Bedeviled

by Madison Michael

  “Sorry, that was uncalled for,” she acknowledged, immediately contrite. “I appreciate the offer of help Alex. I really do. Seriously though, there is nothing I need besides a place to crash. I have no idea why someone would choose to break into my apartment. I find it all very strange and inexplicable. Especially since they didn’t steal anything. Or at least anything obvious.”

  “And the incident in the park? And the threatening phone message?” he finally asked outright when it became obvious that she wouldn’t offer any information.

  “Oh, Alex,” she said, leaning over to plant a kiss on his cheek. “You are so sweet when you worry like this. But I think you have been watching too many spy movies.”

  “Movies?” Alex’s disbelief was obvious.

  “Absolutely. I fell in the park. I have told you that repeatedly. Nothing sinister happened. I was just a klutz.”

  “And that awful phone message and all those hang ups on your answering machine? Charlotte, how can you explain those?”

  “I didn’t realize you heard those,” Charlotte responded, dragging out her words almost as if she was buying time. “Not sure about the hang ups. Sales people I would imagine. They never leave messages.”

  “And the threat to hurt you if you don’t go home? Charlotte, please just tell me what is going on.”

  “Of course, Alex. I have nothing to hide. That was a joke. I am sorry if it frightened you and I can see how you might misinterpret it.”

  “A joke? That is one screwed up joke. What did I ‘misinterpret’?” Alex could already tell that Charlotte was fabricating some wild story, but he could not figure out why.

  “Yes, misinterpret. It was my brother trying to be funny. He leaves me weird messages like that all the time. It was just a coincidence that it happened after the break-in. I can see how you would believe it was real.”

  “Your brother? That threat was from your brother? A brother who loves you? A brother you are so close with?” Alex recognized a threatening voice versus a teasing voice. He had heard enough threats of his own recently. This was definitely the real thing.

  Why is Charlotte denying this? What is she hiding?

  “So, it was just your brother who wants you to come home?”

  “Well, I was supposed to be in Boston weeks ago. This is his silly way of giving me grief. I will take care of it when I am there. He will clearly be happy to see me.”

  “Clearly,” Alex said without conviction. Charlotte had put an impenetrable wall between them and Alex could not find a way to knock it down. He just knew she was unable to trust him with the truth and that hurt.

  “Have it your way, Charlotte, but I’ll tell you this. I sure wish I could follow you East and find out what the hell is going on. Sadly, I have to go to California.”

  California. I should only tell you about the mess I have to go deal with. Shit. Who am I to pry into Charlotte’s secrets when I am keeping so damn many of my own?

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Alex was reluctant to leave. He had been hovering over Charlotte since Sunday making it impossible to have any privacy just when she needed it most. She had managed to avoid any more questions – barely – but she could see that the incident at her apartment, combined with the accident in the park, had stretched her credibility to its breaking point. He knew she was lying, but for some reason known only to himself, Alex had stopped pressuring her for answers.

  Charlotte had finally concluded that the only thing saving her from further probes was Alex’s reluctance to answer questions in return. He had become even more tight-lipped about his own activities, too. She cared for him. She really did. She wanted to live with him, to see where it would take them, but she was not prepared to bare all and she was quite certain he wasn’t either.

  What a pair we make.

  Alex would be out West again for another four days, his second trip in the four weeks that had passed since the break-in. Charlotte had not been back to her apartment since, avoiding the evidence while enjoying an opportunity to play house at Alex’s. The house part was going fine, except the comfortable ease they had discovered before the robbery was no longer present. In its place was a strained truce and long silent moments.

  Charlotte would catch herself staring at Alex, wondering what he was thinking, wanting to bare all. She wanted to find her way back to that place they had found together based on understanding and caring – that place that might be able to bridge the mistrust and lies. She would shake herself, returning to reality by reminding herself of all that was at stake.

  Instead, Charlotte was about to heap more untruths on the pile. She planned to take advantage of Alex’s absence by slipping away herself, without letting him know. She had made the plans last minute, just yesterday in fact, hoping to fool Alex – among others -- about her whereabouts. She was going to do her best to slip in and out of Boston undetected.

  “Regan, I know I have only been back a few weeks, but I really need to get to Boston and reassure my family that I am alive. Can you do without me the rest of the week?” Charlotte had approached her boss with the request early yesterday morning. “The deals for the new building are completed, the acquisition papers are still with the lawyers, and we are waiting on a response for the property bid in St. Louis. I figure it is a good time to get away, before things go crazy again.”

  “Charlotte, you can always go, you know. You don’t need my permission,” Regan had replied. “I know if something comes up I can find you by email or cell, so just head out.”

  “True, but with all your recent back and forths to D.C., I thought one of us should be here.”

  “Good point. I really have been traveling a lot lately. But Ethan can handle an emergency if one comes up. He’s learned so much and he’s itching to show what he can do. Besides, I trust him to call if he is in over his head.”

  She was right. Her brother Ethan had come far in just the five months since Charlotte had joined the company. Initially Regan had let him learn the residential side of their complex holdings, but now he was doing more commercial and development work.

  Charlotte enjoyed working with him. He was a quick learner, full of creative ideas and willing to roll up his sleeves to get the job done. Charlotte suspected he was anxious to move up to working on development deals until he knew the entire business inside out. He made no secret of his desire to run LHRE some day, but he was still young, and a little immature. It was better for everyone to have either Regan or Charlotte on hand to provide a steadying influence.

  Regan Howe had only been at the helm of LHRE a short time herself, since her brother, Wyatt, had started his own company and her father had retired after narrowly avoiding total ruin. The potential scandal had shaken her father so much that he relinquished the reins to Regan “even though she was a girl.” If Ethan had been older and more experienced, everyone knew she would never have gotten the opportunity, no matter how deserving she was.

  And she was incredibly deserving. Harvard educated, Regan had studied everything that she needed to run LHRE. An MBA plus summers and holidays following her father and big brother everywhere, absorbing the business into her pores, had left her more than capable when the opportunity arose. She had proven herself time and again since taking command and business was thriving.

  Recently, Regan’s success had caught the eye of politicians in Washington. They had asked her to testify before this Senate committee or that House hearing. The housing market had bounced back but real estate was still under scrutiny, and Regan’s expertise was sought often. She did well in the spotlight, better than anyone had expected, so the back and forth to Washington was increasing in frequency. Charlotte suspected that there was someone drawing Regan to the capitol as well. After all, she could only wait so long for Tyler.

  “Ethan,” Charlotte poked his head into the young man’s doorway. “I just spoke with Regan and I am going to head east for a few days to see my family. Can you handle everything here while I am gone? Anything you need before
I leave?”

  “You two fuss too much,” came Ethan’s easy reply. “I’ve got this covered, Charlotte.”

  “Great, call my cell if you need me. I’m here until late this afternoon.”

  Charlotte was comfortable now that she could leave, regardless of Regan’s schedule. She and Ethan usually handled anything that came up. Ethan had the knowledge of how his family made decisions and Charlotte had a strong real estate and financial background. Whenever she thought about it, Charlotte recognized that the move to Chicago and LHRE had been a fortuitous one.

  When she met Regan at the Harvard Alumni fundraising event in Boston, the two women clicked immediately. Similar in age and temperament they were soon laughing over stories of their Harvard days and getting to know each other’s activities since graduation. It had not taken long for Regan to find out that Charlotte had a wealth of experience handling real estate investing down the street at a major insurance company. Regan jumped to secure the skills she was seeking for LHRE.

  Over entrees, Regan picked Charlotte’s brain and found her smart, assured and a great fit for the Chicago company. She just had to lure her to the Midwest. By dessert, Regan had floated the idea of a move to a new job and discovered that Charlotte was ripe for a change. Over coffee, she found out that the woman was very close to her East Coast family and started pitching LHRE hard to overcome any potential reluctance. By the time they got up to leave the event, Charlotte was seriously considering a job change and advantageous relocation.

  “My insurance job is really fine. It pays very well and my colleagues respect me as a capable, hard worker,” Charlotte had explained, unintentionally playing hard to get.

  “I am sure they do,” Regan had agreed. “But I can pay better and you will be one of the top executives in the company. Why wait to get a series of well-deserved promotions when I am offering them to you in one leap?”

  “I am due for promotion,” Charlotte had considered, “and the work is always interesting. Plus, I really enjoy my coworkers. I just assumed I might stay there until I was ready to retire. It has the added advantage of being close to my home and family.”

  Why am I arguing? I need to leave Boston and I need to do it as quickly as possible. Regan was offering her the perfect chance. Stop fighting so hard and let her make an offer.

  “Just how close are you to your family?” Regan had queried. “How often do you see them?”

  “I am the only daughter,” Charlotte had explained. “They are overly protective but I love them. My brother is Harvard MBA too.” She pointed to Jake in the far corner of the room and asked if Regan had met him. She said that she had not. “I do love being nearby though, I admit. I am able to take the bus or a train home on Sundays to go to church with my parents or just to sit around the dining room table. Our conversations get very loud and boisterous and we laugh a lot. I leave totally weighed down with my mother’s outstanding meals.”

  Charlotte had painted quite a picture and unbeknownst to her, Regan had upped the opening salary offer after that description of Sunday dinner. Charlotte never mentioned that her family was encouraging her to move. They all wanted her to be safe.

  It was only after Regan made her that offer she could not refuse that Charlotte worried about all the misconceptions Regan had about her. Before that, Charlotte believed it didn’t matter. She never expected to see Regan again. Now she was being offered a job.

  “I need to come clean,” Charlotte had whispered to her brother over the phone later that week.

  “I can’t hear you,” Jake complained.

  “I can’t talk any louder, I am at work,” Charlotte had explained. “I need to come clean with Regan, Jake.”

  “Did you lie to her?”

  “Not exactly,” Charlotte conceded, “And I did try to have the conversation twice, but Regan took me off the topic and I never got back to it.”

  “Charlotte, seriously, this is personal anyway, You have never once lied to Regan about your work. You need the new job and the move out of town badly. Leave it alone at this point. Don’t risk it.”

  “I guess you’re right. It’s not going to impact my work, after all. I have never lied about being qualified.”

  “And she checked your references, I am sure. And I am sure they were glowing.”

  Jake was correct. Her references had been glowing and plentiful, so she dropped the subject. How could she know that the assumptions Regan made regarding her personal life would continue to haunt her as the lies spread to more and more people? Now she was enmeshed in deceit and could not figure out how to set the record straight without risking the new job that mattered so much.

  Standing in Regan’s doorway yesterday, listening to her say that she trusted Charlotte and that she was free to come and go, just added to Charlotte’s guilt. Charlotte planned to set the record straight with Regan at some point, and with Alex too.

  But what if she told everyone the truth too soon? What if she lost her job because of it? Isn’t omission the same thing as lying when applying for a job?

  She never told Regan she came from a blue-blood family. She never told her she was at the Harvard event because she was a major donor to the university like the other attendees. She had actually never volunteered any information about her background except that she had been a Harvard undergrad and MBA who ate Sunday dinners with her family after church. Regan just assumed a different Roche family sat down to those dinners and Charlotte failed to correct her.

  She hated keeping her family background a secret, as if she was ashamed of it. That was so far from the truth. She loved her close-knit family, her brothers and parents. She was bursting with pride for all they had overcome, all they had achieved. But more details about her family never came up in conversation until Charlotte was safely ensconced in her new job and her new Chicago apartment. By then, Charlotte could find no easy way to broach the topic without embarrassing Regan and herself. She did not know Regan well enough to know if a bit of embarrassment might lead to her firing.

  Instead, I am living a lie.

  Until recently, all the lies and sacrifices had been worth it. Charlotte believed she was safe. She traveled back and forth to Boston numerous times to see her parents or her brothers, even a few friends that were sworn to silence. She believed that she was flying under the radar. She would have used a false name, but with airline security being what it was, that no longer remained an option.

  Nonetheless, she was cautious. She never reserved a hotel room in her name, always paid in cash and moved around the area, never staying in the same place twice. She never saw her whole family at once, causing her to miss birthdays and anniversary parties that she dare not attend.

  After only six months, it was already taking its toll on her. She was able to hide her identity, but when she had to start keeping secrets in Chicago too, she found herself more easily confused and likely to slip. She resented the need for secrecy and considered risking everything for the truth. Instead, she chose her only other option, keeping a bit more distance with co-workers and friends. Everything had been fine until Alex.

  She liked him immediately. Despite his complaints to the contrary, she found herself sharing more about her background and personal life than she had with anyone else. Still, she hid a great deal. As they became running partners, she noticed that he pried more and more from her with each mile they clocked. She wanted to be close to him, but he was smart – too smart. She feared slipping up, or even worse, endangering him too.

  She had berated herself repeatedly since the incident in the park. Charlotte replayed the episode in her brain over and over. It could have been a disaster if she had taken Alex up on his offer of a ride. That could have put a target on his back without him ever being aware of the danger.

  That was not an option. Charlotte cared for Alex as she had never cared about anyone before. She needed to keep her presence in his apartment a secret. That was the only way to keep him out of danger. She had to maintain a presence at
her apartment. She had to be seen going in and out, to and from work. Alone.

  Her sprained ankle had curtailed her marathon plans at least. Now there was no risk of being accosted in the park again. Perhaps when Alex ran alone it would look like a coincidence that they were together that day. She needed to distance herself from him in public in every possible way.

  “Charlotte, are you listening to me? I don’t think you heard a word I said,” Regan said, raising her voice and waving her hand in front of Charlotte’s face. “Where were you?” she asked when Charlotte’s eyes focused on her again. “You were a million miles away.”

  “I am so sorry, Regan. I was thinking about what to pack and going through the plans for the next few days. I am just excited about going home.”

  “I bet you are. Are you going for anything special? I know there is that big cancer fundraiser this weekend, because I met a Congressman heading back from D.C. to attend. Will you be there? I could tell him to play escort if you like.”