“How ’bout drinks?” The pencil hovered over her pad. “Can I get you something besides water?”
Everyone stuck with water except Calliope, who ordered a soda.
“I’ll have that right out to ya.” She tucked the pencil back over her ear and grabbed the tray as she headed across the room.
She circled around behind the counter, smacked her palm against a door, and started shouting out their orders the second it swung open, then disappeared into the kitchen.
“Calliope told me you came across some information at work that could cause problems for some important people if it were to get out.” Donna leaned close, kept her voice low, and reached across the table to hold her daughter’s hand. “And now these horrible people are coming after you.”
“Remember the other night when I stayed at your place?” Charlotte asked.
“Of course.” Donna frowned. “When your power went out, right?”
“Truth is, I thought someone had been in my house and really didn’t want to be there.” She quickly added, “I made up that story about the power being out because I didn’t want to worry you when I wasn’t even sure there was anything to worry about.”
“Come to find out, there was something to worry about.” Hawk rested his arm lazily over the back of Charlotte’s chair. “Someonehadbeen in her house, and the next night, they used one of her kitchen knives to slash all four of her tires when she was at her office.”
“Oh, my God, Charlotte.” Donna’s hand flew to her mouth. “It has always bothered me when you would work late.”
“Before that happened, there were other, little things I dismissed as me being paranoid.” Charlotte went on to tell her about the meeting with Dulce and Cole that morning. “Hawk happened to be at the office, and that’s how he became involved.”
Donna kept hold of her daughter’s hand.
“Mom, what these people are doing …” Charlotte thought of the innocent children on that list. “It’s awful. But please, don’t ask me for any more details. The less you know, the safer you’ll be. Which is why I”—Hawk gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze, and she turned to him—“weneed to stop them.”
“So, what happens next?” Donna asked.
“We gather solid evidence, then take them all down,” Hawk said. “Every last one of them.”
“OSI is the best, and there are a lot of incredibly talented people working on this.” Calliope crossed her forearms on the table. “We’ll make sure these scumbags can never hurt anyone again.”
“Good.” Donna gave a satisfied nod and sat back.
Hawk and Calliope’s phones buzzed at the same time. They checked their screens, then looked at each other.
“What is it?” Charlotte was almost afraid to hear the answer.
“They found a print on the knife. As suspected, it belongs to Vincent Kimball.” Hawk looked at the message again. “They also traced the serial number on that listening device from your office to an electronics store not far from the HRA building. With that information, Luna was able to pull up video from a nearby traffic camera that clearly shows Kimball walking into the store.”
“And get this, he paid for it with his HRA credit card.” Calliope shook her head. “What an absolute knucklehead.”
“Who is this Vincent Kimball person?” Her mom tugged a napkin from the dispenser, folded it, and placed it beneath her water glass to soak up the condensation.
“He’s the head of security for HRA,” Charlotte said, “and he is not a good person.”
“Maybe we can use his ignorance to our advantage.” Hawk tapped his fingertips on the table. “When we get to my place, we’ll get in touch with Cole and figure something out.”
“So, let me get this straight: This Kimball person was listening to Charlotte in her office without her knowledge?” Donna looked back and forth between Hawk and her daughter.
“Yeah, he hid a little bug thingy in the overhead sprinkler.” She’d hoped her mom wouldn’t find out about that little detail.
“Those sons of bitches.” In an uncharacteristic display of anger, Donna thumped the butt of her fist on the table. The silverware rattled, ice clinked inside their water glasses, and a creamer fell out of the bowl. “I’m sorry, but I am so damn mad this is happening to my daughter.” She put the creamer back in the bowl.
“It’s okay, Mom. We’re going to get them.” She looked at Hawk and Calliope for backup. “Aren’t we?”
Hawk and Calliope answered at the same time.
“Absolutely,” he said.
