Simm sighed.
‘Believe what you want, Charlie, but I’m going to have to question him.’
‘No!’
‘I have to. He’s a suspect.’
‘That’s crazy! Besides, do you not think the kid last night would have noticed the person was a black man built like a tank? He would have mentioned it. And Frank was here last night. He was in charge of the bar.’
‘He could have hired someone to follow you. He couldn’t go himself. You would’ve seen him.’
Charlie shook her head vehemently.
‘I can’t let you question him. If you must know, Frank didn’t have an easy life. When he came out at fourteen, his father wouldn’t accept it. It was only because of his mother that he stayed in the house until he was eighteen. He would’ve been better off living on the street. His father made his existence a living hell. When he was of age, he was out of there, and he worked his way through university. When I hired him, he was a shy, quiet, young man, not quite what I was looking for in a bartender. But I took a chance, and he really blossomed here. Look at him now. Everyone loves him, and all it took was a little acceptance.’
‘Okay, I get it,’ Simm said, his expression grim. ‘But, I still have to ask him about it. I have no choice.’
‘No, you won’t question him. I’ll talk to him.’
‘I want to be there with you.’
Before she could protest, he held up his hand.
‘Look, whether you want to acknowledge it or not, I’m a trained investigator. I know how to do this. If you insist, I’ll let you take the lead, but I need to be there.’
‘There’s no need to do this. He’s innocent. I’m sure of it.’
‘If he’s innocent, he won’t mind talking to us.’
‘You’ll hurt his feelings.’
‘He’s a grown man. He’ll have to suck it up.’
Charlie ran her hands through her hair. She couldn’t believe this was happening. He was making her doubt Frank, something she never could have imagined. Harley came over and sat at her feet, looking at her balefully. Even he seemed upset by the news.
‘It’s Tuesday night. What time do you close tonight?’ Simm said.
She glanced at her watch.
‘At midnight. In an hour.’
‘We’ll talk to him then.’
The next hour was one of the worst Charlie had ever lived through. She couldn’t even look at Frank without feeling guilty, and he noticed.
‘What’s going on? You look upset. What did Simm have to say?’
‘I’ll talk to you later. After we close up.’
She kept herself busy, moving from the bar to the tables, continually checking on customers. Simm sat at a corner table, nursing a beer, trying to kill time. Charlie noticed Frank glancing at him suspiciously, wondering what he had done to upset his boss.
Finally, the last customer was ushered out the door and the ‘closed’ sign was put in place. Charlie, resigned to her fate, asked Frank to sit at a table with her and Simm.
‘What’s happening? Charlie looks like she lost her best friend.’
She grimaced. She hoped his statement wasn’t prophetic.
‘It’s nothing serious, Frank. We just have a couple of questions, that’s all,’ she said.
‘For me? This has to do with me?’
‘Yeah, but it’s nothing to worry about.’ She tried to smile before continuing.
‘Simm was doing his checking, like we hired him to do, right? And he came across some information. I’m sure there’s a perfectly good explanation, and I know it has nothing to do with what’s going on these days, but is it possible you have a juvenile record?’
She knew she had handled it clumsily when Frank’s face contorted in anger, and he stood up so fast his chair fell over with a loud bang.
‘You’ve been trying to pin this on me all along, haven’t you?’ he said, pointing his finger at Simm.
Simm unhurriedly got to his feet. He was almost as tall as Frank, but he wasn’t as bulky, and Charlie didn’t think he would fare well if it came to a physical fight. She also didn’t want to have to choose sides. She stepped between the men, facing Frank.
‘No one is pinning anything on you. We just want to clarify some things, that’s all.’
Frank lowered his gaze to look at Charlie. The look in his eyes sent a pain through her chest.
‘Clarify things? Have I not made anything clear to you over all these years? I thought we were friends.’
‘We are! Please don’t take this the wrong way, Frank,’ she appealed to him, placing her hands on his forearms. She could feel him trembling with rage, and she knew she had made a terrible mistake. His face blurred in front of her, her eyes brimming with tears.
‘How can I not take it the wrong way? You’re accusing me of harassing you, sending you crazy letters and animal organs! What have I ever done to give you the idea I would do something like that?’
‘Nothing, nothing at all. I know you wouldn’t do it.’
‘It’s him,’ he said, pointing at Simm. ‘He’s convinced you I’m some sort of psycho.’
Charlie had no idea how Simm reacted to that accusation, and she didn’t care. She was much more concerned about Frank at the moment.
‘Do you want to know what happened?’
‘No, I don’t…’
‘I’ll tell you. I was fifteen years old, and I was confronted by a bunch of bullies.’ he said, glaring at Simm. ‘There were three of them, two boys and a girl. The two boys held me down while she had fun kicking me, in the face and the groin. I was big then too. I managed to shake them off, and one of them fell on top of her, and she broke her arm. Of course, I was blamed for it. And who would they believe? Let’s blame the black guy, right?’
Charlie was crying now, both for the fifteen-year-old boy and the kind-hearted man who had been by her side for the last five years, and who she was now afraid she would lose.
‘I’m outta here.’
He turned to storm out of the pub, but not before picking up the chair and putting it back where it belonged.
When the door slammed behind him, Charlie’s heart plunged lower than she thought it could ever go.
‘Charlie…’
She held up her hand. Her back was still turned to Simm, and she knew she couldn’t look at him. It hurt too much, and she was too angry.
‘Leave me alone. I’m going to his place to talk to him. I have to make this right.’
‘I’ll drive you.’
‘It’s not far. I’ll walk.’
‘You can’t…’
‘I can, and I will. I can’t deal with you right now.’
Charlie gathered up her things and attached Harley’s leash to his collar. Without looking at Simm, she waited for him to step out of the pub before she locked up. As she trudged dispiritedly up the street, she saw him walking to his car. A few minutes later, she heard a vehicle following close behind her. Her heart beat faster. Had she taken a risk she would pay for?
She cautiously glanced over her shoulder and breathed in relief. It was Simm, following at a crawl.
Chapter 21:
The look on Frank’s face broke her heart all over again. She had argued with Paul for a few minutes before he agreed to let her into the apartment. That was the easy part. The hard part was facing Frank.
She had expected him to be simmering, but instead he resembled a little boy who had lost his favorite toy. During the walk over, she tried to decide how she would approach him, but seeing him now, all her careful
ly-planned strategy flew out the window. The best way was to speak from the heart. She sat beside him on the couch.
‘Frank, please forgive me. I’m an idiot. There’s no excuse for what I did. I’m so sorry.’
She paused to see if there was any break in his expression. Seeing none, she went for broke.
‘You’re my best friend. God, you’re my only friend. I spend more time with you than I’ve ever spent with anyone else. I depend on you. You’re always there for me, through thick and thin. I made a mistake, a horrible mistake. I should never have listened to him. But, if it makes you feel any better, I never believed you had anything to do with the letters. I told him so.’
‘He was going to talk to you about the juvenile record,’ she continued. ‘But I didn’t want him to do it. I thought, if anything, it would be better if I was the one to ask you about it. But I messed it up. I messed up everything. Frank, you know I love you. I hate myself for hurting you. It was a terrible thing to do. I don’t deserve to be forgiven, but please forgive me anyway.’
The silence was long and excruciating.
‘I would never hurt a woman.’
‘I know that. You wouldn’t hurt anyone,’ she hurried to say.
‘You’re wrong. I would hurt someone. I would hurt someone really bad. Anybody that messed with you would have to deal with me. And I wouldn’t be gentle with them.’
Charlie blinked her eyes several times, trying to hold back the tears, until she gave up and let them flow. She leaned over and wrapped her arms around the big man’s neck, laying her head on his shoulder. His body was stiff and tense. Despite his words, she worried that she’d be rejected, and she began to pull away, until she felt two strong arms circling around her and pulling her close.
‘You’re my best bud, Frank. Please don’t leave me.’
‘I won’t. Unfortunately, I’m stuck on you too.’
‘I never doubted you. I just…’
‘Shh. Let’s forget about it, okay? I don’t want to talk about it anymore.’
‘You’re right. We won’t discuss it.’
‘And if that asshole Simm dares to imply anything, I’ll…’
‘Don’t say it. It won’t happen. I think he learned his lesson.’
‘The only reason why I don’t send him packing is because he does a good job of watching out for you.’
‘I know.’
‘And if he’ll ever get his head out of his ass and start looking for the real culprit, maybe we can get past all this.’
‘I agree. I’ll pass on the message.’
An hour later, when Charlie and Harley came out of Frank’s apartment, Simm’s car was still parked at the curb. She hadn’t expected him to wait. When she walked over to the car and peered in the window, she couldn’t help but laugh, despite her lingering anger with him. He was sound asleep. Some bodyguard he was, she thought.
She rapped sharply on the window and was satisfied to see him jump in reaction.
‘Keeping an eye out for me, were you?’ she asked, when he lowered the window.
‘I knew you were there.’
‘You’re such a bad liar, Simm.’
‘Everything okay with Frank?’
‘Yes. Thank God, and no thanks to you.’
‘I had to check every angle.’
‘Well, that’s one angle we’ll put to rest. And, just so you know, he thinks it’s time you pulled your head out of your ass.’
Simm snorted.
‘Let’s get home. I’m tired,’ he said.
Charlie was silent on the way home, but she wouldn’t let it go entirely. As the door of the apartment closed behind them, she turned to face Simm.
‘Just so you know, I don’t appreciate what you put me through today, not to mention what it did to poor Frank.’
Simm ran his fingers through his hair.
‘I know. I got it. But you have to realize I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t look at all the possibilities.’
‘Could you stick with possibilities that are at least plausible?’
‘All of them are plausible. Even Frank was plausible. Incorrect, but plausible.’
‘All of them? How many do you have?’
‘A few.’
‘Who?’
‘I’ll tell you when you need to know.’
‘I can eliminate some for you if you tell me who they are.’
‘That’s exactly why I’m not telling you.’
Charlie narrowed her eyes. God, he could be frustrating.
‘I think I should be involved in the investigation.’
Simm barked out a laugh as he threw himself into an armchair.
‘No way. I work alone. The worst thing to do is partner with someone on a job, especially the victim.’
‘And why would that be?’
‘Because they’re often too emotional, not to mention inexperienced.’
‘I could be a good asset. I’ve worked in a bar all my life. I know people. I know how to read them.’
‘Thanks all the same, but the answer’s still no.’
‘You can at least keep me informed. You could tell me about the next suspect on your list.’
‘Need to know.’
‘You’re a pain in the ass.’
‘You didn’t hire me to be a nice guy. You hired me to find out who this freak is.’
‘I didn’t hire you at all. Frank did.’
‘You didn’t un-hire me.
‘There’s still time for that.’
Chapter 22:
Simm was at the pub, having a beer along with the after-work crowd without mingling with anyone, preferring to sit back and watch.
Most of his attention was drawn by Charlie, who buzzed around taking care of customers with her usual zest. Simm had finally gotten used to Charlie’s looks. After all, there were differences. Helen’s skin had been perpetually tanned, having spent most of her life outdoors. Charlie was fair-skinned, with a very faint dusting of freckles if you saw her in the right light. Her hair also had a bit of a reddish glow in certain lighting, while Helen’s had been a true brown.
Their builds were similar, both of them slim, but Charlie was taller. Simm remembered how high the top of Helen’s head reached in comparison to him. Charlie had an inch or two more on her.
He told himself he had to stop comparing the two women. It was something he never did with women he dated, and he knew it was because Charlie reminded him so much of Helen that he did it now, but it was unhealthy. Too many memories had resurfaced, and most of them were not good.
Thank goodness Charlie’s character was the opposite of Helen’s, or he’d lose his mind altogether. He remembered the gentle, unassuming woman he had known most of his life, with her easygoing personality, always ready to forgive and forget. How many times had she told Simm life was too short to worry about other people and their actions? She believed you had to enjoy the moments you had, and everything would work out for everyone.
Helen had been wise beyond her years, almost prophetic. Except, it hadn’t worked out for either of them. On that point, she had been wrong.
Simm stiffened when a hand landed on his shoulder. The familiar voice did little to make him relax.
‘Here you are. I finally tracked you down.’
‘And I thought I was the investigator. How did you find me?’
Surprisingly, Walt had the grace to color a bit.
‘To tell you the truth, I followed you.’
‘I didn’t thi
nk skulking around was your style. Hiring someone to follow me would have been more believable.’
Simm turned away to sip his beer, and caught Charlie looking at them with curiosity. He knew he had to move this discussion to another location if he wanted to keep her nose out of it. But it was too late. Charlie converged on them before Simm could barely move a muscle.
‘Hey Simm, who’s your friend?’ she said, without taking her eyes off Walt. ‘You guys must be related. You look so much alike.’
‘You have a good eye,’ Walt answered, clearly enchanted by the megawatt smile Charlie had pulled out for the occasion. ‘I’m Walt, Simm’s brother.’
‘Isn’t that great? At long last, I get to meet Simm’s brother,’ Charlie said, giving every impression Simm had told her about his sibling’s existence. ‘Sit down. What would you like to drink? It’s on the house. Any brother of Simm’s is a brother of mine.’
She sounded genuine, but the undercurrent of sarcasm was glaringly obvious to Simm. From the look on Walt’s face, all he saw was a beautiful woman pouring on the charm.
When Charlie sauntered off to get Walt’s whisky on the rocks, the bedazzled man turned to Simm.
‘Who is that? Is she yours?’
‘Her name is Charlie Butler, and she owns this pub. And to answer your question, no, she’s not mine. She’s a client.’
‘She hired you?’
‘Don’t sound so surprised. There are people who hire me, you know.’
‘Of course. It’s just…what did she hire you to do?’
‘Investigate. I can’t discuss the details.’
‘Is she single?’
Simm ground his teeth together. Walt was three years younger than him, and Simm had always been patient with him, as he believed a big brother should be, but sometimes Walt was irritating to the extreme.
‘I don’t know. I think so. But she’s just a lowly bartender,’ he said, with a meaningful look at his brother.
‘Not at all. She’s a businessperson.’ Walt said, Simm’s message going over his head.
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