“No,” Harriet repeated. She let go of Charlotte’s wrists so she could run her hands down the sides of her body as her teeth grazed her earlobe. “I knew she had no chance.” Harriet kissed along her jawline, adding, “And I knew you were coming home with me.”
Harriet felt Charlotte’s lips meeting hers, Charlotte’s hands on her hips, and then she felt as Charlotte suddenly slipped out from in front of her and reversed their positions. Harriet felt the coolness of the wall against her cheek as Charlotte now had her hands above her head, holding onto her wrists with one of her hands, her other hand caressing the side of Harriet’s thigh. Charlotte’s fingers teased at the hemline of Harriet’s skirt as she asked, “You were sure about that?”
“Mm,” was all Harriet could say in response as she felt Charlotte’s hand inching her skirt upwards.
“Tell me you need this,” Charlotte breathed against the back of her neck, her lips moist against her skin, her hand traveling around to the front of her.
Harriet strained against her, feeling pressed between Charlotte’s hips and hand. “I need this,” Harriet finally managed to say.
#
Harriet’s head rested on Charlotte’s shoulder as she idly ran her fingers across Charlotte’s chest, enjoying the warmth of her skin. The room was completely dark but Harriet could tell by her breathing that she was still awake. “I wish it could always be like this,” Harriet said quietly. She felt Charlotte trying to adjust and so she rolled over onto her back, lazily fluffing the pillow under her neck.
“Harriet…” she started to say. “I want to go back.”
“Go back where, my darling?” Harriet asked, the fuzzy drowsiness beginning to recede as she registered that something was wrong.
“To that house. To the next meeting, to see if it’s not Joanna,” she said. She sounded wide awake.
Harriet inhaled slowly through her lips, willing herself not to respond right away and say anything in haste.
“Did you hear me?” she asked.
“I heard you,” Harriet replied, a small sigh escaping. Her mind raced to think of how she could dissuade Charlotte.
“What are you thinking?” Charlotte asked.
“I’m thinking… that I was incredibly scared tonight that something would happen to you. I thought, what if I had sent you straight into the hands of that madwoman?” Harriet propped herself up on an elbow to face her, even in the dark.
“But everything was fine,” Charlotte said.
“Yes, this time,” Harriet replied. “I don’t want to risk it again – to risk you again.”
“Why should it be up to you for whether to risk it?” she asked. Harriet could hear the restraint in her voice, could hear that she was trying to keep calm.
“Because, lest you forget, I am still in charge,” Harriet said. She felt the weight of responsibility, of needing to ensure not just Charlotte’s safety but also the safety of everyone within the organization.
“I’ve never forgotten that…” Charlotte said.
“But?” Harriet ventured.
“I wish you could appreciate the situation from my point of view. If you could just put your personal feelings for me aside –”
“That’s an impossible request,” Harriet replied.
Harriet could hear the sheets rustle and feel Charlotte’s weight shift on the mattress as she sat up. “Then let me do what I need to do because of your feelings for me.”
“Charlie, my darling, you know I would do anything for you,” Harriet said. “But please don’t ask me to put you in harm’s way again.”
“One more meeting. One more try. I’m asking you,” she said, her voice beginning to crack.
Harriet squeezed her eyes closed tightly as the words escaped her lips, “If you must. But then that’s it.” Harriet wished she could take her words back. The decision felt wrong for so many reasons, but she knew it was what Charlotte needed.
Charlotte found her hand in the dark and took it in her own. “Thank you,” she said.
A tear escaped from Harriet’s eye and rolled down her cheek. She couldn’t respond aloud and so she simply lifted Charlotte’s hand to her lips and kissed it.
Chapter Sixty-One
Harriet sat in a dark corner of the Crown & Cushion – inside this time because of the UV Code Red day making it too uncomfortable to sit out back even with the shades – and wondered why she had agreed to meet with Erin again after how their conversation turned out last time. She had ordered a double scotch on the rocks and found that it was mostly gone by the time Erin arrived, uncharacteristically late. An awkward hello ensued, as neither of them seemed particularly compelled to either kiss or shake hands in greeting.
Erin took her seat and said, “I’m not sure if you realize this, but I was the source of an argument between you and Charlie before, a long time ago.”
“Oh? How do you mean?” Harriet asked, relaxed enough from the alcohol to inquire.
Erin set her beer on the table and replied with a chagrined smile, “I had changed clothes and borrowed a dress – not of Charlie’s, of course, but one of Maggie’s dresses that Charlie still had.” She paused, as if momentarily distracted by her thoughts, and then added, “Charlie told me that you saw the dress I left behind and thought that she was sleeping with someone else.”
Harriet gave a small laugh in spite of herself and said, “Yes, I remember that. One of our first arguments, and over such a silly misunderstanding.” She observed Erin’s black blouse and gray trousers, and tried to imagine her in the bright-colored dress she remembered from before.
“She hasn’t been round to see me lately. Charlie hasn’t, I mean,” Erin said. “I feel like I just got her back in my life, and now I’ve lost her again.” She was looking down at the table.
“I’m sorry,” Harriet said.
“No, you haven’t anything to be sorry about. But I’m sorry. I’m sorry for how I acted before, what I said to you. I don’t want to make an enemy of you, Harriet,” she said.
Harriet wondered if she was afraid, and that thought tugged the corners of her mouth downward. “You’re not my enemy, Erin. I know you care about Charlie.”
She looked at Harriet with watery eyes and asked, “How is she doing?”
“She’s fine,” Harriet said, finishing her drink.
“Yeah?” Erin asked.
Harriet replied evenly, “Yes.”
“And how are you?” Erin asked cautiously.
Harriet smiled and replied, “You don’t need to worry about me.”
She nodded and said, “All right.” She took a long drink of her beer and then asked, “And she’s… safe? You’re looking after her?”
Harriet hoped the guilt didn’t show in her face. She replied, “She looks after herself. But she’s fine.”
“Good,” Erin replied.
“Listen, why don’t you come by the house sometime for dinner?” Harriet asked her.
Erin hesitated before saying, “That’s very kind, Harriet. But I don’t know if that’s such a good idea. It doesn’t seem like Charlie wants to see me.”
“You’re still her friend. She just might need reminding of that,” Harriet said.
#
Dillon met Harriet in the hallway on her way back to the office late that afternoon. He was nervously running his hand through his hair as he hustled to keep pace with her quick steps.
“Ms. Spencer, I was hoping I could talk to you sometime.”
“Concerning what exactly, Dillon?” Harriet asked.
“Well, my duties here, as an intern, ma’am,” he said.
“You don’t need to ma’am me, Dillon. What about your duties?” Harriet asked him as they rounded the corner into her office suite.
“Did you have a nice lunch, Ms. Spencer?” Anna asked.
“Fine, thanks,” Harriet replied. “Any new messages?”
“Three,” Anna said. “I’ve front-loaded them on your desk computer.” When Harriet would flip on her desk computer,
those messages would appear in the foreground.
“Thank you, Anna,” Harriet said with a small smile.
As Harriet entered into her office, Dillon asked from beside Anna’s desk, “Ms. Spencer?”
“Yes, come on in, Dillon.” Harriet sat down at her desk and resisted the urge to skim the messages while he spoke. “Close the door behind you,” she told him.
He stood awkwardly on the other side of her desk and said, “Well, it’s just…”
“Take a deep breath, think about what you want to say, and then just say it,” Harriet told him as kindly as she could manage.
He nodded and took a deep breath. “I was just wondering when you’d have something more for me to do. I’ve been over the internship manual, front to back, and back to front again, and well.”
“Yes, of course. You’re quite right that you should have something more concrete on which to work,” Harriet replied. In truth, she had rather forgotten that Dillon needed something to do.
“I was thinking, if it’s all right with you, that I could tackle some of the briefings for you. Or, perhaps I could write press releases. I’m not a bad writer,” he said, his cheeks coloring.
Harriet looked at him and said, “Let’s have you get started with correspondence. Anna can supervise you in responding to constituents’ concerns – both to the constituents themselves as well as forwarding their information to other departments or persons who may be able to help more directly.”
Dillon smiled and said, “Yes, brilliant.”
“We’ll see how you do with that before moving you onto briefings and press releases.”
He nodded again and replied, “Thank you, Ms. Spencer.”
“Not at all,” Harriet said, flipping on her desk computer.
Chapter Sixty-Two
“Fancy a drink?” Harriet asked Charlotte, getting out two glasses.
“No, I don’t need one,” Charlotte replied, rubbing at her ear, which Harriet recognized as an anxious gesture of hers.
“Well, I do,” Harriet said under her breath, pouring a healthy amount into her glass. “It was a hell of a day.”
“That’s what worries me,” she said. “Do you actually need a drink?”
“Excuse me?” Harriet turned to her.
“Harriet, it just seems like you’re drinking a lot more these days than you ever used to,” Charlotte said.
“Well, my dear, alcohol used to be an illicit substance. Now that our government has decided it’s not verboten –”
“You are the government,” she interjected.
Harriet smiled a small, secretive smile, and replied, “I’m one of many people who form our government. As you well know. But as I was saying, now that we are free to consume alcohol again, I am taking full advantage of that freedom. Where is the harm?”
“It just seems, Harriet, that sometimes you see it – alcohol – as some kind of panacea. Long day, have a drink. Stressful day, difficult conversation, something you don’t want to think about for a spell, have a drink. Or even if you want to celebrate, you have a drink.”
“My dear, I seem to remember that you joined me for a scotch the other night, after the Sisters and Brothers meeting,” Harriet replied, looking at her through narrowed eyes.
Charlotte shrugged and said self-consciously, “Maybe I’m just not used to it. Twelve years with not a drop… I guess it’s made me more aware of it.”
“Perhaps hyper-aware,” Harriet suggested.
“Maybe,” she replied.
“I have it under control,” Harriet replied. “But if you’d rather I not have a drink…” Harriet said, looking at her glass of scotch on the rocks and then looking back to Charlotte, “Then I’ll pour it down the sink. It just seems a waste.”
“It’s fine,” Charlotte said.
“Is it?” Harriet asked.
Charlotte nodded in response although her eyes told Harriet she wasn’t convinced.
Harriet set the drink on the countertop and closed the distance between them. “Are you sure? Because I know another way of working off the stress of the day…” Harriet said suggestively.
Charlotte smiled but then broke eye contact briefly before asking, “So what made it a long day?”
Harriet refrained from letting out a sigh as she moved away, picking up her glass again and taking a sip. “Well, I realized that I hadn’t been keeping my intern busy enough, and he complained today. He’s bright and capable and I’m sure he’s been frustrated with the kind of work I’ve been having him do so far.”
“Mm-hmm,” Charlotte replied.
“And… I saw Erin today,” Harriet said in a carefully measured tone.
“My Erin?” Charlotte asked, her eyebrows raised.
Harriet smiled and replied, “I didn’t realize you owned her.”
“You know what I mean,” Charlotte said.
“I invited her over sometime. She cares about you, Charlie, and besides… I like her.” From their first meeting in her office in Portcullis House, Harriet had sensed that Erin was someone she would like – even if they disagreed about certain matters.
“You invited her here?”
“Yes. For dinner. We didn’t decide on a particular date and time, though.”
Charlotte took a glass down from the cabinets, filled the glass with water from the tap, and walked over to the fern, slowly pouring water in the pot.
“Is that all right with you?” Harriet asked her.
“Why wouldn’t it be all right?” she asked in return.
“Well, she told me how you haven’t seen her lately. She thinks you don't want to see her.”
Charlotte shrugged and said, “It’s just… You might like her, but I’m not sure she likes you in return. And that bothers me.”
“She respects me enough not to interfere in your and my relationship, and that’s enough for me.”
“She respects you,” Charlotte repeated in a skeptical tone.
“She’s not going to stand between you and me. Not unless you allow her to do so,” Harriet said. She sighed inwardly, wondering why Charlotte had to be so difficult sometimes.
“I don’t want anyone, or anything, to stand between us,” Charlotte said. Her gaze rested briefly on the glass of scotch before she looked back at Harriet.
“Good,” Harriet said stubbornly. “Neither do I.” She pointedly took another sip.
Chapter Sixty-Three
Thomas sat with Rhys and Harriet as they once again listened in and watched as Zoe and Charlotte approached the East End building where the meeting would take place.
“I can’t believe you green-lighted this,” Thomas said to Harriet in a disapproving tone. More than disapproving, he seemed almost appalled.
“It was the right decision,” Harriet told him curtly.
They watched as Zoe and Charlotte entered the building, went through the usual process of being frisked, and approached the desk to check in again.
“Charlie is breathing heavily,” Rhys observed. “You can hear it on the mike. Do you think she’s nervous?”
“She’ll be fine,” Harriet said.
Sarah was at the desk again and she smiled when she saw Charlotte. “I'm glad you decided to come to another meeting,” she told Charlotte.
“I’m glad to be back,” Charlotte responded. If she was indeed nervous, it didn’t come through in the way that she spoke.
They mingled with the crowd – larger this time than last – for twenty, perhaps thirty, minutes.
“Something is different this time,” Rhys observed.
“I know,” Harriet said. “I feel it too.”
After some time, Charlotte looked at Zoe, who nodded, and they began walking toward the door. Then Charlotte stopped, the camera capturing a hand on her shoulder, and she turned to face a tall, well-muscled man. “You’re wanted in the back,” the man told her.
“All right,” Zoe said to the man.
“Not you,” the man said. “Just her,” he clarified, referrin
g to Charlotte.
Harriet exchanged a look with Thomas, and it was obvious they were both alarmed by the turn of events.
“No problem,” Charlotte said. To anyone besides Harriet, it might appear that she was relaxed.
Charlotte followed the man to the back of the room, down a hallway, and to a closed door. The man disappeared behind the door for the briefest of moments, and then reappeared, saying to Charlotte, “You can go in now.”
Harriet swallowed hard, watching the scene unfold before her eyes. She said to Thomas and Rhys, “We need to get her out of there.”
“How, Harriet? It would take Ethan at least fifteen minutes to get there. And if we go in heavy, this isn’t going to end well. We have to trust that Charlie can handle this,” Thomas replied.
Charlotte opened the door and entered a room that looked remarkably, eerily, like Harriet’s office at 85 Westchester Place. The only obvious different was that at the large desk sat Joanna; her hair was shorter and her face had aged, but it was unmistakably Joanna.
“Thomas…” Harriet said, squeezing the arm of the chair so hard that the wooden edges felt like they were cutting into her hand.
“I know, Harriet,” Thomas said.
Charlotte took a few slow steps into the office, and the sounds indicated that someone closed the door behind her. From the camera view, they could see that she wasn’t taking her eyes off Joanna.
“So it’s you,” Charlotte said in a low, calm voice that reminded Harriet of how she spoke at her parole hearing. “When I learned about these meetings, I had been wondering – hoping – that maybe it was you behind them.”
Joanna came out from behind the desk and walked over to Charlotte. She stood nose-to-nose with Charlotte, studying her, before pulling her into a hug. “It’s wonderful to see you, Charlie.”
Watching the interaction, Harriet felt a wave of nausea rising, and as she tasted something distinctively metallic, she realized she was biting her cheek.
“I would have come sooner, had I been able,” Charlotte said once Joanna released her from the embrace.
Thomas said under his breath, “She’s good. Believable.”
“Yes, I understand. I hope your time… away… wasn’t too painful,” Joanna said, walking back to her desk and taking her seat again. She motioned for Charlotte to sit on the leather sofa, and Charlotte complied.
The Organization Page 29