Kitabı oku: «Evidence Of Marriage», sayfa 2
Not a bad idea, except for the part about her talking to Kane. “I’m sorry, Diana. It’s out of the question.”
She leaned forward, her breasts brushing the tabletop. “I know he refuses to talk to anyone. But he’ll talk to me.”
“I’m sure he will.”
“What’s the problem then?”
If she really didn’t think asking him to agree to put her in danger was a problem, he sure as hell wasn’t going to point it out. The last thing he needed was for her to cram his need to protect her back down his throat. It was a battle he couldn’t win. “My lieutenant will never go for the idea.”
“I’ll talk to him.”
“He’s up to his neck in sewage today. I don’t think he’ll have time for a meeting.”
She narrowed her eyes, as if seeing straight through him. “This isn’t personal, Reed. I came to you because you’re the lead detective on the copycat case.”
“Okay. It’s not personal. Then don’t take it personally when I tell you there’s no way in hell you’re getting near that prison.”
“You can’t stop me. I’ll talk to Kane on my own. I did it before.”
Her words pierced his chest like a well-aimed ice pick. She’d kept a lot of things from him in the months before their wedding—the fact that Kane was her biological father, her visits to the prison, her doubts concerning their marriage. She hadn’t trusted him with any of it. “And if I’d known, I would have stopped you then.”
“Exactly why I didn’t tell you.” She pushed back her chair, the metal legs screeching against worn linoleum. “Obviously talking to you about this was a waste of time. I’ll just go straight to your lieutenant and see what he has to say.” Thrusting herself out of her chair, she turned and marched for the door.
Watching the sharp kick of her hips, Reed gritted his teeth. He knew what the lieutenant would say. Months of no new leads and the return of summer squeezing down on his head, he’d probably jump at her offer. And in light of Reed’s past relationship with Diana, it was doubtful the lieutenant would assign him to accompany her to the prison. A more likely choice would be Nikki. Or, heaven help him, the publicity-seeking Stan Perreth. “Wait.”
Diana stopped and spun to face him, hair flung over her shoulder, resolve glinting in her eyes, passion flushing her cheeks.
For a second, he couldn’t breathe normally.
He must be crazy for considering this. Certifiable. She’d told him she didn’t want his protection, hadn’t she? Hell, even back when she’d allowed him to take care of her, he’d failed. But somehow none of that, not even the ache of his own battered heart, could make a difference. He might not want to accompany Diana into that prison, but he couldn’t live with the idea of her walking in there alone. Whether he could protect her this time or not, he didn’t know. But he was certain to the marrow of his bones that he couldn’t stand by and not try. “Give me a second to clean up this mess, and I’ll drive you to Banesbridge.”
Chapter Three
Diana didn’t have to wonder how worried Reed was about her visit with Dryden Kane. He spent the entire hour-long drive to the prison lecturing her about the psyche of the serial killer. The security screening and trek down the halls of the main building he filled with warnings about prison security. By the time they’d reached the tiny observation room next to the room where she would meet her father and he started jotting down a list of approved questions, she’d had enough. “Listen, I’m the one asking the questions. I’m the one who will decide what they are.”
Reed paced across the closet-sized space. He stopped and peered at the television monitor showing four chairs arranged around a small table in the adjacent room. The table and one of the chairs were riveted to the floor. “Dryden Kane is a very smart and dangerous man. You may be his daughter, but that doesn’t mean he’s not going to try to manipulate you just like he does everyone else. In fact, it’s probably even more important to him to control you.”
“From where I’m standing, you’re the one who’s trying to control me.” She was sorry as soon as the words left her lips. Comparing Reed to Kane wasn’t even on the remote edges of fair. Reed was only doing his job. And despite their past together, she had to focus on what she needed to do, too. It was just that no matter how things had changed from the days when she’d been helpless and Reed had been her protector, the fact that she still felt that vulnerable flutter run through her every time he looked at her made her want to do anything she could to push him away. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that. But I can take care of myself, Reed. I have to take care of myself.” She’d learned that the hard way.
“So you’ve said.”
He didn’t get it. Maybe he never would. But it didn’t matter. She knew how much being dependent on other people had cost her. She had only to close her eyes and she was tied up in that cabin in the woods, waiting for her own death, reaching deep for the strength to see her nightmare through and coming up empty.
She knew Reed would never believe it, but breaking off their engagement had shattered her heart, too. She hadn’t had much of a choice. All she’d been through in that dark forest had taught her she couldn’t rely on someone else to take care of her. She had to grow up and do it herself. Even now, seeing the concern in his eyes, hearing the solid logic in his voice, smelling the familiar scent of his skin—a scent that used to make her feel safe—made her want to curl in his arms and forget the whole thing. If she’d stayed with him, if she’d married him, it would have been only a matter of time before she’d have slipped right back into need and dependence.
She’d have been lost for good.
The door on the far end of the interview room swung wide, and two guards led Dryden Kane inside.
She hadn’t seen him for nine months, but he hadn’t changed. He still looked much younger than his forty-eight years. Young, and fresh and strangely wholesome. But the aura surrounding him was anything but. The air crackled with an oppressive and dangerous energy that crawled up her spine and trembled in her chest. And Diana knew if she dared meet his ice-blue eyes, she’d stare straight into the flat chill of death.
The guards led him to the chair that was riveted to the floor and handcuffed him to its arms. Once Kane was secured, a guard with broad shoulders and kind brown eyes peered up at the camera. “He’s ready for you.”
Diana took a step toward the door, her knees trembling so hard they teetered on the edge of collapse.
Reed touched her arm. “Don’t agree to anything he asks. Don’t promise anything. And don’t tell him anything personal that he can use against you. At least no more than he already knows.”
“I won’t.”
“And be careful.”
Her throat pinched. So much of her wanted to huddle in Reed’s arms and never venture out again that the desire sucked at her. “Maybe this was a mistake.”
“You don’t have to go in there. We can turn around, leave right now.”
“Not that. I mean coming here with you.”
Reed’s lips pressed into a bloodless line. He let his hand fall from her arm.
She knew she should explain the weakness she felt around him, the dependence, the need. But she also knew he wouldn’t understand. She’d meant it when she’d told him their involvement wasn’t personal. It couldn’t be. And it scared her that the urge to make it so seemed to be coming from her even more than from him.
She forced herself to turn away from Reed and focus on Dryden Kane. She couldn’t afford to sabotage herself. Not when she needed every bit of strength to take on the man who was her father. “I’ll be fine.” Taking a deep breath, she pushed the door open and strode into the interview room.
A smile curved Kane’s thin lips. “Diana. I’m glad you’re here. It’s been too long.”
She concentrated on stepping to the chair and lowering herself safely into it before she met his eyes. “I need some answers.” Her voice sounded remarkably steady, much steadier than she felt.
Kane’s smile remained intact. “Are these answers for you or for the police?”
“The police?”
“They are monitoring our conversation, aren’t they? Recording it as well?” He nodded toward the small camera positioned high in the corner of the boxlike room.
She couldn’t lie to him. He’d never believe her, and she would destroy her credibility with him if she were anything less than candid. If she wanted to get truthful answers, she’d have to give some. “Yes, the police are monitoring us.”
“So what answers are the boys and girls in blue after?”
“They want the identity of the Copycat Killer.”
“Of course. They’ve had a snitch in the cell next to me for nearly a year. Hoping I’ll talk in my sleep. Why they think I have anything to tell them, I’ll never understand.” He shook his head, the fluorescent lights overhead glinting off silver strands running through brown hair. “And what do you want, Diana? Why are you here?”
“I want to know why you sent that news clipping with Sylvie’s gift. Was it a threat?”
“Why would I threaten my own daughter?”
“Then why did you send it?”
“It convinced you to come visit me, didn’t it?”
So Reed was right. Kane had included the clipping to manipulate them. He’d controlled the whole situation. Not that it mattered. Even if she’d known his intentions for certain, she wouldn’t have changed her response. She’d be here just the same. And she wouldn’t believe for a second that Kane didn’t intend at least a hint of threat. “Now that you’ve gotten my attention, what do you want?”
“I want you to tell me about Sylvie’s wedding.”
She couldn’t have heard him right, could she? “Sylvie’s wedding?”
“Of course. A daughter’s wedding is special to a father. I should have been there. I should have walked her down the aisle.” He lifted his hands, jangling his shackles against the chair arms as if to illustrate why he’d failed to make it.
Her mind balked at the image of Kane as father of the bride. She couldn’t imagine it. She didn’t want to. “You can’t be serious.”
“Of course I’m serious. That’s the worst part about being in here. Missing the important moments in my daughters’ lives.” He heaved a sigh full of regret. “Though I can’t say I’m sorry you rethought your plans to marry that cop.”
She resisted the urge to shift in her chair and glance at the camera. Kane had made his displeasure about her intended marriage clear the last time she’d seen him—about a month before her wedding. The wedding that had never taken place.
“He wasn’t good enough for you. Cops think they’re so smart. They aren’t smart. They’re nothing.”
The deficiencies of cops. One of Kane’s favorite topics. And the perfect segue to a less personal thread of conversation. “The cops seem to think you’re controlling this Copycat Killer.”
His thin lips stretched into a smile, exposing his straight, white teeth. “So maybe they aren’t totally stupid.”
“Are you admitting you’re controlling the Copycat Killer?”
“You know I wouldn’t admit that, even if it was true. My lawyer wouldn’t be happy with me.”
His lawyer. The last lawyer who represented him was Bryce. That is, until Kane became unsatisfied with him. Days later, Bryce’s brother was murdered. “You have a new lawyer?”
“A man like me always needs a lawyer. And this one offers a few extras besides legal representation.”
“Extras?”
“Nothing you have to concern yourself with.”
Maybe not, but she was sure Reed would want to look into just what extras his new lawyer might be offering. “So what do you know about this copycat?”
“Why would I know anything?”
Now it was her turn to play him. She summoned what courage she could muster. “False modesty? I never would have pegged you for it.”
His smile widened.
“So what do you know?”
“I know he aspires to be me.”
“Why?”
“Why not?” He lowered one lid in a wink.
Even after learning Kane was her biological father, even after several visits with him, she still felt a powerful shiver of revulsion whenever he gave her that knowing wink. Coming from him it seemed profane.
She drew in a deep breath. She couldn’t let him know he had the power to throw her. Not unless she wanted to lose control of the exchange entirely. “Why is he patterning his kills after murders you committed years ago?”
“He wants the power.”
“What power?”
“The power of life and death. It transformed me. It is transforming him.” He spoke evenly, matter-of-factly, the way one of her former English literature professors would discuss the intricacies of Beowulf.
But despite his tone, his words clamped down her lungs, making it difficult to breathe. “Why copy anyone? Why not do his own thing?”
“Because he doesn’t want to be himself.”
“He wants to be you.” She suppressed a shudder.
He tipped his head in a single nod. “He wants to be transformed.”
“And you are helping transform him?”
He chuckled low in his throat. “I’ve never even talked to him. Never seen him face-to-face. But I must admit, I can’t help thinking of him as something of a son.” He smiled and glanced at the camera. “Is that enough to satisfy you, Detective?”
Diana could picture Reed’s scowl. Clearly there was no way to know if what Kane said had any significance, or if he was just toying with the police.
“Enough of that. I don’t want to waste any more of our time together with police business.” Kane looked around the stark room. “This place…it weighs on a man’s soul. I need to see my daughters. To know you’re all right. I want you to visit more. You and Sylvie.”
She folded her arms across her chest. Reed’s warning buzzed in the back of her mind. Don’t agree to anything. Don’t promise anything. “I’m afraid that’s impossible.”
“Impossible? For a man to see his daughters? Why?” His eyebrows dipped low. He actually seemed confused by the suggestion. Hurt.
He had to be playing her.
“Bryce Walker doesn’t want me seeing Sylvie, is that it?”
“Bryce has nothing to do with this.”
“He really was a lousy attorney.” He glanced around the room. “I mean look at this place. The main building is under construction. The cell blocks are old as dirt. A decent attorney could have gotten me transferred to a decent facility, don’t you think?”
She didn’t answer.
“I’d just hate to think he would try to come between a man and his daughter. Sylvie didn’t send me an invitation to her wedding, she didn’t come with you to see me.” He shook his head. “A girl shouldn’t turn her back on her family just because she’s married.”
Fear for her sister spun through Diana’s mind, making her dizzy. She forced herself to breathe. “Sylvie isn’t turning her back. She isn’t doing anything against you at all. She’s just trying to move on with her life.”
He studied her, his emotionless eyes boring into her, through her. “On the day you get married, I want to see you in your wedding dress. Sylvie denied me that privilege, but you won’t.”
“I’m not getting married.”
“You might change your mind once you find someone worthy.”
“I’ve worked too hard to control my own life. I’m not giving it up for a white satin dress.” She wasn’t giving it up for the opportunity to visit her serial-killer father in prison either. She pushed up from her chair. “It’s time for me to go.”
“Are you going to cut me out of your life as well?”
She had to remain firm. She couldn’t let him push her around. “I have to get on with my life, too.”
“You need your father, Diana.”
“Goodbye.”
“If someone like that professor ever threatens you again, I want to know about it.”
She paused, memories of Professor Bertram holding her hostage for days, stripping her and hunting her in the forest swept through her mind. “Why? What would you do?”
“What any good father would do. I would protect you.”
“From prison?”
He lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “I’d find a way.”
What was he going to do? Sic the Copycat Killer on anyone who crossed her path? Was he forgetting he was the reason Professor Bertram had kidnapped her in the first place? That the man was desperate to avenge Kane’s brutal murder of his daughter? “I can protect myself.” Taking a deep breath, she turned away from Kane and took a step toward the door.
“He has another one, you know.”
The tremble in her legs spread through her body, centering just under her rib cage. She turned back to face him. “What did you say?”
“He took her last night. After stopping in at your sister’s wedding reception to pay his respects.”
“The Copycat Killer?”
“Of course.”
“How do you know this?”
“I know a lot of things, Diana. Like the desperation a parent feels when kept away from a child. Especially when she needs you most. I could tell you all about it if you would visit me.”
“Where did he take her?”
“I’m not asking you to do anything a good daughter wouldn’t do anyway.”
She didn’t have to close her eyes to see the nightmare she’d gone through in the professor’s cabin play out in front of her like a movie. But where the professor was a grief-crazed father after revenge, the Copycat killed for pleasure. And part of his pleasure revolved around torture and humiliation. “You can’t let him kill another woman.”
“Can’t I? What am I going to do about it? I’m in prison.”
Her stomach swirled, with anger, with nausea. As much as she wanted to walk away, as much as she needed to retain control over her life, she couldn’t let an innocent woman suffer. She couldn’t let an innocent woman die. Not if she had a chance to save her. “What do you want me to do?”
“Visit. Like a good daughter.” Thin lips pulled back in an icy smile. “I’ll see you again tomorrow. We’ll have a nice chat.”
Chapter Four
“I told you not to promise him anything.” Reed paused behind their prison escort’s broad shoulders to let the barred door slide open in front of them. He couldn’t wait to get Diana out of this damn prison and as far away from Dryden Kane as possible. He knew allowing her to talk to Kane was a bad idea. He’d been right and then some. Now it was all he could do to keep himself from throwing her over his shoulder and hauling her off somewhere the killer would never find her. Door fully open, the three of them stepped up to the next barred door.
Diana shot Reed a frown. “You heard Kane. The Copycat Killer has kidnapped another woman. What would you have me do? Turn my back and let her die?”
The door slid closed behind them, enclosing them in a sally port between two sets of iron bars. Trapped. Exactly how Reed was feeling right now. Trapped by Kane’s manipulations. “You’re assuming the copycat actually has another woman.”
Diana’s eyes flew wide. “You think Kane lied?”
“I didn’t say that. But I think he would say anything it took to convince you to visit.”
“You must be able to find out, though, right? I mean, can’t you check missing-person reports or something?”
“Nikki’s already on it. If this woman exists, if she’s been identified as missing, we’ll find her.” The door slid open in front of them, allowing them to continue down the long hall to the prison entrance.
“I want to help.”
She couldn’t be serious. “Like you helped with Kane?”
“What do you mean? I did help with Kane. Weren’t you paying attention?”
“Enough to hear you promise to visit him every day.”
“I didn’t have a choice.”
“You had a choice, and you made it.”
She pushed a stream of air through tight lips. “Didn’t you hear anything else he said?”
“I heard it all.” He tapped his jacket pocket, his fingertips rapping against the videotape from the camera in the interview room.
“Did you notice what he said about his lawyer? And the copycat? Did you hear him say he thought of him as a son?”
“I heard.” And his mind was already whirring wildly, trying to figure out what it all meant. Or if Kane’s slips were merely leading them down another path Kane wanted them to take.
“What are you going to do?”
As if he was going to share those thoughts with her. Or worse yet, include her in the investigation. He might not be able to keep her away from Kane, but he could insulate her from the rest. “I’m going to look into it.”
“I can help.”
They reached another set of bars blocking their way. The broad-shouldered guard, Corrections Officer Seides, punched a button on the wall and all three of them faced the camera, waiting to be buzzed through.
Reed glanced at Diana out of the corner of his eye. “Sylvie and Bryce checked into a hotel. They booked you an adjoining room.”
“I’m not going to sit around in a hotel room.”
“Yes, you are.”
“This is my fault, Reed. If I hadn’t had to find out who my birth parents were, if I hadn’t visited him in the first place, none of this would be happening.”
“You’re more powerful than I ever guessed.” He let the sarcasm slide thickly off his tongue. “Kane would have found his copycat no matter what you did.”
“Sylvie wouldn’t be in danger.”
“So that’s what this is about. Guilt?” Something he knew far too much about. “So now you’re set on sacrificing yourself? You feel you need to visit Kane daily to pay for your sins?”
“Don’t psychoanalyze me. I feel like I might be able to help. That’s all.”
“Congratulations. You helped. Now you’re going to stay safe.”
“This isn’t personal, Reed.”
“No, it’s not. In this case, it’s my job.”
“Your job is to serve and protect the citizens of Madison. Not just me, all of the citizens.”
Her words stung far more than he wanted to acknowledge. He’d given up everything to join the force, devoted everything he had to the job. Being a cop was more than what he did. Being a cop was who he was.
And no one knew that better than Diana.
“What do you want? To spend the day hanging out in a police station that smells like sewage, fetching coffee? Because if you insist on helping, that’s all I can offer.”
“Sounds like heaven.”
“Right.”
“I can’t think of a safer place for me to be than a police station, can you?”
He blew an impatient breath through his nose. He couldn’t argue there. And judging from her victorious smile, she knew it. “If that’s what you want…”
“That’s what I want.”
He waited for the last barred door to slide open. But when he and Diana stepped through it, instead of feeling relief for getting her away from Kane, he couldn’t shake the sense that he was only leading her deeper. And that there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it.
REED HADN’T BEEN KIDDING about the smell.
Breathing shallowly through her mouth in an attempt to combat the stench of sewer, Diana wound through misplaced desks and ripped-out ceiling tiles, a foam cup of coffee in each hand. Reed also hadn’t been kidding when he’d said he wasn’t going to let her play the role of cop. Two hours had ticked by since they’d reached the station, and the biggest thing he’d allowed her to do was make a pot of coffee. At this point, she was so frustrated, she actually needed the caffeine to calm her nerves.
She set a cup in front of Nikki and raised the other to her lips. Since Reed had been so open and sharing with her, she’d decided to return the favor. Let him get his own coffee.
Sipping her hot brew, she craned her neck, trying to get a look at Nikki’s computer screen. Late-afternoon sun slanted through the high windows in the partially underground first-floor station and glinted off the screen, hiding whatever Nikki was looking at in a blur of glaring light.
Just her luck. “Can I do something to help, Nikki?”
Nikki twisted to glance at her, her lips pressed into an apologetic expression. “Thanks for the coffee.”
“No problem.” Diana didn’t have to look in Reed’s direction to feel his glower. Reed’s partner hadn’t said much, but Diana didn’t have to be a mind reader to sense Nikki’s sentiments lay on her side. And that Reed wasn’t happy about it. She kept her eyes on Nikki. “Have you talked to Kane’s lawyer yet?”
“Can’t locate her. She’s probably out sailing on one of the lakes or whatever it is lawyers do on a Sunday around here.”
“Who is she?”
“Meredith Unger,” Reed supplied.
Nikki nodded. “She did some criminal work just out of college. But she’s stuck to corporate work since. I guess she’s branching out again with Kane.”
Diana thought back to what Kane had said about her. “What is the ‘extra’ that Kane referred to?”
Nikki shrugged. “Don’t know. She’s attractive, in a she-wolf sort of way. It could be that.”
Possible, she supposed. But that wasn’t what she’d thought of when Kane had mentioned his lawyer in the prison. “Do you think he’s manipulating her? Getting her to convey messages between him and the copycat or something?”
“I think we can assume he’s manipulating her in some way,” Nikki continued. “Kane would probably lose interest in her if he wasn’t. The rest, we don’t know. Not yet, anyway.”
“Why would she take Dryden Kane on as a client in the first place?”
Reed grunted. “The reason all of them take someone like Kane on. Notoriety. They like to see their names in the paper.”
“And some women think danger is sexy,” Nikki added.
Diana knew that was true, yet she would never understand it. All she’d ever wanted in a man was safety, tenderness, someone she could depend on. Of course, becoming too dependent turned out to be dangerous, too.
She yanked her thoughts from that painful path and focused on the missing-person reports piled on Nikki’s desk. “What are you looking for? Missing college-age women with blond hair? Like the women the copycat killed last fall?”
“We’ll tell you if we find something, Diana.”
Nikki gave Reed a guilty glance, then nodded anyway. “Usually when a serial killer kills several women who look alike, like this killer has done, it indicates the woman’s look is part of what turns him on, part of his reason for committing the crime.”
When Diana had discovered Dryden Kane was her biological father, she’d read everything she could find on serial killers. And she’d discovered far more than she’d ever thought she wanted to know. “You’re thinking the victim’s hair color and age are part of his signature.”
“Exactly. Age and hair color were the things all three victims had in common. Although we don’t know much more than that about the third victim.”
The third victim. The woman whose body had been burned and mutilated so badly, police had never been able to determine her identity. For a couple of days, they’d even believed the body to be Diana’s.
She pushed that morbid thought from her mind. “I guess my question is, whose signature are we talking about?”
Nikki tilted her head. “What are you thinking?”
Reed cleared his throat, as if warning Nikki not to go too far in including Diana.
Nikki didn’t seem fazed.
Diana pushed on. “When Kane was working up to killing my mother…” Diana swallowed. Even after all these months, she hadn’t gotten used to the idea that her father had killed her mother. Somehow that fact was more difficult to process than her father being a serial killer. She could only speculate about what that said about her.
Nikki gave her an encouraging nod. “When he was working up to killing your mother, he looked for young, blond victims.”
“Yes. So when the copycat killed these women, was he just trying to emulate Kane’s signature or is that part of his own?” Diana looked up at Reed to gauge his reaction.
Picking up his phone, he punched in a number and held it to his ear. He walked into a nearby conference room and closed the door behind him.
Diana’s cheeks heated. She didn’t have to ask what he thought of her observation. But as much as his dismissal stung, it was nothing compared to the realization that, even after all these months, looking to Reed for approval was as automatic as breathing.
Nikki leaned toward her. “Don’t let him bug you. I think it’s a good question. And I think it’s a great idea to have you help in this case.”
“You do?”
“You bet. The FBI is using more and more pro-active techniques when it comes to finding unidentified subjects. I’d say you interrogating your father has to be on the cutting edge.” Admiration filled her voice.
“You really want to get this guy, don’t you?”
Nikki smiled. “You have to ask?”
No, she didn’t. From the first time she’d met Nikki, she’d felt the hunger under that fashion-model facade. Nikki might look the part of a beautiful bimbo, but she had goals and grit. And heaven help the serial killer who got in her way. “I’m glad you’re on this case.”
“What do we have here? A mutual-admiration society?”
Diana glanced up at the sound of the deep, cigarette-roughened voice. “Detective Perreth.”
“Nice to see you, Miz Gale.” Though the growl in his voice sounded anything but pleased to see her, Reed’s old nemesis had the nerve to grin, his jowly face taking on the look of a panting bulldog. “Where’s McCaskey?”
“Right here.” Reed emerged from the conference room. “What do you want, Perreth? Come to enjoy the smell?”
“I’ve been assigned to the task force.”
“Great.”
Reed didn’t show any reaction, but Diana could guess how he felt about the news.
And how much Perreth was enjoying it. “It might be good if we coordinate what we’re going to tell the press. Starting with what Dryden Kane’s daughter is doing with her nose in the copycat case.”
“We’re not going to tell the press anything.”
“And you don’t think word about who she is will get out now that the copycat is active again?”
Reed stepped close to Perreth, his taller frame towering over the squatty detective. “In the conference room. We need to talk.”
The men filed into the conference room and shut the door behind them.
