Chapter 5
“I can’t believe she lied about everything! She’s really in on this.”
Willow was in a frenzy on the ride back to the station. Shelly played whatever cards Charlie dealt to her like a pro. Willow couldn’t believe it. If she didn”t already know Shelly knew who she was, Willow would have been completely fooled by her act in front of Tommy.
“Yeah, the problem is proving she’s involved,” Tommy said. “The two of us know she is, but when it comes to proving it in court, we need solid evidence. Hotel logs won’t do us any good because, like she said, she sees guests every day.”
Willow didn’t have any solid evidence that Shelly knew her. She was sure that if she thought back years prior or dug around through some old whatnots, she”d be able to find something. But everything Willow owned with Charlie was back in Tallahassee.
“I’ll find something,” she said. “If not, I”ll find Charlie myself and put an end to this. I’m so sick of everyone and their games… I”m about to go crazy here.”
“Hey.” Tommy patted her knee. “Be patient and calm. You don’t want to go running off on your own looking for this guy. What if he’s with Mark? Anything could happen to you. Or Richy. Just be patient. I’ll figure out a way to get to Charlie. I’m sure he can’t be too far from Shelly’s place. That’s probably what took her so long to let us inside.”
It made sense. If Charlie was with Shelly at her house, she wouldn’t have wanted them inside. She probably knew they were there all along and stalled as long as she could in order for him to hide, just in case Tommy had a warrant to search her place. A warrant was, of course, the next thing in line when it came to Shelly since she had clearly lied about knowing who Charlie and Willow were.
When they got back to the station, Willow waited around in Tommy’s office while he drew up the papers to get a search warrant for Shelly’s home, as well as the resort. He wanted to comb every square inch of both places to rule her out as a suspect. Willow already knew she wouldn’t be ruled out, but finding Charlie in either of those places was a slim chance. It seemed as if he was too slick, too good at playing the game, to be caught. Willow had to give it to him; he was smarter than she thought he was.
While waiting, she got a text from Charlie. He accused her of telling Tommy about speaking to him the night before and telling him where to look, but he was wrong. Sure, Willow might have told Tommy where to look, but she never said a word about speaking to him.
“I didn’t tell him anything,” she said. “I can admit I almost did, but I caught myself before I said a single word about you. Shelly brought that pop-up on herself. Speaking of, you should probably tell her to do a better job at getting her lies in order before she talks to the cops. Tommy’s hot on her trail.”
Willow replied to his text while Tommy worked diligently at his computer. He was heavily focused while drawing up the warrant papers, and that old feeling came over her again. She missed him. The closeness she had felt to him days prior was gone, and she wanted it back. He barely even looked at her the entire time she sat there waiting for him.
“You need to meet with me now.” Charlie texted again. “I’ll tell you where to find the money. After that, we can set up a meeting with Mark to get the kid. No cops. If so, that’ll ruin everything. We need to make Mark feel safe enough to expose himself, but he can’t know that I”m here in Sanibel. Not now.”
Willow’s heart started to race. She wasn’t sure how she”d be able to get away from Tommy that afternoon without him being even more suspicious of her or having someone follow her. She wasn”t even sure if she really wanted to meet with Charlie alone. Like Tommy said, he could have been on Mark’s side and working with him all along. But, for Richy, she had to take the risk.
“Where are we meeting?” she asked. “And Charlie, I swear to you, if you try anything funny, I”ll have the cops on your trail so fast, you won’t even know what hit you.”
“Relax,” he replied. “I’m not fooling around with you. I’m telling you the truth. I want Mark. Not you… Well, I want you too, but as you said, that ship has long sailed.”
That ship had sailed and was never set to return. He was right about that. Willow had no more romantic feelings for Charlie. She hated the position he was in with Mark, but her intimate love for him was gone.
“Go to the bar where you met Charlene that night. I’ll call you when you get there to show you the rest of the way.”
After his last text, she thought of a way to get out of Tommy”s office without him tagging along. She told him she had her period and needed to go to the market for some feminine products. At first, he wanted to tag along anyway, but Willow assured him she”d be back to help continue the search.
“Keep your phone on,” he said. “I’ll let you know when the warrant is signed and I have permission to make a move on Shelly’s place and the resort. Hopefully, we will find something by tonight.”
“Okay,” she said, nervously. “Will do.”
Willow pulled away from the station with so much worry in her heart and in her mind. She was worried about Richy, she was worried about herself. Most of all, Willow worried if Tommy had assigned someone to follow her that she didn”t know about. Surely, he would”ve never trust her again if he found out she went to meet Charlie instead of actually going to the market.
The hour long drive to the bar where she met Charlene all those nights ago felt like an eternity. It had been weeks since she last saw Charlie, and that made her nervous too. She wondered what he looked like. Willow saw him the night before at the restaurant, but she didn”t get a clear look at his face. It was more his body language that gave him away to her.
“Are you there?” he answered when she called.
“Yeah. I just got here. What now?”
“In about ten minutes, take the dirt road that leads away from the bar. Go all the way down to the end near the water, you’ll see a small cabin there on the right. Go inside. I’ll be there. And remember, tell no one about this.”
He hung up the phone in such a mysterious way. Willow wanted to call Tommy right away and tell him what she”d done. She held on, however, because if Tommy knew Charlie as much as Willow thought she did in the beginning, she knew he wouldn’t do anything to physically harm her. At least, she hoped.
When she got to the cabin, she waited a moment before she got out of her car to go inside. The place was so eerie. So worn down and creepy looking, Willow wondered why no one had torn it down already.
She slowly creaked open the door and as Charlie said, there he was. He was sitting in an old wooden chair near a broken window at the rear of the cabin. Waiting for her.
“Charlie?” She called out to him in the dim room.
He didn’t reply right away. Instead, he got up from the chair and slowly made his way over to her. As the light brightened on his face the closer he got, Willow could see every detail of worry on his mug. He looked older. Tired. Afraid. Worn down, just like the cabin he was sitting in.
“It’s me.” He gave her a soft look, like he was almost pleading for her to accept him again. “Hi, Willow. It’s been a while huh?”
“Yeah,” she replied softly, not knowing what else to say really. “It’s been a while. What’s going on? Why all of this?”
He looked ashamed to answer her questions. Willow knew he was. It was hard for her to believe herself, but she knew he felt terrible about what he’d done. What he was involved in. He may not have shown that to any of his other victims, but with Willow, Charlie was different.
“I don’t know how things got so out of control,” he said. “Mark! It’s him. Yeah, I played my part in things but he’s the one who’s taken this scam to the depths of hell. I wanted to pull away from this a long time ago. He threatened to kill me if I let up.”
She believed every word he said about Mark. Judging from his rap sheet and prison record, Willow knew Charlie wasn’t lying about that. Her thing was, why did he ever start in the first place. There were so many other avenues he could have taken in life. School, a job. Anything other than using his charm to scam women. That was something Willow couldn”t look past, no matter how bad she felt for him.
“Charlie.” Her voice broke so badly it came out as a whisper. “This is all bad. This is terrible. You’ve hurt so many people. Ruined so many good things in life. I’m afraid there’s no turning back from here, no matter how much Mark is to blame. You’re a grown man. The cops aren’t going to accept this as an excuse.”
“I know.” He started to sob. “I know! And I”m so mad at myself for this. I hate myself for this! I should have given him up years ago when I saw this coming along. I knew what he was going to do. I knew how bad things were getting and I did nothing. Other than let him boss me around and continue this life of hell.”
As Willow watched him sob and throw his fists around in the air, she knew he was sorry. Not only was he sorry, but he was afraid for his life. Mark, and prison, was knocking at Charlie’s door and there was nowhere left for him to hide.
“I know how bad this sucks,” Willow said. “But you have to help me find Richy. He’s innocent here. He’s just a kid and his parents are worried sick about him.”
Charlie’s crying stopped and he glanced up at her like finding Richy was the last thing on his mind. Willow grew afraid, thinking he would turn on her just like Tommy said, but he quickly glanced away and started to dig through an old duffle bag on the floor near his chair.
“The money is in the resort. Here’s a map I drew out for you to find it. You’ll go all the way to the top; there”s a brick wall with a hidden safe. The code to open it is on the map. And Willow, whatever you do, don’t hand that money over to the police before meeting me back here. You’ll also tell Mark to meet here when you have the money. Make sure he comes first and that he has the kid.”
“Wh-what are you going to do?” Willow asked, feeling afraid again. “What’s going to happen to Mark once I get back here?”
Charlie glared at her with the most sinister look in his eyes and said, “You’ll see.”