Charlotte submitted her resignation to HRA and gave herself a few months to decompress before becoming a private consultant. Working for Dulce’s organization kept her busy, along with her periodic training sessions with OSI employees. She was able to work with children more often, and that made her extremely happy.
Thanks to Senator Houldcroft’s influence, the arrests of Pennington and the other men on the list were very public and with television cameras rolling. He’d also seen to it that they were all denied bail, so they were all sitting in jail while awaiting their trials.
Of course, they’d hired the best, most expensive attorneys to defend them. But the video evidence from Charlotte’s meeting with Pennington, the list, and the statements from Helene Wagner, Vincent Kimball, and, yes, even Leonard Everett pretty much sealed their fate.
These disgraced men would do whatever was necessary to save their own skin, including outing certain politicians who’d funneled money to HRA and other NGOs, knowing full well the money wasn’t being used as intended. As a result, there were a lot of very nervous people in DC these days.
In exchange for their testimony, Everett and Kimball pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder and would be eligible for parole in twenty-five years—when they were in their late eighties. Everett blamed Kimball for him getting caught and hadn’t spoken to his old friend since the day he was arrested.
Melissa Everett took over ownership of the business, thanks to a statement in her father’s will that, if anything happened to Leonard, ownership was transferred to his daughter. Her father thought that was the best way to ensure the company remained in the family.
She immediately fired everyone involved in even the smallest way with the HRA contract—those who hadn’t already been arrested—and sold the buses. She turned over all of the money her cheating husband had been stashing away and gave it to the government as part of a deal to keep them from seizing all of their other assets.
Bernardi Transportation returned its focus to long-haul trucking—the way it was before her father turned it over to Leonard. Last Hawk heard, Melissa was dating a younger man, and the company was doing very well.
The ultimate revenge of a scorned wife.
Helene admitted to creating the list and helping Kimball. When asked why she put the list on the HRA server, she said she didn’t think anyone would find it amongst the thousands of other HRA case files.
She refused a plea deal, likely thinking she could charm a jury. Unfortunately for her, the jury didn’t buy herpoor little meact, and she was found guilty of aiding and abetting in the commission of a felony. The judge sentenced her to fifteen years with no chance for parole, and she was currently serving out her time at the Virginia Correctional Center for Women.
Human Rescue Alliance, its board of directors and upper management were all under investigation by a special congressional committee, and all of their finances were undergoing intense scrutiny.
Charlotte had been relieved when Doug Norcross, her former boss, was cleared of any wrongdoing. She respected him a great deal, and Hawk wasn’t sure she could’ve handled another disappointment.
A few weeks after her confrontation with Pennington, Hawk gave up his apartment and moved in with her. He’d begun to spend most nights there anyway, so it made sense. Besides, they enjoyed being together—hated being apart, actually—and it seemed like the natural next step in their relationship.
They’d talked about marriage, and they both wanted kids, but it was always just talk.
He was hoping to change all of that during this trip.
“What do I do now?” Charlotte dragged the fish out of the water, and it flip-flopped around on the smooth rocks.
“Let’s get the hook out of its mouth.” He grabbed the needle-nose pliers from the tackle box and carefully removed the hook.
“Can I get a picture of you and I with it?” Her nose and cheeks were pink from the chilly air, and her smile could light up a room. “We can put it next to the one of you and your brother.”
“I’d like that.” Hawk couldn’t believe how lucky he was to have a woman like Charlotte loving him. “Hold the fish like this.”
He showed her how to slip her fingers into the fish’s gills and was pleased that she wasn’t grossed out.
“I’ll take it and send it to you guys.” Calliope stepped back, pointed her phone, and took a couple of shots. “Okay, I just sent them to you.”
“Charlotte, this is your first catch,” Hawk said. “Do you want to keep him and we can fry him up for dinner, or do you want to let him go?”
“Are you kidding? I’m keeping it.” She dropped it into the big bucket of water and rinsed her hands off in the river. “I’ve never tasted fresh fish cooked over a campfire. And from the story you told me about Daniel, a fish tastes much better when you catch it yourself.”
“I can vouch for that.” Calliope held up her hand. “Nothing tastes better than fresh, batter-dipped, deep-fried alligator.”
“Ah, babe.” Lucas hooked his arm around her neck, tugged her to his side, and kissed her temple. “Don’t ever change.”
“Oh, you can count on that.” She started to put her phone away.
“Hey, Calliope, would you mind taking another picture for me?” Hawk tugged the little leather pouch from his pocket and knelt down in front of Charlotte.
Charlotte looked from him to Lucas and Calliope and back to him. She started to lift her hands to cover her mouth and stopped.
“Ew, fish.” Instead, she laced her fingers together in front of her heart and smiled down at him.
