Maybe he was being hasty. Maybe there was nothing here but two people with a long history clinging together after tragedy.

“I’ll be more careful. I promise.” He didn’t want to upset his mother. He also didn’t want to cut her off from her friends. He would let Remy look into Louis, but he would keep an open mind. “I don’t want to worry her.”

“That’s impossible right now. She knows about the situation with Charles, so she’s going to worry. I’m afraid that was part of the problem last night. She wanted to call the sheriff and send him out to make sure Charles hadn’t killed you.”

She’d worried about that? “Charles is an asshole. He’s not a killer.”

“Well, she didn’t think he would do it himself. She was more worried about an assassin,” Louis explained. “Apparently the Darois family doesn’t handle its own murders. Far too messy.”

“We don’t like to get our hands dirty.” As he’d just proven by getting Remy to do his dirty work.

He didn’t like the queasy feeling, but told himself he wasn’t doing anything wrong. He was looking out for his mother. It wasn’t wrong to check.

“I’ve got a list of everyone who touched the last bid. I sent it to you a couple of minutes ago along with my notes on each. It’s hard for me to believe anyone who works for us would actively harm the company, but we should look into them. Have you thought about putting additional security around the next one?” Louis asked. “We’ve gotten lax in the last couple of years because there was no need to hide what we were doing.”

“I’ll read that report as soon as possible.” He had to keep Louis close. “Maybe we can go over it this afternoon.”

Louis nodded. “Of course. I take it that’s why you had Jane do inventory. Did you search her computer?”

Again, the man knew him well. Of course, Louis had taught him as much as his father had. “I did it when everyone went to lunch. She seems clean. I can’t ask to look at her phone. If she’s got half a brain, she wouldn’t communicate with him over company property. I don’t honestly think it’s her. She’s nervous enough about answering the phone, much less spying.”

“That would be a good cover for a spy, wouldn’t it?” Louis mused. “To look completely incompetent. I heard she did well in college.”

“You can do well in a classroom setting and struggle in the real world.” Still, it was something to think about. “I’ll look over her résumé again.”

And he would watch her more carefully.

“Are you delivering the Lowestone bid personally?” Louis asked. “I can do it if you like. I know it’s due tomorrow, and you might want some extra time with Sylvie.”

They used the tried-and-true method of sealed bids for local companies. “I can drop it off this afternoon. Maybe we’ll get points for giving them the personal touch.”