“What do you mean?”
“I mean I don’t buy it for one minute.”
“Hugh, really …”
Hugh interrupted her. “It’s getting late, and I need to eat.”
Hugh put a couple of his mom’s frozen dinners into the microwave and offered Charlie one of them.
It made him angry to realize he was sharing his mom’s home-cooked meals with the hated reporter instead of his beloved Jenny.
After eating, Hugh walked Charlie to the truck plaza for a final restroom visit.
Charlie finished her business in the restroom. As she exited the Women’s, William came up behind her, grabbed her roughly by the arm and pulled her down the short hallway, around the corner to the maintenance area, out of sight of the store.
Kent was right at her elbow as well.
“Let go of me!” Charlie snarled at William.
William let go of her arm, backed up a step, and held his hands up at shoulder level. “OK,” he said.
“You son of a bitch!” Charlie said. “You were damn rough with me back there.”
“We had to make it look real,” William explained. “Did the trucker buy it?”
“Yeah, I’m on board … just barely, for now. That guy isn’t stupid. I think he sees right through my story.”
“But he’s letting you ride with him?”
“For a while. I don’t know for how long.”
“OK. That’s good.”
“Where’s Jason?” Charlie’s head had been covered with the bag during the roadside excitement, so she hadn’t seen the fight between Hugh and Jason.
“He’s in the hospital. Concussion, and some internal injuries.”
“I warned you.”
William handed her a cell phone and charger. “Listen, we don’t have much time before the trucker gets suspicious. Take this.”
He told her to be careful not to be caught with it. He had muted it. No ringer, no vibrating buzzer.
“Make recordings if you can. And be sure to stay in touch. Keep us updated.” They began to walk away.
But William turned back. “And don’t forget what we told you about failing. Don’t fail. We’ll be watching you. Get it?”
Charlie found Hugh outside the entrance of the plaza.
“Can you wait here a bit? I need to pick up a few things. Tooth brush, tooth paste, like that.”
“Sure. You have enough money?”
“Yes. I’ve got a little cash.”
In their van parked in the passenger vehicle area of the truck stop, William had tapped the contact icon to dial Frank Rico at Rico Investigations. He and Kent had decided to stay overnight at a nearby hotel to make sure Charlie would be with the trucker when he left the truck stop in the morning.
“Hello, boss,” William said, when the call rang through. “We’re done here, and we’re heading back in the morning.”
“How did it go?” Frank asked.
“She’s on board. The trucker is not happy about it, and he doesn’t completely buy her story. But, she’s got a ride, and that’s what counts. She knows what she has to do.”
“Good work, thanks. Is everybody OK? Did your resistance look real enough?”
“Jason is in the hospital. Does that answer your question?” William replied. “That trucker is pretty tough. I decided to give the girl up easily rather than get into it with him. I choose my battles.”
“OK. Keep me informed with her updates.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
The atmosphere in the truck’s sleeper that evening was more than a little strained between Hugh and Charlie. He hadn’t accepted her explanation for the huge coincidence of their meeting, and he had sensed she realized that.
Charlie stood in the sleeper, looking every bit like someone who doesn’t know where to look, or what to do with her hands.
But Hugh was fresh out of sympathy for the reporter. In fact, the more he thought about it the angrier he became. Her story didn’t hold up, and it relied way too much on implausible coincidences.
“So, what happens now?” Charlie asked.
“What happens now is you climb up into the top bunk, and you stay there until I decide what to do with you. There are a sleeping bag and pillow. You get up there and shut up.”
“You don’t have to …” Charlie started to argue with him.
“Look. I don’t believe for a minute we accidentally met on the side of a road in the Nevada desert. I don’t know how you managed to arrange it, but I don’t buy it. Coincidences like that don’t happen,” Hugh said, with anger rising in his voice.
“Hugh, it happened exactly like I told you.”
“Charlie!”
“What?”
“Drop it! One more word out of you that isn’t the truth, and I’ll put you out right here. Right now!” Hugh moved to the passenger side door to open it for her.
“No. Hugh, please wait.”
Hugh saw all of the big-city reporter composure he had seen in Charlie at their first meeting had evaporated, replaced by what Hugh could see was genuine fear. Surely she didn’t believe her own story about the mob.
“Is there something you want to tell me?” Hugh asked.
He could see conflicting emotions in Charlie’s expression. Fear, and resignation. Then finally acceptance that her ploy had failed.
She nodded.
Hugh sat in the passenger seat, which he had swiveled to face the sleeper. He gestured for Charlie to sit on his bed. She sat on the edge, obviously uncomfortable about it.
“You can start by explaining why your need to write about us is so important you’d go through all this trouble to stage a kidnapping to get a ride with me in my truck.”
“It actually isn’t about my investigative assignment.”
“What?”
“No. You need to know the followup article and the ride-along was never my idea. That came from my editors. They are the stupid shits who added the last paragraph to my article.”
“That makes
