Harper scoffed, and Charlie was pretty sure she was about to throw him out, so she said, “I’m Charlotte Paulson.”
He turned his head and cocked it as he looked at her. “You look a little different than your photo. I didn’t recognize you.” He chuckled, but Charlie wasn’t surprised. She knew she looked different; her hair had gotten lighter from the sun, and she’d stopped getting highlights and lowlights every six weeks. Her face had a glow from spending time outside rather than under LED lights all day, she’d put on muscle from her regular yoga practice, and she wore her hair in a ponytail pretty much all the time rather than blow-drying and styling it like in every photo he could have tracked down. He probably also wasn’t expecting her to be in leggings and a tank top, her standard wardrobe these days.
“Key West agrees with me, I think.” She didn’t want to fuck around with small talk, though. “But we don’t need to exchange pleasantries. Why are you looking for me?”
“We should probably take this someplace more private. It’s of a…delicate nature.”
She thought he was trying to lull her with his soft tone and smile, but Charlie was on alert.
Harper beat her to an answer when she said, “Charlie, a word, please.”
She nodded and stood as Harper ducked out from behind the bar and stepped back into the hallway. “Do you have any idea what this is about?” she whispered.
“No.” Charlie wished she had pockets to hold her fists in so Harper wouldn’t see her trembling.
“I don’t think you should talk to him. At least not without hiring an attorney who specializes in this type of thing.” She squeezed Charlie’s arm. “He may not be law enforcement, but anything you say can still be used against you.”
“I know, and I get that, but I need to know what’s going on.” She wouldn’t be able to sleep until she knew what they were sniffing around about.
“Okay, what about this, we can go back into my office. We’ll tell him I’m your temporary attorney so I can remind you to not say anything, and we can pumphimfor information. I can’t act as your attorney because we’re involved, but I can help you for a few minutes.”
Worried about what he might tell Harper but even more worried about doing something stupid, Charlie nodded.
“Okay.” Harper leaned back into the doorway and said, “Okay, Mr. Woodall, if you agree to let Ms. Paulson’s counsel, me, sit in, you can come back into my office and talk to her.”
“You can’t be serious. You’re not an attorney, you’re a bartender,” he spluttered.
“Wanna bet that’s all I am?”
Charlie wished she could see his face, but she heard his footsteps approaching.
“Aiden, can you hold things down for a bit?”
Charlie heard him say, “I’m not sure if I can handle the zero patrons in here right now, but I’ll do my best.”
Charlie chuckled but was grateful the bar was empty. That entire exchange was embarrassing, so at least Aiden was the only one to experience it.
Once they were settled in the chairs in Harper’s office, Mr. Woodall took off his hat and set it on the corner of the desk as Harper said, “So here’s how it’s going to go. You are going to talk, and Ms. Paulson and I are going to listen. We might ask you additional questions, but Ms. Paulson will not be making any statements today. Understand?”
Watching Harper go into protective attorney mode—especially protecting her—unexpectedly sent warmth radiating from her chest through her fingertips.
“Yes, yes, of course. I’m just glad we located you, Ms. Paulson. And let me tell you, you are a hard one to track down.”
“It wasn’t intentional,” Charlie said without thought, but Harper’s glare had her pressing her lips together.
“I would like to reiterate, you are not in any kind of trouble. To tell you the truth, I’m really hoping you can help me. Earlier this year, we started to note some anomalies in a few financial products and equity raise valuations at your old investment bank. Then, we received an anonymous tip that we should look deeper into their valuations across the board. We’ve been trying to puzzle it together, but there are a lot of missing pieces. And according to what we’ve been able to figure out, you left right around that time and vanished. So we’re wondering if maybe you have information and ran because you were scared.”
Charlie felt a little like she was going to throw up. Shewondered if her face looked a little green. She had information but no proof. And she’d signed a nondisclosure agreement on her way out the door. She regretted that decision now. It wasn’t like she’d needed any of the money. Hell, she’d finally donated pretty much all of it right after seeing her parents.
“So, to be clear, you’re hoping Ms. Paulson can shine a light on some valuation anomalies that you aren’t even sure are problems?” Harper said as she squinted an eye at him.
“Basically. We tried to track you down at your home, but the doorman said you hadn’t been there in months. You aren’t working anywhere that’s withholding federal income tax, and you haven’t changed your driver’s license with a new location. Look, I’ve been in this business long enough to know when I smell a rat, and DBG stinks of it. But we can’t prove anything. It’s driving me nuts. It’s personally offensive to me when people think the rules don’t apply to them. Please think about talking to me. I won’t keep bugging you. As I said, you aren’t in trouble. If these guys are really monkeying around, though, I want to take them down. Here’s my card. Call me anytime, okay?”
“Thank you. I’ll think about it.” Charlie took the card and willed her shaking hands to steady so he wouldn’t know that he’d gotten to her.
Mr. Woodall grabbed his hat and put it back on. He tipped it toward them and was gone without any regard to the way he’d just upended all the peace that Charlie had been working so hard on for months.
Harper let out a long, shaky breath that was as loud as the ocean crashing on the shore. “I don’t know what that was all about, but I’m guessing you do.”