does he have leverage over him?”

Her hand lifted to her mouth, and through it, she said, “Oh my God.”

That meant yes.

He studied her and decided to lay the easy fix on her.

“Frankie, baby, this sucks. I hate sayin’ it to you, but the entire drive down, I’ve been tryin’ to think about the best way to end this for you, to get you safe, and that best way is you got no choice but to quit.”

Her hand dropped. “What?”

“Babe, that place is a mess, a bad one—hits-taken-out-on-people bad. You gotta get the f**k out.”

“But I need a job, Benny.”

“Work at the restaurant until you find one.” Her eyes started to get squinty so Ben gave her knee a yank to make his point, even as he said, “Francesca, your co-workers are getting investigated by PIs for doin’ the dirty with their secretaries and hits are being taken out on them. You got…to get…the f**k out.”

“It’s Tenrix,” she said absurdly.

“Come again?” he asked, and she scooted even closer to him, her knee on his thigh, her hand on his chest.

“Listen, Benny, what I know is, Bierman is obsessed with Tenrix, the product we’re launching at the end of the year. He’s gung ho on the salespeople pushing it and it hasn’t even been launched. My boss is not letting him get up in our shit about it and he’s also pushing him to get information that couldn’t be found on the servers about the product. The information was finally handed over, but the files might have been tampered with. The lead scientist on that projected was murdered, a professional hit for what seems like no reason. And now some random IT guy has a hit out on him.”

“You’re tellin’ me this because…?” he prompted.

“I’m tellin’ you this because I’m thinking that IT guy is the guy who was talking with Tandy and the other girls in the parking lot the day I told her to stand down and advise the others to do the same. They didn’t look like they were discussing where they were going to have a drink after they all decided to stop sticking their noses into shit. They looked like they were discussing the shit they had their noses into.”

“So she didn’t stand down,” Ben noted. “Like I said before, babe, her consequences.”

She shook her head and got closer.

“No, Ben, what I’m sayin’ is, the IT guy might be able to ascertain if the files were tampered with. And if he has access to the servers and backups, he might be able to get his hands on the original files.”

“Babe, I’ll say it again, this is not your problem or your business, and it would be less of your business if you quit and came home to Chicago.”

“Benny,” she said quietly. “You aren’t gettin’ me. Important files about a pharmaceutical product that’s soon to be launched have been tampered with. The scientist heading the project is dead.” She got even closer. “Ben, I think there’s something we don’t know about Tenrix, and there shouldn’t be anything you don’t know about a drug. In development phase, everything is strictly confidential. But once it’s out there, it has to be transparent. And the only thing to hide about a drug that’s imminently being rolled out is that drug is dangerous.”

He stared at her. “Who would hide shit like that?”

“Bierman, the director of research and development, who might get a rather hefty bonus for a successful launch of a product and who has been backing this product for years.”

“Putting unknown numbers of people who take that drug at risk?” Benny asked, unable to wrap his head around someone doing something that unbelievably dickish.

“It’s highly likely the side effects that are dangerous don’t occur in the entirety of the subjects that took it or they wouldn’t be able to hide it. It’s probably that it happens very rarely and only came out in the later phases of the trials, which could mean the longer the drug is taken, that’s when the adverse effect is experienced. And at this juncture, dumping Tenrix, the loss of capital on that product would be colossal.”

“That makes it okay?” Ben pushed.

“No,” Frankie answered. “But for someone like Bierman, it might make it worth the risk.”

“The FDA has to approve that shit, Frankie.”

“Yeah,” she agreed. “But what did they approve?”