“No. My dad was a researcher. A mechanical engineer with a science background. When she was born missing her lower leg, he got into this prosthetics field in a big way. So, although she’s not technically a scientist in the same way as I am, she does a certain amount of research,” she said half-heartedly, clearly not wanting to get into a detailed explanation of it all. “Melinda was the impetus for the company. There would be no company but for her. However, she handles a lot of the marketing more than she does the science, that’s all.”
The two men continued to stare at her, as if waiting. She gave them a flat stare back. They could ask questions if they wanted to learn more, but she’d be damned if she’d voluntarily get into her family dynamics.
“Any problems between the two of you?” Gavin asked expectantly.
“What problems?” she asked. But her heart sank as she saw the knowing look on Gavin’s face.
“Come on. Fess up,” he said. “We’ll need all the dirt.”
“Fine,” she said. “Melinda went into the science part of the business and didn’t do very well. She barely scraped through school, and, on the job, she made a couple very significant mistakes that cost the company big. At that point in time my father moved her to marketing, where she couldn’t cause any damage in the lab.”
“So then, the younger sister comes along, completely brilliant where science is concerned, stepping into the role that Melinda had sought for herself. And, in no time, you are in charge of R&D.”
“How did you know I run the R&D department?” she asked, frowning at him. “Dad had a very logical reason for moving me into that position.”
“Logical, yes, but potentially harmful in terms of the relationship between the two of you sisters,” Gavin said.
“Melinda was married with a family,” she said, “and research and development wasn’t her thing. She still wanted to be part of the company, but it was obvious she couldn’t do that job. What was I supposed to do?”
“Did you rat her out?” Shane asked.
At that, she could feel her eyes widen in shock. “Of course not,” she said. “I didn’t have to anyway. Her gaffe cost the company a small fortune in the lab, and a lot of expensive materials were damaged. It is what it is. I didn’t create the problem. She did. She wasn’t in the right job, and honestly she is much better suited for the position she holds now.”
“And, of course,” Shane continued, “it leaves you free and clear to take over the R&D department as the wonder child.”
At that, she narrowed her gaze at him. “Really? What is it with you two? I don’t think I like what you’re implying.”
“Maybe not,” Shane said quietly. “But it could and does appear to some that you deliberately had your older sister removed from the lab, then stepped into her place. Now everybody turns to you for the latest and greatest news on the R&D side.”
“People can say whatever the hell they want,” she said briskly. “They will anyway. But I’ve never done anything to intentionally hurt my sister. More than ten years are between us, so we might as well be from two separate families. By the time I was old enough to understand I had a sister, she was never around and always off for various activities,” she said, with a wave of her hand. “If it wasn’t ballet with a prosthetic, it was swimming lessons or riding horses,” she said. “She was never home. Plus, she was very close to our parents, who treated her as really special, I guess because of her disability. And me? I was just the baby who was in the way all the time.”
“And did that bother you?” Gavin asked.
“No, of course not,” she said. “Everybody was compensating because of her disability. That’s what people do. It’s to be expected.”
“So, not wanting to appear like your sister, you hid your smarts, I imagine.”
She turned her gaze on Gavin. “And who are you to assume that I have any?” He gave her a small smile. She shrugged. “So school was easy for me.”
“Were you ever tested?” Gavin asked, with a smile.
She raised an eyebrow. “You mean, like Mensa? No,” she said. “Why would I want to be labeled or restricted by a number?”
Gavin laughed at that. “I have no problems with you being super intelligent,” he announced. “I’m quite comfortable being me and doing what I do,” he said, “but I’m guessing some people feel threatened by your obvious brainpower.”
“I hope not,” she said, frowning. “I try hard not to appear too super intelligent. It does not make you friends.”
“No,” he said gently. “But I don’t think you suffer fools gladly. And I imagine there’s an edge to your voice when things don’t go the way you expect them to go.”
“If it’s in my research lab, and it doesn’t go in the direction I expect, I simply want to know why,” she said. “But, if it happens to be situations where people haven’t done what they were supposed to do, that is a different story.”
“And then they hear the edge in your tone. Is that the idea?” Shane asked.
“I’m not bitchy, if that’s what you’re asking,” she said. “That’s why I work with the people I work with. They know my expectations, and they do what they are supposed to do. I certainly show appreciation when something works out or when my expectations are exceeded, and I try not to gouge into them if they’ve done something stupid and made an honest mistake. Because the people I work with,” she stated firmly, “are professionals. What I can’t stand are insipid half-assed people, claiming to have skills that they don’t have, so, when they get on a job, they mess things up more than anything.”
At that, Gavin gave a long-drawn-out breath. “So, your sister, I guess.” Rosalina glared at him but could feel some heat climbing up her neck. He nodded. “You don’t have to say anything else. I get it.”
“But do you?” she asked. “Do you know what it’s like to be in a department where your sister is the one screwing up things? And she won’t leave, even though she knows it’s the wrong place for her, all because she doesn’t want her parents to know she can’t handle it?”
“Meaning, they just continued to let her do her job badly without recriminations?”
“She figured they only gave her the job because of her disability in the first place. That really bothered her, so she wanted to do a good job and to prove that she could do it.”
“I would imagine that nobody wants a handout all the time,” he said.
“She loves handouts,” she said. “And I have no problem with her getting the handouts. But I want her well away from my department.”
At that, Gavin laughed out loud.
“That surprises you?”
“No, not at all,” he said. “I’m sure a lot of people in the world would agree with you. And I’m not one who suffers fools gracefully either.” He shoved his hands in his pockets, as he studied the area around them. “I want to get you back to the hotel,” he said. “Is there any chance that you’ve recognized any of the kidnappers’ faces? Anything we could use a sketch artist for?”