“Ms. Svitak accused me of compromising the lawsuit. Okay, well, I really am doing that now. If she’s going to fire me, what loyalty do I owe her or the firm? The fact is, the mine deserves to lose this case. They deserve to be slapped down and hit with millions in damages. They made life hell for those women, and the execs sat in our depositions and lied their asses off. But it’s not just that. It’s not just the harassment. They’re criminals.”

“What do you mean?”

“Gordon Brink didn’t just come to town to buy off Sandra Thoreau. When she said no, he was planning to do other things.”

“Like what?”

“Take your pick. Assault. Rape. Maybe even murder. They wanted her out, and they were going to do whatever it took to make sure it happened. If Sandra wound up dead, you don’t think every woman in this county would have gotten the message? Stay away from the mine.”

I felt a wave of nausea and another sharp pain. I closed my eyes briefly and tried to focus. “Penny, what’s on that tape?”

“You remember the conversation I heard with Ms. Svitak? The one that freaked out Ajax? I found the tape, and I listened to the rest of it. I heard what else Brink said. I heard the shit that Ms. Svitak didn’t want me to know about.”

“You took the tape from the law firm?” I asked.

“Yeah. And now I’m giving it to you.”

I hesitated. What she was giving me was stolen evidence, and I didn’t know whether to take it or tell her to go. But then again, I had to hear what it said.

“Play it,” I told her.

Penny took the tape out of the case and popped it into the cassette player. She obviously knew the place she was looking for, because she watched the counter as she rewound and stopped at a specific location. She pushed the play button, and the first voice I heard was one I remembered very well.

Gordon Brink.

“It’s me. I met with Sandra Thoreau today. She’s the primary agitator at the mine.”

“How did it go?”

Penny paused the playback. “That second voice? That’s the managing partner at the law firm.”

“And this was seven years ago?”

“Yes.”

“If it’s incriminating, why would they record it? Why would they keep it?”

“They’re lawyers,” Penny replied. “They keep secret records of everything. You never know when you’re going to need leverage over somebody.”

She started the tape again.

“It didn’t go well. This Thoreau is a stubborn little—”