“Didn’t you think the article I wrote from our interview was a good one?”
“Yeah, we thought so at the time.”
“The problem is, I’m not being paid to write soft features. My editors were really pissed off about it because of the expense of the interview. They ordered me to do a followup.”
“OK. Go on.”
“But after I heard your message on my voicemail I had given up the idea of trying to get another interview with you … and certainly about getting a ride-along with you.”
“That doesn’t explain why you are here now.”
“That’s where it gets a bit more complicated.”
Charlie repeated for Hugh as much as she knew about being contacted by Frank Rico of Rico Investigations, and the mission she was on for him. She told him she was tasked with getting a ride on Hugh’s truck, getting him to open up to her, and then digging dirt on him to report back to Frank.
“Who’s this investigator’s client?”
“I don’t know.”
Hugh leaned over and started to open the passenger door.
“Hugh, really. I don’t know.”
Hugh kept his hand on the door handle.
“Here. Look.” Charlie dug a cell phone out of the front pocket of her slacks. “One of their thugs handed this to me outside the restroom.” She handed it over to Hugh. “It’s my only contact with them.”
“Thugs? The guys who helped you stage the fake kidnapping?”
“Yeah, the leader’s name is William. The other guy, the one you didn’t see, was Kent, and Jason’s the guy in the hospital.”
“Hospital?”
“Yeah, William said he’s got a concussion and internal injuries.”
Hugh nodded. Sounded about right. He warned them.
“Something is missing here,” Hugh said. “It still doesn’t explain why you are here. Why did you agree to go along with the client’s crazy scheme?”
“Two hundred thousand dollars.”
“What?”
“They paid me a hundred thousand up front, and the rest when I give them what they want,” she said, and pointed to the cell phone in Hugh’s hand.
“Sorry about you losing the second hundred thousand,” Hugh said. He was being sarcastic, not the least bit sorry.
“I’m afraid there is more to it.”
“Spill it.”
“They have threatened me a couple of times now with what could happen if I failed. I think these guys are serious. I’m really afraid if I’m kicked out of the truck they will hurt me. That part of my story is true.”
Hugh thought for a few moments, going over everything she had told him.
“Wait a minute. How did you guys know exactly where I’d be, and at the exact right time?”
“I don’t know. They didn’t share that with me.”
Hugh’s hand began edging toward the door handle again.
“Please stop doing that. You’re making me nervous,” Charlie said. “All I remember is William saying their insider at WestAm had given them your load information. That we needed to be in a certain spot at a certain time.”
An insider. Could be anyone of dozens who worked in the Phoenix terminal who would have access to Hugh’s schedule, from dispatchers, to load planners, to fleet managers. Even the safety department could know where Hugh would be at a given time.
But it still begged the question as to who was behind this, and why. A huge amount of money must be involved given the amount already been spent to get Charlie onto his truck.
“Like it or not. You’re here now,” Hugh said. “Go ahead and climb up onto the top bunk.”
Charlie did as she was told. Her demeanor was a far cry from the self-assured, composed, take-charge investigative reporter who Hugh and Jenny had first met. Hugh was now in charge. His rules.
Hugh climbed into his own bunk.
“Wait a minute,” Charlie said, as she was getting settled into the bunk above Hugh. “I just remembered. Where’s Jenny?”
“The insurance company insisted I send her home for the time being.”
“Insurance company?”
“Yeah, we were in an accident in Phoenix. My carrier thought it best I don’t have a passenger along while attorneys are thrashing out liability for insurance purposes.”
Having said that, the irony of Hugh now having a passenger, one who wasn’t Jenny, wasn’t lost on him.
“Oh, wow,” Charlie said. “That’s it!”
“What?”
“I don’t know how I missed it. All this time I had been thinking this client’s big plot to get me aboard your truck had to do with your hijacking incidents.”
“It wasn’t?”
“No. It’s got to do with your accident in Phoenix.”
Hugh was beginning to follow her reasoning.
Charlie said, “I’m betting the client is an attorney looking for a big payout from your accident. That’s why he’s willing to spend so much money up front. The payout he’s expecting must be huge.”
“Fifty million,” Hugh said, and continued thinking out loud. “It all makes sense now. An attorney representing the surviving husband has already filed a settlement claim, which my company has turned down.”
“Then he’s going for a huge lawsuit,” Charlie continued Hugh’s thought.
“But it wouldn’t have been successful. My carrier and I are being completely exonerated,” Hugh said.
“So, there you have it,” Charlie said. “That’s exactly where I come in. I’m the key to the whole thing.”
“No wonder they’ve spent so much money to get you here, and are threatening you to make you succeed. A lot of money is at stake,” Hugh agreed.
“Those are the exact words William used when he first recruited me,” Charlie replied.
“OK. We’ll talk more about it tomorrow. I’m tired and need to sleep,” Hugh said.
But sleep came slowly to Hugh, as his mind kept turning over all of the implications of what he had learned since this strange meeting with Charlie.
Chief in his mind was
