Page 42 of Skin In the Game (The BlackWater)

“He never told you?” Cole asked and she frowned thinking.

“He never said anything. I got the vibe he was embarrassed by it, like he’d been forced into it when he’d rather be doing something less intense.”

“Forced into taking the job you mean?” Brandon clarified.

“Maybe. He was a bit of a clown, he meant well but he just constantly messed up. It’s like he had this idea of what the job was from watching TV shows and then the reality didn’t match.” Maddie explained.

“Let’s look into him further. Maybe he was involved.” Brandon said looking to Becky to take the task on.

“What about the Anderson case, should we not look at that, that’s who he was following that night?” Maddie asked looking between them.

“Anderson is dead.” Cole stated.

“What? When?” She gasped.

“Same night McCullough died we think. We found the body a few days later.”

Maddie screwed her face up thinking. “So what, he was involved?”

“What do you know of the Anderson Case?” Cole asked and she shrugged.

“It’s fraud, I worked it for a couple of months. Anderson was essentially a bureaucrat, a paper pusher. He worked for some third sector company linked to DEFRA. The man was living a lifestyle way beyond his means but the company wasn’t actually missing any money so no one could figure out where it was coming from.”

Cole smirked then.

“What?” She asked because obviously she was missing something.

“It wasn’t fraud and he didn’t work for a charity. It’s a front for a Government funded test site.” Cole said

“What? But the paperwork, everything Holden gave me, everything we looked up...” Maddie replied but Cole cut across her.

“Matched with the story because you didn’t have clearance to know anymore.”

“So why the fuck was I even put on that case then?” She asked.

He shrugged. “I’m not sure Homewell knew what they were dealing with. They probably thought it was something to do with corporate espionage not actual espionage. That’s why we were sniffing around you guys because we wanted to be sure of what you did and didn’t know. ”

Maddie shook her head suddenly fuming. What a fucking joke she thought, she’d wasted two months, two whole fucking months on that case and for what?

“We followed him, me and McCullough, we followed him for days, from his house, to the shops, to the bank. He was literally the most boring man you’ve ever come across.” She said thinking out loud.

Cole laughed. “He probably knew you were there.”

“How? We were clever at hiding.” Maddie stated.

“Anderson was better.” He replied.

“So what he’s tied up this, to the Omega Project?”

“Yes but only on the money side. He didn’t have access to any plans, any details any information.” Cole said.

“You’re sure of that?”

He raised an eyebrow then because she was questioning him and she gave him a look like she was waiting for a reply.

“Positive.” He said with a tone to his voice that made her grit her teeth.

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