Within five minutes, Charlie emerged from the bathroom looking completely put together. Like she could be on the cover of Forbes as a successful businesswoman.

Even though she didn’t belong in those uptight clothes, I couldn’t take my gaze from her.

She looked like she could conquer the fucking world.

I had no doubt that, one day, she’d do just that.

“You ready?” she asked.

“As ready as I’ll ever be.”

Lacey had given us questions to ask the woman we’d be interviewing. Though I hadn’t relished the idea of Rock making this trip with Charlie, I wished he were here now. Rock might actually know this woman. She had seemed to know him, apparently.

The story was that Manny, a gynecologist, had seen this woman as a patient, and the patient told Manny that Rock had relocated to New York. Since Rock hadn’t told anyone he was leaving, this created a puzzle.

Who was this woman? And what did she know?

The images again, blurred as always, tried to fight their way into my brain. What if this woman…?

No, couldn’t go there.

But had to.

Had to eventually.

Not today.

19

Charlie

Wow. What a conference room! Refreshments, including Champagne, had been set up. My stomach growled, but I took a ladylike portion of fresh strawberries dipped in chocolate and a cup of coffee.

Roy helped himself to a heaping plateful of everything else.

Apparently our guests hadn’t arrived yet.

That soon changed with a knock on the door.

The hotel manager from this morning peeked in. “I have a Horace Stiers and Leta Romero to see you.”

Roy nodded. “Come on in.”

I sat down at my place at the table and turned on my laptop.

Roy stood and held out his hand. “Good to see you again, Hoss. Ma’am, I’m Roy Wolfe.”

He sounded so professional. I wasn’t sure why I was surprised. Introverts could still be professional.

The woman was lovely—dark hair and eyes with fair skin. She nodded to Roy.

“Please have a seat,” Roy said.

They sat awkwardly. Hoss was tall, lanky, and bald. A little creepy looking, actually. Creepier than I remembered.

“Mr. Stiers, you remember our executive assistant, Charlie Waters?”

“Yes, ma’am. Good to see you again.”

“And this is Ms. Romero.”

I nodded. “Nice to see you both.”

“Ms. Romero,” Roy continued, “thank you for being willing to speak to us privately like this. I assure you that we will keep this conversation confidential as best we can.”

“What do you mean, ‘as best you can’?” Hoss asked.

“As you know, my siblings and I have been implicated in our father’s murder. If Ms. Romero has information that can exonerate us, we’ll need to call her in as a witness.”

“I don’t even know any of you,” Leta said.

“Then how did you know Rock had left Montana?” Roy asked.