Chapter Twenty-four
On the first day of November, Charlie awoke to Harper climbing out of bed, seemingly trying not to disturb her, but Charlie had always been a light sleeper. “Where are you going?” she said, cracking one eye half-open against the morning light.
“Sorry to wake you. I have the legal clinic this morning, so I have to get ready.” She sat on the bed naked and brushed hair from Charlie’s face. “But you should stay asleep. You don’t have to teach until eleven today, right?”
“Yeah. What time is it?”
“Seven thirty.”
“Oof. Why’d we stay up so late if you had to get up so early?
” Charlie knew they hadn’t fallen asleep until sometime after three.
That was not nearly enough sleep for women in their forties, yet she and Harper still always seemed a little desperate for each other, so she was surviving on the amount of sleep she had when she was still an investment banker.
“Someone was a little insatiable again, and one thing led to another.” Harper tickled Charlie’s side as she spoke, and Charlie squirmed away.
“Not that that is atypical when you’re here, but four and a half hours of sleep is fine as long as I don’t do it every night.
Since you don’t have an early start, you should stay in bed. You set an alarm, right?”
“Fuck, I’m not sure. Can you check my phone?” Charlie tried to pry both eyes open so she could give Harper a winsome look. “Pretty please.”
“Since you asked so nicely.” Harper leaned over so she could reach Charlie’s phone on the nightstand. “Do you want to unlock it, or give me your password? And it looks like you have a bunch of missed calls from a 212 area code.”
“Ah, fuck. New York. Everyone there can fuck off if they aren’t saved in my phone, which is, like, two numbers.
” Charlie told Harper her passcode and draped her arm over her eyes, not wanting the brightness to invade anymore.
She was almost curious about who had been calling her at seven in the morning, but if it wasn’t Ashley, she truly didn’t care.
“Okay, then.” Harper hummed for a moment. “Is two your favorite number?”
“No, why?”
“Because half of your passcode is twos.”
“That’s the date I moved to Florida.”
“Interesting. And, yes, you have an alarm set for nine thirty. Does that work?”
“Perfect,” Charlie said, though she already felt herself slipping off to sleep again. She felt the brush of Harper’s lips against her forehead before sleep overtook her.
When she woke to her alarm a few hours later, she reveled in the wonderful tightness of her muscles. It seemed like every night they made love, they were taking it to a new level.
She floated on a cloud all day: teaching class, taking a bike ride around the island, showering, and finally ending up sitting at the bar for happy hour.
She floated right up until the moment a tall, slender white man in a brown suit who looked completely out of place walked up to the bar and addressed Harper.
“Hi, I’m Robert Woodall. I’m an investigator with the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Enforcement Division. ”
Charlie tried to watch him discreetly, even as her stomach felt like it was falling to the floor when he flashed a badge at Harper, who took it out of his hands and examined it closely.
“Okay.” Harper looked as uneasy as Charlie felt.
“I’m looking for a Charlotte Paulson, and I heard she might come in here occasionally.” He took off his hat and used a handkerchief to blot his forehead in what felt like a scene out of a movie set in the fifties.
“Do you have a warrant?” Harper said. Watching her go from laidback bartender to lawyer would have been hot under other circumstances, but Charlie felt like she was going to throw up.
There was no sense trying to hide. If the SEC was there looking for her, something was going down. She might as well confront it head on.
“No, no nothing like that. I just want to talk to Ms. Paulson about something. She isn’t in any sort of trouble.” He smiled blandly.
Charlie was about to speak up again when Harper said, “That’s what law enforcement always says, but intelligent people always approach that phrase with caution and suspicion.”
Charlie felt like she was trying to send her a message. She was receiving it but also wanted to know what the hell was going on.
“I can assure you, I’m not a law enforcement agent.”
Harper scoffed, and Charlie was pretty sure she was about to throw him out, so she said, “I’m Charlotte Paulson.”
He turned his head and cocked it as he looked at her.
“You look a little different than your photo. I didn’t recognize you.
” He chuckled, but Charlie wasn’t surprised.
She knew she looked different; her hair had gotten lighter from the sun, and she’d stopped getting highlights and lowlights every six weeks.
Her face had a glow from spending time outside rather than under LED lights all day, she’d put on muscle from her regular yoga practice, and she wore her hair in a ponytail pretty much all the time rather than blow-drying and styling it like in every photo he could have tracked down.
He probably also wasn’t expecting her to be in leggings and a tank top, her standard wardrobe these days.
“Key West agrees with me, I think.” She didn’t want to fuck around with small talk, though. “But we don’t need to exchange pleasantries. Why are you looking for me?”
“We should probably take this someplace more private. It’s of a…delicate nature.”
She thought he was trying to lull her with his soft tone and smile, but Charlie was on alert.
Harper beat her to an answer when she said, “Charlie, a word, please.”
She nodded and stood as Harper ducked out from behind the bar and stepped back into the hallway. “Do you have any idea what this is about?” she whispered.
“No.” Charlie wished she had pockets to hold her fists in so Harper wouldn’t see her trembling.
“I don’t think you should talk to him. At least not without hiring an attorney who specializes in this type of thing.” She squeezed Charlie’s arm. “He may not be law enforcement, but anything you say can still be used against you.”
“I know, and I get that, but I need to know what’s going on.” She wouldn’t be able to sleep until she knew what they were sniffing around about.
“Okay, what about this, we can go back into my office. We’ll tell him I’m your temporary attorney so I can remind you to not say anything, and we can pump him for information. I can’t act as your attorney because we’re involved, but I can help you for a few minutes.”
Worried about what he might tell Harper but even more worried about doing something stupid, Charlie nodded.
“Okay.” Harper leaned back into the doorway and said, “Okay, Mr. Woodall, if you agree to let Ms. Paulson’s counsel, me, sit in, you can come back into my office and talk to her.”
“You can’t be serious. You’re not an attorney, you’re a bartender,” he spluttered.
“Wanna bet that’s all I am?”
Charlie wished she could see his face, but she heard his footsteps approaching.
“Aiden, can you hold things down for a bit?”
Charlie heard him say, “I’m not sure if I can handle the zero patrons in here right now, but I’ll do my best.”
Charlie chuckled but was grateful the bar was empty. That entire exchange was embarrassing, so at least Aiden was the only one to experience it.
Once they were settled in the chairs in Harper’s office, Mr. Woodall took off his hat and set it on the corner of the desk as Harper said, “So here’s how it’s going to go.
You are going to talk, and Ms. Paulson and I are going to listen.
We might ask you additional questions, but Ms. Paulson will not be making any statements today. Understand?”
Watching Harper go into protective attorney mode—especially protecting her—unexpectedly sent warmth radiating from her chest through her fingertips.
“Yes, yes, of course. I’m just glad we located you, Ms. Paulson. And let me tell you, you are a hard one to track down.”
“It wasn’t intentional,” Charlie said without thought, but Harper’s glare had her pressing her lips together.
“I would like to reiterate, you are not in any kind of trouble. To tell you the truth, I’m really hoping you can help me.
Earlier this year, we started to note some anomalies in a few financial products and equity raise valuations at your old investment bank.
Then, we received an anonymous tip that we should look deeper into their valuations across the board.
We’ve been trying to puzzle it together, but there are a lot of missing pieces.
And according to what we’ve been able to figure out, you left right around that time and vanished.
So we’re wondering if maybe you have information and ran because you were scared. ”
Charlie felt a little like she was going to throw up.
She wondered if her face looked a little green.
She had information but no proof. And she’d signed a nondisclosure agreement on her way out the door.
She regretted that decision now. It wasn’t like she’d needed any of the money.
Hell, she’d finally donated pretty much all of it right after seeing her parents.
“So, to be clear, you’re hoping Ms. Paulson can shine a light on some valuation anomalies that you aren’t even sure are problems?” Harper said as she squinted an eye at him.