Chapter 6
Willow was nervous to go back to the station after she met up with Charlie. She thought for sure Tommy would come knocking and smell the stench of guilt all over her. He called a few times before she got back, wondering where she was and what was taking so long. She finally texted him when she made it back to the resort. Instead of telling the truth, Willow told him she took a nap because she was so exhausted.
“Feeling better now?” he asked when she got back to his office.
“A little,” she lied. “I feel so overwhelmed with everything and I haven”t been sleeping much at all.”
“Yeah.” Tommy groaned and stood up from his chair to stretch. “I think we’re all on edge right now.”
He paced around his office while Willow sat back on the couch, thinking of Charlie. He sounded so convincing back there, but she still didn’t know if she could trust him to do everything in his power to help her get Richy back.
“Do you think Charlie would help us get Richy back?” she asked. “Maybe if I caught up with him alone and talked things out, you know, made him think I was on his side, he’d tell me where the money is?”
Tommy gave Willow an awkward look. She thought he was peering directly into her soul after the lie she told him. His eyes were so deeply focused on her in a way she”d never seen before that Willow thought he could read her mind.
“Maybe…” he said. “Have you been thinking about trying to meet up with him? You know that’s dangerous, right? He may tell you all the things you want to hear but then turns on you the second you have the money.”
What he said scared Willow. She felt like she knew Charlie more than Tommy did. Then again, they had grown up together. She didn”t know. There was just something so different about Charlie when she talked to him that it was so easy for her to believe he would really help her get Richy back.
“I have to tell you something.” She sighed and things became more tense.
“What is it?” he squinted.
“I wasn’t really taking a nap.” Willow’s head fell into her hands to cover her face. “I met up with Charlie.”
Instantly, she saw Tommy’s face go from having faith in her to having none at all. His cheeks were red with anger and his eyes turned dark and uncooperative. He looked like he was ready to lock her up and throw away the key.
“You met up with Greg? Today?” he asked. “And didn’t mention a word of it to me?”
“I’m sorry.” She felt a slight panic set in. “I just thought that if I met him and listened to whatever it was he had to say, I could get Richy back. I thought Mark was lying about not knowing where Charlie was, but he isn’t. Charlie’s been hiding out from him too because he’s dangerous and wants the money for himself. He said Mark is the one who basically forced him into this lifestyle.”
“I should arrest you right now, Willow Shorts!”
Tommy was very angry with Willow. She knew if he had been one of the detectives from Tallahassee and she pulled that stunt, he would have arrested her with no hesitation. Willow would have been even more of a suspect than she was in the beginning and there would have been no clearing her name at all.
“You better believe that the only reason you’re not in cuffs right now is because I need you to get Richy home safe. After that, you and I are done! I can’t trust you. You’re nearly almost as bad as Greg. Maybe you two deserve each other.”
Her heart sank in her chest at his words. She was offended, in disbelief. Willow felt shunned and stripped of all her dignity. But she understood Tommy’s anger. His main concern was finding Richy and there she was, keeping secrets from him.
“I’m nothing like Charlie,” she said. “I’m doing everything in my power to get Richy out of this mess and if that means I have to hold some things back from you, then so be it. While I was over there meeting with Charlie, I learned more about him in those ten minutes than I have in five years. And oh!” She removed the map Charlie gave her from her pocket and tossed it on Tommy’s desk. “That’s a map of the resort. He drew it to tell me where to find the money.”
She stood in front of him with her arms folded across her chest. Willow could have easily left and let Tommy handle the investigation on his own, but he needed her. Most importantly, Richy needed her too.
“We have to work together on this moving forward,” she said. “I don’t care if you’re mad at me and don’t trust me… my only concern here is Richy. The move I made just got us one step closer to finding out where he is, so don’t ruin it.”
“Willow,” he grunted. “You might think you’re doing a good thing here, but what you did could have easily cost Richy his life. You don’t know these guys the way I do. They’re both snakes and if you keep playing their game, you’ll end up right in the dirt with them.”
“Yeah, well that’s a risk I”m willing to take to do what I know is the right thing to do.”
She left his office before giving him a chance to continue. There was so much tension between them it made her want to cry. But ironically, Willow found her strength in that moment. She felt like after she met Charlie and dealt with the consequences of not telling Tommy, she was more confident in the things that scared her.
She went to the resort when she left his office. She wanted to get a quick scope out of the building, and go to a few floors she”d never been to. Willow also wanted to see if Shelly was there acting as her usual self. She was there, but her demeanor and body language were very different towards Willow. Shelly didn’t even greet her when she walked in. They just kind of locked eyes as Willow kept it moving.
Before going to her suite, she stopped at every floor to get a look around. Willow didn’t actually exit the elevator and go walking up and down every floor. She simply stuck her head into the hallway and checked for anything weird. Every floor looked the same; except for the very last floor.
It was a dead floor. No rooms were open, and no one was snooping around being nosey. Other than Willow. All she saw were abandoned housekeeping carts and caution tape on a few doors.
She didn’t go looking around much. Willow felt like it was too much of a risk after fighting with Tommy, and after they showed up to Shelly’s house. She wondered if Shelly went looking for the money herself. It was evident Shelly didn’t actually know where it was in the resort, but she knew it was there somewhere.
Willow’s phone began to ring as she made her way back to the elevator. It was Charlie. She was hesitant to pick up at first, but when she thought about Richy and how much they all wanted him home, she answered immediately.
“Yeah, hello?”
“Hey.” He sounded like he was in need of a friend. “Did you go for the money yet?”
“Not yet,” Willow said. “I just got back to the resort. Tommy and I got into a bit of an argument.”
He chuckled a little. Willow wanted to ask him what he meant by that, but she was sure Charlie would tell her. Charlie was never shy about telling Willow how he felt.
“He likes you,” he said. “He never argues with anyone. Not even me. I think we got into one real fight out of all the years we’ve been friends.”
Willow couldn’t fight the smile on her face as she exited the elevator. She knew Tommy liked her, but to hear someone who hadn’t even been around them say it, felt like more of a confirmation to Willow.
“I think I should have him help me look for the money,” she said. “We went and paid your mistress a visit and she doesn”t seem too happy about me being here now. We went to her house to question her.”
“You went to her house!?” Charlie sounded bamboozled. “Willow! She doesn’t know where I hid the money, oh man! She’s been hounding me about it since her well dried up and she’s been looking for it. Shelly is just someone I paid off to let me keep the stash in the resort. She doesn”t know where I hid it. If she finds that money before you do, it’s all over.”
Willow felt sick to her stomach. Tommy was right. She thought she was helping by making moves on her own, but she was only making things even more twisted and tangled. No wonder Shelly was so mysterious to Willow. She was testing the waters to see if Willow would tell her what she wanted to know.
“You have to get that money before she figures out where it is,” he said. “If you have to get Tommy’s help, then do it. I trust him. I know he wants me put underneath the jail to rot, but he’s been nothing but a good friend to me all these years.”
She talked to Charlie until she got into her room. The conversation was pretty quiet and besides, Willow had no plans of reconciling with him so there was no need for them to have any long winded talks in the end. All Willow wanted was to find the money and bring Richy home.
She laid down on the bed and contemplated calling Tommy after a while. She knew he was still angry with her for not including him in on her plans, but it was something that had to be done. Willow got a map to where the money was, and she had Charlie on a string, reeling him in closer and closer.
“Screw this.”
She picked up her phone and scrolled to Tommy’s number and hit the call button. He let it ring a few times before he answered. Willow took it as he may not have wanted to answer, but he couldn’t ignore her because it might have been important.
“Mrs. Shorts,” he answered. “What can I do for you?”
“Mrs. Shorts?” Willow scoffed. “Really?”
“I’ve got a lot of work to do tonight, so if this call isn’t important, I”m going to have to end it here.”
She was a little bummed out that Tommy didn’t want to talk to her. He’d been upset at her before, but he came around not long after. It seemed like he would never come around after finding out she went to meet Charlie without him. That scared Willow.
“I called to apologize for what I did,” she said. “I just talked to Charlie again. He thinks it”ll be a great idea for us to get to the money before Shelly does. I was wrong about her; she doesn’t know where the money is. Well, aside from the fact that it’s hidden here somewhere. Have you been able to locate it on the map? You might know the layout better than I do.”
Tommy let out a sigh. Willow heard the sound of papers rustling around in the background and knew he must have opened the map to take a gander. His silence confirmed it. He was in deep concentration for a moment, and then he told her he thought he had found it.