Free Indispensable Party (Sasha McCandless Legal Thriller No. 4) by Melissa F Miller Page A

waited a moment to see if he
would say anything further. He did not.
    “Waiting’s only going to make it
worse,” she said.
    She’d tried to explain as much
back in Ben’s office. But Connelly and Ben had refused to budge. Ben wanted to
finish checking in the new shipment of drugs, then have his employees open the
six pallets that Celia had handled and recount all the boxes to determine the
extent of the problem before they told anyone.
    Connelly had agreed with Ben’s
suggestion because he wanted Grace to coordinate with human resources to finish
all of the distribution center employees’ reference checks to ensure there were
no other Gerig-type problems lurking in the files.
    She understood their instinct to
get a full picture of the damage done. But the board of directors had to be
informed and soon. They needed to authorize a move against ViraGene and,
perhaps more critically, they needed to tell the government.
    Sasha knew from past experience
representing companies in antitrust, accounting, and bribery investigations
conducted by the various arms of the federal government that self-reporting
always resulted in cooperation and leniency from the governmental alphabet
soup. If, however, a government agency suspected a corporation of stonewalling
or covering up a problem, there would be consequences—usually to the tune of
several hundred million dollars, but occasionally jail time for corporate
management. Sasha was fairly certain her relationship with Connelly could not
withstand distance and an orange jumpsuit.
    “The board has important decisions
to make, and I want them to do that with full information. Surely you
understand,” Connelly said in a firm voice.
    Sasha shook her head. “I do
understand. But it’s really not your call to make. You need to talk to Tate,” she
repeated.
    “Later. We’ll get Oliver on the
phone as soon as Ben and Grace finish,” Connelly promised.
    Connelly had instructed Ben and
Grace to work around the clock if necessary to get him all the information he
needed.
    “Connelly, if ViraGene is behind
this, nothing’s stopping them from anonymously tipping off the government that
the shipment was short. In fact, they probably will. You have to get out in
front of this.”
    “We will,” Connelly said, setting
his mouth in a firm line.
    Sasha exhaled loudly. She knew
him well enough to know he felt responsible for the theft. And he wouldn’t drop
a problem in the decision makers’ laps without also presenting them a solution.
He was right that they needed to know the full extent of the issue in order to
address it. She just hoped it wouldn’t be too late by then.
    “You’re the client.”
    She opened the Amazon shopping
app on her phone.
    Connelly glanced over at her. “What
are you doing now?”
    Sasha answered without looking
up. “Some Christmas shopping.”
    “Really?”
    “Yes, really. I have to do it
some time, don’t I? And until you’re ready to talk to Tate, there isn’t much I
can do for you.”
    She was working her way through
her list methodically. She started with her nieces and nephews because shopping
for kids was easy and fun and saved the harder people for the end. Connelly
was, not surprisingly, dead last on her list.
    “Who are you shopping for?”
    “I’m finishing off Jordan now. I’m
just getting her a box of ginger cookies and some preggie pops.”
    Both of her brothers’ wives were pregnant.
Again. But, this time Jordan was carrying twins and having a difficult time of
it. Sasha’d gotten both Jordan and Riley gift certificates for pregnancy
massages at their favorite day spa, but she wanted to add something small for
Jordan’s stocking.
    “Preggie pops?”
    “I don’t know, Connelly. They’re
these special lollipops that are supposed to help with nausea.”
    “Oh. Could you imagine having
twins?” Connelly asked.
    The undercurrent in his voice
made her look up. “I can’t imagine having a cat, Connelly, let alone two