True Vision (20 page)

“What?”

“You heard me. I want to change the world. Just like you. And we can do it.”

“You don’t need me to do that.”

“Of course, I don’t. But it would be so much more fun to have you on my side. You’re Charlie Trudeau, the journalist who spat in the eye of powerful advertisers to print the truth. Imagine that. The
truth
. We could spread it everywhere. Politicians, crooked businessmen and bad guys across the nation beware.”

“But if you don’t cater to your advertisers, how will you make money?”

“Not all advertisers are crooked.”

“Of course not. But many are loyal to each other. They band together like unions.”

“And to them, I say, pshaw. I’m a billionaire. In the beginning, we need only enough revenue to break even. Once we’ve changed the industry, the sky is the limit. What do you say? You and me against the world.”

She couldn’t help but laugh. Pshaw? You and me against the world? This guy was a hoot. Or crazy as a loon. And she wanted to say yes. Desperately wanted to say yes. But that would be foolish, and she was tired of being foolish. “I’ll think about it.”

He beamed at her. “Brilliant.”

 

He shoved open his car door and got out to pace, unable to sit still another stupid fucking second and stare at Charlie Trudeau’s stupid fucking house.

Where the fuck was she? How the fuck was he supposed to kill her when she didn’t fucking come home? It’s like she’d disappeared off the face of the fucking planet.

He curled his fingers into fists at his sides, wished they were wrapped around her stupid fucking neck. Imagined choking her almost unconscious then letting up, letting her catch her breath, only to choke her almost unconscious all over again. He was in the mood for some hard-core torture now. Long, drawn-out, scream-inducing torture.

Because of her, he’d been racing around this godforsaken shithole of a town like a chicken with his nuts cut off. Trying to find Charlie Trudeau, to kill Charlie Trudeau. Stupid fucking bitch was killing
him
instead.

Hearing his cell phone, he ducked his head through the driver’s side window and snatched it up. Time to get his head chewed off for the millionth time this week for fucking up.

“Yeah.”

“They found Louisa.”

He swallowed hard, closed his eyes. Fuck, fuck,
fuck
. “Yeah, I heard.”

“They haven’t released her name to the public yet. We still have some time.”

“Uh-huh.”

“And I have good news for you.”

He opened his eyes. “What is it?”

“I know where Charlie Trudeau is, and I know how you can kill her.”

CHAPTER
THIRTY-SIX

C
harlie hung up the phone, frustrated. She’d tried all of Lucy’s numbers again and gotten no answer. No voice mail, either, which meant she couldn’t even leave a message. Maddening.

She’d also gone online to check the address of the house on Tarpon Bay Street against directory assistance to try to get a name. She’d found a listing for L. Alvarez, but the name meant nothing to her.

She lay back on the bed and groaned aloud. By now, the police had to know that the woman with curly black hair hadn’t been killed where her body was found. But would they know the crime scene they sought had been freshly painted? Could she somehow let them know that without raising a bunch of questions about how she knew? Perhaps an anonymous tip. Except with technology these days, tips were rarely anonymous anymore.

Closing her eyes, she thought about Simon Walker and his too-good-to-be-true offer. Fresh starts didn’t get much fresher. She could have what she’d always wanted,
be
what she’d always wanted—an investigative journalist with no restraints. So tempting. But could she abandon Lake Avalon, her father, after making such a mess? Shouldn’t she do something to clean that up first?

A soft knock on the door had her sitting up and looking at her watch. Must be Alex.

When she opened the door, Alex looked Charlie up and down, her auburn curls bouncing. “Holy crap. You had sex.”

Charlie’s laugh sounded breathless to her own ears. Oh, yeah, that. And it wasn’t
just
sex, but something much,
much
better. “Don’t say stuff like that out in the hall. Get in here.”

Alex walked in and turned, crossing her arms under her breasts. “Who did you have sex with?”

Charlie laughed again, embarrassed. Alex wasn’t going to let her avoid her questions, but she stalled for more time by standing in front of the mirror and pulling her hair back from her face to secure it in a ponytail. Despite the puffiness of her bruised cheek, it didn’t take a genius to know by looking at her what she’d been up to. Her lips were swollen, her cheeks and neck slightly red from whisker burn. Her eyes seemed to shine. The glimmer of life.

“Who were you with?” Alex asked again.

Charlie drew in a steadying breath, her gaze fixed on her own eyes in the mirror. “Noah.”

“The detective from the other day? The one who got shot at today? You
slept
with him?” Alex asked, incredulous.

Charlie smiled, still holding her own gaze. She felt different. Confident. She’d turned a man on so intensely he’d thought her name not once, but twice, while his world had exploded. Her insides fluttered low in her belly, and she smoothed a hand over her lower abdomen, remembering what it was like to experience his release, so different, so—

“Charlie?”

She focused on the reflection of Alex’s baffled expression. “We didn’t sleep,” she said.

Alex’s mouth dropped open. “What the fuck, Chuck?”

Charlie turned away from the mirror. “I think I need to figure some stuff out before we go there.”

“Oh my God, you’re going to deny your sister details?”

“Looks like. Sorry.”

“You are
such
a bitch.” But Alex was smiling. “He was good for you. You’re actually glowing. So is it too much to tell me how you left things? I mean, you’re going to see him again, aren’t you?”

Charlie shrugged, feeling her cheeks heat all over again. “I kind of slipped out while he was sleeping.”

“What?” Alex nearly shouted it.

“I guess I wigged out a little and bolted.”

“Go back.” Alex lunged at her, turned her by the shoulders toward the door and gave her a hard nudge. “He’s probably still snoring. He’ll never know you left.”

Laughing, Charlie sat at the foot of the double bed closest to the door and toed off her shoes. Her muscles felt limber, as though well-lubricated by Noah’s attention.

She felt Alex silently watching her, assessing, and didn’t mind. She’d be scrutinizing, too, if their roles had been switched.

“Oh, all right. Shut me out.” But instead of being mad, Alex just sounded amused. “That’s pretty much your MO anyway. I mean, you had a car accident yesterday and you didn’t call me. I thought I’d made myself clear after the break-in.”

She shrugged. “The accident was minor.”

“Not according to Logan. Your Escape is totaled.”

He apparently hadn’t mentioned the murderous ninja. Thank you, Logan. “Don’t I look okay to you?”

Alex tilted her head, her gaze shrewd. “You tried something with makeup that isn’t quite working.” She pursed her lips. “And there’s that sneaky stuff with the Dick’s story. Why didn’t you mention you were planning that?”

“It was kind of a last-minute thing. And I didn’t want anyone to think you had anything to do with it.”

“No. I just ended up looking like the sister Charlie doesn’t trust to confide in.”

“Alex—”

“You’ll be happy to know that David’s doing cartwheels. On day one of his new law firm, he had screwed customers from Dick’s lining up.”

“That’s great. Good for him.”

“Yes, good for him. But you and me, we need to get something straight.”

Uh-oh. “Okay.”

“I know something serious is up. You checked into the Royal Palm, for God’s sake. You’re scared.”

“Maybe a little.”

“So the car accident wasn’t really an accident, right? Logan hedged all over the freaking place when he told me about it.”

Charlie nodded. Time to come clean. “I was run off the road.”

Alex sank onto the bed next to her. “Damn. I was afraid of that.”

“But Logan set me up here, and it’s safe. I’ve been using the back entrance. No one outside of you guys and Mac knows I’m here. And, get this, when I went out earlier today, I disguised myself by wearing a dress.”

Alex laughed heartily at that. “Charlie Trudeau in a
dress
? I wish I’d seen that.”

“It was kind of pretty, really.” And especially fun when Noah peeled it off.

“Mom would be so proud.”

Charlie rolled her eyes. Refusing to wear dresses had been one of her sillier acts of defiance. “She would have thought she finally won.”

“So you were out sneaking around, huh? I bet Logan didn’t know about that.”

“Actually, he does. He kind of caught me in the act.”

“That’s my Logan. You can’t get much past that guy.”

Charlie grinned at her. “Your Logan, huh?”

Alex waved a dismissive hand. “A figure of speech. So what else did you do since we talked? Besides screw Noah Lassiter’s brains out.”

Ah, tingles again. So very . . . delicious. She cleared her throat. Focusing now. “I met with Simon Walker.”

Alex tilted her head. “Why does that name sound so familiar?”

“The newspaper god.”

“
That
Simon Walker? You
met
with him? What the hell?”

Charlie laughed at Alex’s excitement. She wondered when she’d lost her ability to get that excited about anything. “He offered me a job.”

“You’re kidding. What job? Where?”

“Anywhere I want.”

Alex blinked and shook her head. “My head is spinning. Help me.”

“He said I could pick any newspaper I wanted.”

“Wow.” Alex laughed. “Wow.”

“I know. Weird, huh?”

“Hell, no. Not weird. Amazing. And you deserve it, Charlie. You worked so hard to make the
LAG
better and just kept running into brick walls.”

Charlie gave her sister a sad smile. “I might have killed it.”

Alex’s excitement dimmed. “I know. I’ve heard the rumors.”

“They’re not just rumors. Dad told me what I did was a deathblow.”

“I kind of figured as much since he’s been avoiding the newsroom. Have you talked to him?”

“Amazingly, he didn’t seem all that mad.”

“You’re kidding.”

“He said it was a good story.”

Alex held her palm up for a high five. “Way to go, Charlie.”

Charlie halfheartedly smacked her hand. “It was heart-breaking seeing him like that. Giving up.”

“He’s a big boy. He can take care of himself. Let’s talk about where you’re going to go to work for Simon Walker.”

Charlie shook her head. “It’s kind of unfair, isn’t it?”

“What?”

“I kill the
LAG
, and then I get to go on to this fabulous new opportunity while everyone else loses their jobs.”

“You
made
that opportunity, Charlie. The rest of those bozos sat around with their thumbs up their butts and smiled and nodded and did what they were told. You bucked the system, defied them all. You’re a freaking visionary.”

Charlie laughed at that. How many visionaries got called that after doing something with blinders firmly strapped on? “I have to say, you’re taking this pretty well. You’re going to be unemployed, too.”

“I don’t know. This could be my chance at a fresh start. You know I’ve never been as married to newspapers as you are.”

That was true. Alex had always been far more interested in animals. The woman had six dogs and always seemed to be taking in another stray, the go-to expert any time a
LAG
co-worker had a pet problem. Charlie had expected her to become a veterinarian rather than a photographer at the newspaper.

Alex said, “I’d rather talk about Simon Walker. He came
looking
for you. That means he’s going to do whatever it takes to make you happy. You could change the whole industry.”

“I doubt that.”

“You’re not thinking big. What’s up with that? You’ve always thought big.” Alex grinned. “You know what we need to do? Celebrate.”

“That might be a bit premature. I haven’t said yes.”

“You’ll say yes tomorrow. Tonight, we celebrate. And, by the way, I’m staying the night.”

“That’s not—”

“I know it’s not necessary, but I am anyway. Let me big-sister you for a change.”

Charlie smiled, touched. “But you’re not the big sister.”

“We’ll fake it.” Alex stood up and put her hands on her hips as she looked around. “Does this place have a minibar?”

CHAPTER
THIRTY-SEVEN

N
oah rolled over, expecting, anticipating contact with Charlie. If she was sleeping, he had a few ideas about how to wake her up, all of which involved her screaming his name as she came.

But he was alone in the bed, and the sheets on her side were cool.

He sat up, closing his eyes against the tug of pain in his scalp, and looked around the dark hotel room. The light-blocking curtains prevented him from knowing the time. A glance at the clock gave him a time, but it could be A.M. or P.M. for all he knew.

Sighing, he shoved aside the covers and sat on the side of the bed. Must be morning, he thought. He had to have slept several hours or he wouldn’t have felt so good, better than he’d felt in weeks. Maybe years.

Charlie, Charlie, Charlie.

He smiled as he scrubbed his hands over his face. Jesus, she’d blown his mind. Who would have thought a woman so laid-back and levelheaded could be so passionate once you stripped away her clothes? He still smelled like her, like coconuts and the musk of very hot, very messy sex.