23. Charlotte
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Charlotte
River came back to the rock outcropping. I saw him coming through the binoculars. He waved at me, shooting a thumbs up. I packed everything and scrambled down.
“You found Jud?”
“He’s in the garage. Waiting patiently to chat with us.”
I hoped River hadn’t roughed him up too much. Wait, what was I thinking? That man deserved everything that was coming to him.
But the vengeful side of me wanted to deliver that comeuppance myself , instead of letting River take care of it for me.
Carrying our packs, we made our way downhill toward the house. River pointed out some bootprints in the dirt, still partially visible despite the storm last night. “These aren’t Jud’s. It looks like someone else has been here. I walked the perimeter of the buildings and saw newer tire tracks on the driveway as well. No more than a day old.”
“The police.”
“Most likely. Someone made a circuit of the house, looked into the windows, and left.”
“They could come back. ”
River took my hand and kissed my knuckles. “So let’s get this taken care of before they do.”
At the house, we veered right for the detached garage, where my dad kept his tools and equipment for his various hobbies. River opened the side door for me.
I gulped at what I saw.
Jud was sprawled face-up on my dad’s work table. His wrists and ankles were zip-tied, with lengths of bright blue rock-climbing rope around his stomach tying him to the table. Jud looked woozy, but his eyes cleared when he noticed I was there.
“Charlotte! Oh, thank God.” He coughed and held up his bound wrists. “That psycho attacked me! I can hardly breathe!”
“Seems like you’re doing all right to me.”
“And so are you. That’s good. What a relief. You didn’t answer my calls, and I…” He trailed off, probably realizing he was about to say something incriminating. “Look, there’s been a misunderstanding. You’ve got to let me go. I can explain everything.”
“Oh, you’re going to.”
“Please Charlotte, just untie me and we can discuss this like civilized adults.”
“Civilized?” I grabbed a hunting knife from a storage shelf and marched over to him. Jud held out his wrists. The man thought I was going to cut him free, and he tentatively smiled as I came near. Which only pissed me off more.
I held the knife to his throat instead. He yelled out a curse. “I know what you did, you bastard. Do you have any idea what I’ve gone through? I’m going to?—”
“Whoa.” River’s arm circled my waist, tugging me away from Jud. He walked me back outside and took the knife from my hand. “Aren’t you the one who was worried about me murdering him earlier? ”
“Yeah, I was. That’s before I saw his stupid face and heard him begging. He doesn’t deserve mercy.”
“My sentiments exactly. But waving a knife won’t instantly get him to open up.”
“I’d been planning to do more than just wave it.” My body trembled with all the fury inside me. “I called that man my boyfriend. Appeared at any number of events on his arm, smiling. And he was taking dirty money. He’s been here leaching off my parents while you and I were running for our lives.”
“Then let’s find out what he really did before you punish him for it. Agreed?”
“I suppose.”
I walked across the grass behind my parents’ house, trying to calm down.
River followed me. “To get the full truth out of him, we’ll need to stay cold as ice. Ruthless.”
I took another deep breath. Ruthless. I could do that. “Okay, I’m calm.”
We went back inside. Jud had recovered some of his composure. He tried one of his sympathetic, dignified smiles. Like that was going to work on me. “Charlotte, I don’t know what you think happened, but I swear?—”
I held up my finger at him. “Don’t say it. Unless you’re going to tell me the truth.”
Jud looked over at River, who was leaning casually against a set of shelves.
“Don’t look at him,” I said. “You just called him a psycho. You think he’s going to help you?”
River held the hunting knife casually at his side. His eyes had the same fierce blankness that I’d seen there multiple times now. The look of a predator.
“Quite a fall for you,” River said. “Going from a big man in state politics to skulking around scrounging for food. ”
A hint of color returned to Jud’s face. “Wait, I know who you are. A friend of Sheriff Douglas’s. I’ve seen you in Hartley. Kwon. River Kwon.”
“Guilty as charged. I’ve seen you around too, Juddy. I’m not a fan.”
Jud scowled. “Charlotte, I have no idea how you ended up with this guy. But whatever he’s been telling you, you can’t believe it. You know me .”
“I know you’ve been working for Stillwater.”
His eyes widened. I went on.
“You had advance warning they were going to attack my fundraiser.”
“Well, I…okay. That’s why I tried to warn you.”
“Now you’re running from them. You’ve been using my parents’ house and my mom’s art studio like a free Airbnb. Did the police come by already? I’m assuming you ran into the woods and hid? Or maybe you crawled under a bed like a spider.”
“State troopers came by. I hid because I’m trying to survive this. Just like you.”
“You’re not like me,” I spat out. “I have no idea why Stillwater would commit so many resources and risk so much to come after me, but I bet you do.”
Jud squeezed his eyes closed. Then stared up at the ceiling. “I will tell you what happened. But please let me sit up like a human being. I can’t lay here on my back like this and explain myself. It’s humiliating.”
He deserved his humiliation. Every moment of it. But I couldn’t let my anger drive me.
In my career, I did know how to be ruthless when it was warranted. And sometimes, you had to let your enemy relax a little in order to get them where you wanted.
“Fine,” I said, nodding at River.
He crossed the concrete. Jud flinched as River came near and cut the ropes with the knife. Jud sat up. His wrists and ankles were still tied, but no way would I agree to removing those. Jud didn’t bother asking. Instead, he tried to get comfortable in his awkward position. Probably searching for some way to re-establish his dominance over this situation.
“Thank you,” he said. “For being reasonable.”
I crossed my arms. “Tell me about Stillwater.”
He hesitated.
Jud was used to being one of the most important men in the room. Which was why I’d been surprised that he retired from his political career last year, but that was just one of the clues to this story.
“I saw the deposits to your bank account, Jud. I saw your debts, and how money started appearing out of nowhere. Small enough amounts that they could be explained away, I’m sure, but I do know some aspects of your life. That money didn’t come from your real estate holdings or investments.”
“You can’t prove it,” he muttered.
“No? Then how about I leave you here and walk away? River will place some anonymous calls to the police. How long until Stillwater tracks you down? I wouldn’t mind seeing what they do to you.”
“No!” He wiped his bound hands over his face. “Okay. I am running from them. No idea how you figured that out. You don’t understand though.”
“You’re right, I don’t understand at all. Stillwater’s business model is consulting for human traffickers. Drug dealers. Hit men. You took part in that. You’re equally culpable.”
“I didn’t know. I swear to you.”
“And I swear we’ll leave you to Stillwater if you keep lying.”
“It’s the truth. But I suppose I was willfully ignorant. All right? I’ll give you that.” He swallowed a few times. Licked his lips .
Then he started talking.
“A man came to me a couple years ago. Said he was a lobbyist with an anonymous client who was interested in developing a relationship. When his client needed something, I would use my influence to make it happen. Weigh his client’s preferences when I decided how to cast a vote. Things like that. The kind of stuff all lobbyists ask for.”
“Bullshit. This wasn’t a typical lobbyist.”
“No. I found that out.”
“Before or after you accepted his bribes?” That question was rhetorical. “I want his name and anyone else inside Stillwater you know about.”
“I only have the name of the lobbyist and a few of the underlings at his office, not anyone else up the chain. They never share that. My contact might not even know.”
I glanced over at River, and he was playing with the hunting knife again. But I noticed his other hand was holding his phone near his hip, aimed right at Jud. I realized what he was doing.
Recording.
“Tell me what happened next,” I said.
“Things went like clockwork for a while. I got calls every few months, and payments started appearing. But the demands got more arduous over time. I’m sure you can imagine.”
“When did you learn the client was really Stillwater?”
“When I started pushing back, asking questions. I said if they wanted more specific performance from me, then I wanted more money.”
I shook my head in disgust, but I didn’t interrupt.
“About a week later, a car with tinted windows pulled up when I was out for a morning jog. Some bruiser got out and stuffed me into the back. The lobbyist was there with a bunch of henchmen. He told me if they were going to increase my payments, then they had to bring me in fully as a member of their little group. They gave me a gold coin I was supposed to use to prove my affiliation. And my loyalty.”
“A gold medallion,” I said.
Jud looked surprised. “Yeah. Exactly. That was the first time I actually heard the name Stillwater.”
River had mentioned the medallions to me. I had never seen one in Jud’s possession. But that meant little, considering how well he’d hidden his alternate life.
“After you became a member, you learned what Stillwater really did?” I asked.
He swallowed again, Adam’s apple moving up and down. “The lobbyist drove me to an abandoned warehouse. They had a guy tied up there. They…” He shuddered. “They made me watch as they tortured him. But it wasn’t for information or anything. His father was a Stillwater member and had betrayed the group. So the son was suffering for it. They wanted to show me what full membership meant. The people I cared about would die in agony if I ever stepped out of line. And then after I’d seen my loved ones suffer, they’d cut my throat.”
“Wonderful friends you’d made,” I deadpanned. “Good job.”
“It was too late by then! I knew it was some kind of organized crime. I didn’t have to know the exact details of their business to understand the overall picture. There’s the upper management at the top, and their identities are completely secret. The members are smaller-scale criminals who use Stillwater’s services. My lobbyist contact is kind of like a salesperson. Recruiting officials and bribing them. And selling Stillwater’s services to the members. The lieutenants are the enforcers. They step in when…when money and influence aren’t enough.”
“Do you realize how sick all of that sounds? ”
“Of course I do. From the moment I really understood it, I was looking for a way out.”
“But you did what they wanted. You changed your votes for them. Used your influence to keep them from getting caught. You tried to convince me to change my votes too.”
“To protect you.”
Before I could get indignant, a rumbling growl came from River’s direction. The sound was primal. He was squeezing the knife handle.
“I swear, Charlotte, I didn’t want it to be like that! In a way, I was relieved when you broke up with me.”
“Spare me.” I rolled my eyes. “After you and I broke up, you retired and went back to Hartley. Why?”
“That’s what Stillwater wanted. They said they had different needs for me. Something closer to home. Sheriff Douglas was causing trouble for some of Stillwater’s members, and they wanted him out. But the situation was delicate. He had important family connections, and it would draw too much attention if they offed him. So Stillwater asked me to run against him for sheriff. Once I was in office, I could do whatever their members wanted. Then I found out Stillwater had been buying up the land near mine too. They were taking over my life.”
I had zero sympathy. “Is that why you finally decided to run?”
“No.” His gaze darted away. “It was a month ago. When they asked me about your brand new initiative to fight human trafficking. I said I knew nothing about it. You’d broken up with me. But Stillwater wanted me to convince you to shut it down.”
Shock rippled through me. “Is that why you contacted my family? You were trying to get some kind of access to me?”
“No! Not at all. I like your family, Charlotte. They’re good people. That has nothing to do with this. ”
I shook my head, feeling sick. “If anything happens to my parents or my sisters…”
“That’s not what Stillwater threatened. They told me if I couldn’t make you stop your initiative, they’d kill you. But I knew you’d never back down. It was the last straw for me. I couldn’t stand by while they harmed you. I figured out that Stillwater’s lieutenants would most likely strike your fundraiser. So I ran and tried to warn you at the same time.”
Something about this didn’t add up. Suddenly he’d decided to be noble?
Jud had just said Stillwater wanted to kill me. But River was sure the lieutenants intended to kidnap me. They believed I was useful to them in some way. Why?
“I think you’re lying. There’s something you’re leaving out.”
“I’m not.” But he was avoiding my eyes. “Maybe I’m mixing up the timing on a few things. I don’t fucking know, Charlotte. I’ve been running for my life for days. I am exhausted and stressed beyond belief.”
“I’m supposed to feel sorry for you? After you helped pull strings for child traffickers and murderers? Somehow, you found out that Stillwater was going to come after me, but you didn’t take that to the authorities. At no point in this did you go to the FBI and tell them the truth. No, you decided to save your own skin. You did try to warn me, I’ll grant you that, probably so that you could soothe your guilty conscience. Keep up appearances.”
“No matter what, I’ve never wanted any harm to come to you. You’re the one who broke up with me. I still care about you, Charlotte.”
“ Don’t .”
The worst part was that those words rang true. I believed that Jud still cared about me, twisted as that was. But he had no idea what love really consisted of .
Love was kindness and affection and sacrifice. Devotion. All the things River showed me, even when we were butting heads and he was driving me nuts.
I paced the concrete floor and rubbed my eyes.
“Now you know,” Jud said. “What are you going to do?”
“I haven’t decided yet. I need some air.” I turned and walked away.
Jud started shouting again as River secured him to the table. But I couldn’t deal with that man anymore.
Outside, I leaned against the garage, taking deep breaths. After a couple more minutes, River joined me, shutting the door on Jud’s protests.
He lifted his phone. “I got every word.”
“You’re a genius.”
“Why thank you, Charlie. So glad you finally noticed.”
“I noticed a long time ago. Just didn’t want to stroke your ego by telling you.”
“You’re always welcome to stroke anything of mine you want.” River kissed my forehead. His over-the-top innuendo had me smiling, despite my fury at Jud.
I leaned into River and nodded at the phone. “Let’s see it.”
He hit play. I vibrated with energy as I listened to Jud’s confession for a second time. And it made me even more furious on repeat.
“I doubt he would’ve been so candid if he’d realized he was on video,” River said. “You did a great job, by the way. I doubt a seasoned interrogator could’ve gotten much more.”
“I don’t need you to compliment me. I got some of the story, but Jud was leaving things out.” That was even more obvious watching the video. “He didn’t say anything about Stillwater kidnapping me, or why.”
“I agree. He didn’t tell the full story. But most of what he said was close to the truth. ”
“He’s the corrupt official from Hart County that you’ve been searching for. All that time I was with him, and I had no clue.”
How could I ever have believed that Jud Hale was a worthwhile partner?
River stepped in closer and put his arms around me. I was vibrating with pent up fury, but his strong hands on my waist made me feel steadier. “Don’t be too hard on yourself,” River said. “His failings have nothing to do with you.”
“Believe me, I’m not heartsick over that piece of trash. Just frustrated that I wasted my time and effort on him.” I put my hands on River’s chest, enjoying the small comfort of feeling his heartbeat. “We need to get that video to the police to prove it wasn’t you who attacked the fundraiser.”
“It’s sweet that your first concern is getting the heat off of me.”
“I’m not sweet. Don’t make me sound like a schoolgirl with a crush.”
“How about a formidable woman with a crush?”
“A small crush. I’ve gotten more fond of you. I’m finding you less annoying.”
“I’ll take it.”
He kissed my nose and cuddled me against his chest. River had accused me of being sweet, but that was the only adjective that could describe how he was acting right now. He could flip between being that sharp-eyed predator and this wonderful man that I was growing increasingly attached to. Glib one moment and sincere the next. But that was River. He had so many aspects to his personality. I could spend a lifetime getting to know them all.
A lifetime. That thought ricocheted with possibilities in my head, but I had to let it pass.
“We should send the video to Brynn,” I said. “Use Trace as the intermediary. He’s already spoken to her. She would be our fastest route to spreading this video within the law enforcement community.”
“It’s too risky to make contact with anyone in the FBI yet. Not until I’m sure that Stillwater won’t come after you.”
“There’s also Genevieve Blake. She could circulate it in the media.”
“That’s a good option.” River brushed his thumb down my cheek. “First, I want to try again with Jud. See if I can find out the rest of what he’s hiding. If he gives us something real to use against Stillwater, then we would have our own leverage against them.”
“You said a seasoned interrogator couldn’t have gotten more from him. Were you just buttering me up?”
“Not at all. But I’m better than most seasoned interrogators. Watching you question Jud was exactly what I needed to get a gage on him. Now I can go in and strip the truth right out.”
“Sounds painful. Can I be there?”
He smirked. “If you’re around, Jud will hold out longer because he doesn’t want to look weak in front of you. The faster I can get him crying, the less time this will take.”
“Make sure there’s something left for the police afterward. I want him to face justice for selling out the people of Colorado.”
“Not to worry. Jud and I are about to become very close friends. We’re going to have a nice, quiet chat, just the two of us.”