Valerie jerked her hands off the laptop keyboard as if the plastic had burned her.

She twisted the thin gold ring on her right middle finger once, twice, three times, her face dead white under the fluorescent lights.

“I didn’t know it was poison,” Valerie stammered, looking around the table at the silent directors.

“Garrett told me it was a mild sedative to help him rest.

He said Raymond was wrecking the contract talks because he was exhausted.”

“Shut your mouth, Valerie,” Garrett said, his voice dropping to a low, raspy whisper.