The Icarus factory was a rather disorienting blend of the traditional and the hypermodern. The whole complex was surrounded with some seriously high fences, as befitted a facility undertaking classified projects, razor wire, security cameras and Camile spotted at least one man with a large Rottweiler guard dog.
However, as they pulled up to the gate, the young man in uniform on the gate looked through the car window and smiled.
"Hi Sheriff Young, how you doing? How's my favourite cousin Becky doing?"
"She's fine Carl, is Ms Armstrong expecting us."
"Oh yes sir, you and..." he squinted into the car, "Agents Wray and Brody."
They obligingly held up their IDs and he grinned at them.
"That's just fine. Well, you know where to go, you all have a nice afternoon."
He raised the barrier and waved them through. They drove down a long drive. There were a variety of buildings on the site. Some evidently dated from the days of the current Ms Armstrong's great grandfather, but the main buildings now were large, glassy and very modern looking, with a large expanse of manicured lawn outside. The whole site was open and landscaped with wide areas of planting, although few trees.
Young pulled up outside a large building fronted in a dark smoked glass. As soon as he pulled up there was a tall man in a black security uniform walking out to meet them. Wray looked at him, he was hard to place, not white certainly, probably at least partly native American, tall and muscular with short dark hair and a walk that said someone at some point in the past had spent a lot of time teaching him how to march. Definitely ex-military, not a doubt about that.
"Everett!" he greeted Young as they got out of the car.
He smiled as he walked up and Wray thought he looked like a tiger. Pleased to meet you, but you weren't sure you wanted to know the reason why.
"David, how are you?" Young shook his hand warmly.
"Fine." He said. "These are your FBI agents?"
Young nodded.
"Agent Camile Wray and Agent Brody, this is David Telford, Head of Security at Icarus Industries."
Telford shook their hands, grip firm, face schooled into a polite smile.
"I don't trust you." Thought Camile, smiling back pleasantly. "Pleased to meet you Mr Telford."
He led them into the building, opening the doors into an airy reception area where they signed in and accepted visitor passes before he took them through a set of security doors with swipe card and key pad entry and through a couple of corridors to what must be some kind of meeting room.
The room was dominated by a large cherry wood conference table surrounded by chairs and a large painting of a serious looking man from the early 1900s. There were three people waiting in the room, a very tired looking young woman in a lavender dress and jacket was sitting at the head of the table drinking a coffee, who Camile guessed must be Miss Armstrong.
Next to her stood a shortish middle aged man with brown hair that brushed his collar and hung over his face almost hid his narrow features. He was tidy but casual in a white shirt and brown jacket. He looked restless, and looked up at them as they walked in, but his body language was focussed on the girl, shoulders turned slightly towards her. He looked as drained as she did, worn around the eyes. The other occupant of the room was a nervous looking young man, maybe a little older than Miss Armstrong, but not by much who hovered near the coffee machine with an unhappy expression. He was wearing a red shirt and tie with jeans and could have done with his hair being brushed. Everything about him screamed geek to Camile.
Young greeted them as he walked up to the table.
"Hello Chloe, Doctor Rush, Eli."
The young woman smiled faintly, the man addressed as Doctor Rush glowered through the curtain of his hair and Eli gave an awkward bob of the head. Telford stepped forward.
"This is Agent Camile Wray and Agent Brody." He gestured to them. "Camile, Agent Brody, this is Chloe Armstrong our CEO and owner, Doctor Nicholas Rush, Head of Research and Development at Icarus and Eli Wallace." He turned to Eli, "What's your job title at the moment Eli?"
Eli looked up from the coffee machine.
"Executive Research Assistant." He said.
"Dogsbody and gopher to Chloe and myself." Doctor Rush said with a wry smile. "He's the one who actually gets things done round here."
Eli rolled his eyes.
Camile noted the scientist's accent, quite evidently from Scotland. When Miss Armstrong looked over at him, Eli brought the tray of coffee and mugs over to the table then sat down next to her. Without being asked Rush sat on her other side. Camile noticed his body language was somewhat defensive towards them but still very focused on Miss Armstrong.
She gestured to the chairs along the side of the table, next to them.
"Take a seat, please."
Camile sat herself nearest to the end, next to Eli, Brody next to her. Young sat opposite, next to Rush, Telford on his other side.
"What can we do for you?" Chloe asked Camile directly.
"You know what we're here investigating?" Camile queried, more of a statement than a question.
Chloe nodded.
"One of the leads we're following up is that it's connected to your father's death somehow."
Miss Armstrong took a deep breath, held it a second, then let it out. She let her hands fall into her lap.
"I suppose that's…understandable. Though I can't see a connection." She paused. "But you have to follow these things up."
"I'm sorry Miss Armstrong but a lot of the things we are seeing is suggesting that the current crimes have something to do with Icarus and everything has come to a head since your father's death."
Camile was watching her, and noticed when her arm moved just slightly. If Camile hadn't been deliberately watching her reactions as she talked she wouldn't have noticed. It looked like she had reached out to touch Doctor Rush under the table, but for what reason Camile couldn't have said, as nothing reached the young woman's face. Rush was impassive, gave no indication anything had happened.
"What would you like to see. Who do you want to speak to?"
"Well, I'd like Agent Brody to go over the safety inspection report from the accident," Camile said, "and to see where it happened. I'd also like to talk to yourself, and anyone else who was there on the day."
"That would be me, Doctor Rush, Eli, Doctor Volker, Doctor Caine, Doctor Damji and Ronald Greer. Ronald is one of the security staff, the others all work in the labs, except Doctor Caine now."
Camile saw Telford scowl at the mention of Ronald Greer, there was obviously no love lost there. Another small issue to ask someone. The whole room went quiet at the mention of Doctor Caine.
"It's mid afternoon already," Miss Armstrong said, "so I'll arrange for you to speak to everyone tomorrow, but I can speak to you this afternoon." She turned to Eli. "Eli, will you take Dr Brody and the Sheriff and show them the records and the lab."
Brody and Young stood and followed Eli out of the room.
"I think you can get back to what you were doing before." She said to Rush and Telford. "I can speak to Agent Wray in here."
Telford nodded.
"Agent Wray." He said politely. He nodded to Miss Armstrong again and walked out.
Rush looked irritated, he glowered again at Camile, looked like he was going to say something, then simply patted Miss Armstrong on the shoulder and walked out, shutting the door behind him.
"Miss Armstrong, are you okay if I record this interview?" Camile asked. "It's not an official interview so it wouldn't be evidence but it will help me write up my notes afterwards."
Camile's voice was gentle, but it appeared the young woman had some steel in her anyway as she stood and poured coffee for them both then walked back over to the table and put it down in front of them. She gave Camile a frank look.
"That's okay. And you can call me Chloe." She said. "Everybody does, it's hard to be Miss Armstrong when half of your employees saw you in nappies." She put cream in her coffee. "Now, what do you want to ask?"
Camile turned on the Dictaphone and set it on the table.
"What can you tell me about your father?"
"He was a driven man." Chloe said. "Devoted to the company the same as me. He loved the business, it was him that diversified our portfolio and built all of the new parts of the factory. Before he started we were just making straightforward missiles." She sat back in her chair. "He built up the research side of the business to branch out into other technologies. That's why Doctor Rush was brought in to the company, they knew each other at University and he had some ideas that Daddy wanted to trial. It's been very profitable."
"Have there been problems with competitors?"
Chloe shrugged.
"Our major competitors are Argent Defence Solutions and Rahest Incorporated and used to be Carnegie-Wallace but they went bust. Nothing beyond the usual." She said. "At least not in the last ten years since I've been involved in what was going on."
"Ten years?" Camile asked surprised. "That would be since you were...?"
"I grew up around the factory, but I started working here in the holidays when I was fourteen." Chloe said. "I was a filing clerk my first summer in records, then the year I was fifteen I was an administrative assistant in the labs. The summer I was sixteen I worked in human resources, the year after that in marketing and new business, the summer before I went to college I was back in the labs again and on the factory floor, then the four summers during my degree I was in the labs, then finance, the labs again, then my father's office. I've worked for the company full time since I finished my MBA."
Camile nodded with an appreciative look.
"It sounds like your father wanted you to get a good grasp of the company." She said.
Chloe nodded. "I can pretty much say I know the business from the ground up. I can even drive a forklift truck."
Camile took a sip of her coffee.
"I know this is difficult but I'm going to need to ask you some difficult questions about your father."
Chloe nodded. Her face was schooled to a expressionless mask, just a little tight round the eyes.
"Your father and mother have been married for twenty five years?"
Chloe nodded.
"And were there other women in your father's life at all?"
The young woman shook her head vehemently.
"No never." She said. "My father would never go with another woman."
Camile nodded sympathetically. "I'm sorry but I have to ask. And your mother?"
"No, never."
"So you would say your parents had a good relationship?"
"I don't know why this is relevant."
"I'm sorry," Camile apologised, "but we always need to get a picture of all of the important people in any case."
Chloe looked down at her cup then took a deep breath and looked back at Camile.
"My parent's marriage was not a close one for many years. I think they mainly stayed together out of habit and for me. But they were friends, and my father tried to do the best for my mother, as she had given up her life and any expectations of a career to marry him. My mother I think has come to terms with that. My parents didn't share a room any more before you ask, but they had a life together, shared interests and spent time together."
Camile made a couple of notes on things to follow up, before looking back to Chloe again.
"Okay, you said that Carnegie-Wallace was it...?" she asked. Chloe nodded. "Carnegie-Wallace went bust."
Chloe nodded.
"And would Eli Wallace have anything to do with that?"
Chloe nodded.
"His family's business." She said. "Dad offered him a job when things went wrong for them. He's a good employee." She added a little defensively.
Camile nodded.
"Okay. I'd like to go onto the accident."
Chloe laid out the circumstances of the accident. She didn't go into a large quantity of detail about the technical issues, but she laid out the basics of who had been involved. She and her father and Eli had been in her father's office, looking at a potential new contract when the phone had rung. They had all hurried down to the lab, not even thinking about the danger, just about the damage that an explosion could do. Rush and Volker had been in the lab, Greer and Damji had been outside. Caine had arrived shortly after. Her father had gone in, Volker had sustained a burn and Armstrong had had Rush drag him out. Things had then deteriorated suddenly Armstrong had isolated a series of systems and components and then there had been the explosion. However, due to what Armstrong had done the damage was contained in the labs. Sadly, the others had seen everything through the impact proof glass.
Camile watched as Chloe broke down and pulled out a tissue, handing it to her. She waited for the girl to wipe her eyes, and took her arm sympathetically.
"I know you need to ask more stuff," Chloe faltered, "but can we finish tomorrow?"
Camile nodded.
"That would be fine."
Chloe stood.
"You can finish your notes in here if you like." She said. "When you're done, my secretary is three doors along. Please ask her if you need anything."
She walked out.
Camile pulled her laptop out and took down some notes while things were clear in her mind. When she was finished she packed up and left the room, looking for the secretary's room. She wasn't intending to do so, but Miss Armstrong hadn't said left or right and she pushed the third door along open then stopped.
The two people in the room didn't notice her. She paused and looked curiously as Chloe Armstrong sobbed into the shoulder of Doctor Rush, who had his arms wrapped round her, his face pressed into her hair. Neither noticed her and she stepped back and silently walked away.