“Standard administrative procedure?” Holland gestured outside the conference room. “Lot of people working here.” He pulled his phone from his pocket. “Here’s the other way we do this. I go to a chat room at the Chronicle or Wired and say two individuals at DivingBell are under suspicion as accomplices in the murder of a young woman whose body was found dumped in a park in Santa Rosa.”

Rivas turned to Holland. The detective gave away nothing in his expression.

Keegan’s phone rang again. He angrily jabbed at it. He stood and faced Holland. “You can’t come in here and bully us into giving you private information.”

Palmer touched Keegan’s arm. “Josh, I think we might consider a different course of action.”

At that moment Monica knocked on the conference-room door and pointed to her watch.

“I’ve got to do this telecon,” Keegan said.

Palmer interrupted him. “My thought is, in the present circumstances, our fiduciary responsibilities take precedence over the privacy issues. It’s in the best interest of this company to submit to legal authority and identify the individuals and their addresses. We can file an objection ex post facto and cite the exigency of the request.”

Keegan pulled his arm away from Palmer. “Whatever,” he said. “The launch slips, and this building’ll be empty in two days.” He pushed past her to leave the room.

Palmer tapped her computer tablet and turned it to face Rivas and Holland. “The individuals in question are not principals or employees of this company, but they were among the original angel investors. Their names are Victor Banerjee and Russell Tao. That’s their address. We have no information for Mr. Thackrey.”

Rivas wrote the address in his notebook, and the two men stood to leave.

“What will it do?” Holland asked.

Palmer held the conference-room door open. “What will what do?”

“Your product. What will it do?”

Palmer smiled. “What they all do. Change the world.”

(ii)

(FRIDAY, 10:10 A.M.)

When Gina Cipriani appeared in the doorway of the VCI room, Eden looked around her for help, but for the moment, she had the place to herself. “If you’re here to make a disciplinary report to my supervisor, Lieutenant Mahler’s not here.”

“We need to talk.” Cipriani spoke quietly.

Holding up a finger, Eden led the way to the interview room and closed the door. They sat to face each other across the table.

Cipriani shook her head. “I hated girls like you in high school.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Good grades. Pretty girls who got dates.”

Eden smiled. “Wow. That last part was definitely not me.”

“The only way I get along as a cop is to be as hard and tough as the guys. Even then they don’t respect me. They look at me and figure I’m butch.”

“Law enforcement doesn’t attract the most sensitive men.”