Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Nineteen

After Sinclair Yamada had left, Charlie pulled together notes on what he had gleaned during the interview then popped his head back into Declan's office.

"Cody White is scheduled to arrive at three. Is there anything I should prepare?"

Declan looked at his watch, then up towards Charlie. "I want you to handle Cody White on your own."

"What?"

"You're ready for it," Declan assured him.

"No, I'm not!"

"You are. In every single interview you've been involved in, you've instinctively known what to say and do to put the client at ease. And you're not physically imposing, so you don't threaten people."

"You're saying I'm good because I'm skinny?" Charlie asked.

"No. I'm saying you're good because you're you—likeable and approachable. You just have to find out what this guy wants. Get all the details of what he's willing to tell you, and we'll start with that."

"What if I miss something?"

"Then you miss it."

Declan gathered his phone from his desk and made his way towards the office door. "Charlie, this is only the first meeting. You don't have to solve the case tonight. I guarantee you'll never get everything out of a client. They forget. They get mixed up. They lie. It's our job to take all that, figure out what's important and what we still have to learn."

Charlie knew he should be excited, but something felt off. "So, while I'm talking to Cody out at my desk, you'll be in your office if I need something, right?"

Declan walked past Charlie. "No. I've got to meet up with someone."

"Does this have anything to do with Michael?"

Declan turned. "It's…unfinished business I've got to deal with. So, when Cody gets here, just treat it like it's a first date. Offer him a coffee and a snack, and smile a lot. Pick up a few of Gwen's pastries. I bet that and a nice cup of coffee'll help put him at ease. Anyway, I've gotta go. I'll text you when I'm done and see how it went."

Declan patted Charlie on the shoulder, then headed out of the office.

Charlie picked up one of the pillows on the couch, buried his head in it and screamed. Once he'd let out his frustration, he stood up, adjusted the pillows, and quickly exited down the stairs to Gwen's shop. He returned fifteen minutes later with enough pastries to feed a dozen clients.

Charlie set the pastries out on a platter on the coffee table in the reception room. He thought about how that would look—a bunch of snacks left over from an office function—so he took them into Declan's office—his office for now. Charlie might come across as pleasant and unimposing, but he was damned if he was going to come across as just the office boy.

He quickly worked out a game plan. He set out a notepad and pen on the spartan desktop, ready to jot down a few notes, so he'd look professional. He also set out his cell phone, which he would use to record the conversation just in case he needed to check the facts.

The alarm system beeped as someone entered the street-level door. Charlie pressed record on his phone and walked out to the reception area. The office door opened and in walked a good-looking young man. He wore a jean jacket, with the collar pulled up, and a baseball cap with the brim pulled down in front of his eyes which were obscured by a pair of aviator sunglasses. His hands were stuffed in the pockets of his perfectly worn jeans. He looked as if he'd stepped out of a contemporary film noir. A very sexy film noir. The man looked vaguely familiar. Charlie wondered if he might have seen him before at Bar-None.

"Cody White?" Charlie asked.

"Mr Hunt?" the man said uncertainly.

Charlie walked up to him and firmly shook his hand. "No, I'm Charlie Watts, Mr Hunt's…partner."

"I thought I'd be meeting with Declan Hunt this afternoon," Cody said, removing his sunglasses and looking at Charlie.

Don't lie! He'll know you're lying. Hot guys like him can sense it. They've been around. Now say something!

"My job this afternoon is to take down the details of your situation for Mr Hunt. He's out wrapping up another case at the moment. We've been very busy and he felt bad that you had to wait this long, so he wanted to get you in as soon as possible to see if we can help you."

"So you're the secretary?"

"Cody—is it all right if I call you Cody?"

"Sure."

"Cody, at Declan Hunt Investigations we work as a team—Declan, me and you. Once we get the details of your case, we'll be able to best assess how we can help you. Why don't you step into the office and grab a seat. Can I get you a coffee?"

"Sure. A latte if you've got it," Cody said.

Charlie nodded, went to the kitchenette and made Cody's drink. By the time he returned to the office, Cody had eaten three of Gwen's pastries and was looking slightly more at ease. Cody looked up sheepishly from the plate of desserts.

"I'm sorry I ate so much. I'm…a bit nervous. I've never had to hire a detective. I've never had something like this happen to me before."

Charlie smiled. "It's okay. There's nothing to worry about. Just tell me everything that's going on. I'll be taking notes, if that's all right with you."

Cody nodded. He appeared tired…and anxious. His fingernails were chewed. When he looked up, Charlie could clearly see his face under the office light. He had the most beautiful golden-brown eyes.

Charlie sat behind the desk and grabbed his notepad. "So how can we help you?"

Cody began, "I know that your firm deals with cases connected to the gay community. I need a place where I feel safe and I'm not going to be judged."

"I assure you," Charlie said, "whatever you say is in the strictest of confidence and we pride ourselves on serving our clients with their best interest at hand, without judgment."

Cody shifted in his seat. "I guess it's all pretty simple," he started. "I got together with a guy I met on an SM internet hook-up site. Actually, we got together a few times. It was fun. He really seemed to know what he was doing…"

Cody went quiet. He stared into his lap.

"It's okay," Charlie reassured him.

Cody lifted his left hand and started chewing on his thumbnail.

"I haven't had a huge amount of experience with men. I'm just trying to figure myself out," he said, looking up to meet Charlie's gaze. "I wanted to live out one of my fantasies, and I thought this guy was into me—I thought we'd made a…you know, a special connection. But sometimes it took him a long time to return my calls and when he did, it seemed that he was only into the sex. God, I sound pathetic."

"No. Not at all."

We have a lot in common.

Charlie continued. "You sound like you're just figuring out your place in the world."

Cody nodded and settled back in his chair. He stopped nibbling at his nail long enough to take another sip of coffee. "This is really good. Thanks."

"You're welcome," Charlie said.

Cody's eyes started to well up. "It was after the last time we got together that he told me…he told me," Cody continued, "that he'd been recording our meetings—"

In a flash it came to Charlie. He knew who this was. It was SmoothStud123 from one of the files on Malcolm Tull's computer.

Don't say anything. Let him do the talking.

"—and if I didn't give him a lot of money he would send copies of the files to one of his connections in the mob, and…"—he took a deep breath—"to my mother."

The last phrase he managed to choke out before breaking down into tears.

Charlie wanted to give Cody a hug, but he refrained. It would be unprofessional and he didn't want to blow this. He wanted to show Declan that he was worth more than Declan thought.

Charlie gently asked, "Does your mother know that you sleep with men?"

"I don't think she'd be surprised. Anyway, she has gay friends and has no problems with gay people. It's just that…"

Cody started to drum his hands on his thighs. "The sex in the video…it's a bit rough. Bondage, spanking, choking, that sort of stuff. Not what you want your mother to see. But what I'm really worried about is that he was going to send it to a guy in the mob and my mother's supposed to be trying a case in the next few months…"

"Is your mother a lawyer?"

"No. A judge. My mother is Associate Chief Justice Beverly White of the Alberta Court of Appeals. She's going to be trying the appeal of a case connected to a guy who is allegedly involved with a gang."

Charlie racked his brain. He'd read something about this case. It had to do with a crime syndicate. Then he remembered. The case had to do with the trial of a man who they had identified as being connected to—Charlie inhaled quickly—Monarch. He remembered his encounter with the thugs from Monarch only a few months ago, and they didn't play around.

"And how would the videos of you affect the case?" Charlie asked.

"I don't know. If the recordings came out, she might have to step down from the trial because of a possible conflict of interest. Not to mention what it would do to her reputation. I've fucked everything up, and all just to have sex with this guy."

"Okay, Cody. What's this man's name? The one blackmailing you."

"Malcolm Tull."

Charlie knew he couldn't disclose that they already had a connection to Cody's case, at least not yet. He had to continue the interview as if nothing was out of the ordinary.

"And where does he live?"

"A big run-down place outside of Rosebud. It's called Hoodoo House."

"Hoodoo House," Charlie repeated as he wrote it down. "And what is it that you want Declan Hunt Investigations to do for you connected to your situation?"

"I need you to figure out how to get a hold of those videos."

Charlie nodded. Just play it cool. Don't give anything away, so you get the full story.

"And have you had any contact with Mr Tull recently?"

Cody began chewing the nail on the thumb of his right hand. "I went to his place to beg him to give me the files. I don't have enough money to pay him off so I was going to offer myself up to him for whatever he wanted, but it was too late. When I got there, I found out he was dead." Cody looked at the edge of his thumb, which had begun to bleed, and stuck his hand in his pocket.

Charlie focused on his notepad. "So you didn't give Mr Tull any money?"

"No! I couldn't afford it."

"And your mother hasn't indicated that she has received the recordings yet?" Charlie pressed on.

"I'm pretty sure she would have said something," Cody replied.

Charlie leaned in. "Well, then why do you still think you need our help if Mr Tull is dead?"

Cody went still.

Charlie softened his tone. "Cody. This is important. You can trust me. Did you do anything to harm Mr Tull?"

"No! I swear it, but…what if the mob guy somehow got the tape before Tull died? What if they killed him for it? Tull gloated that he had it all on his computer. Look, I did something I shouldn't have. I just needed to be sure. After I found out he was dead, I broke into the house at night when everyone else was asleep to see if I could find his computer."

"Okay, Cody. When was this?" Charlie asked.

Cody pulled his left hand out of his pocket and began gnawing on the nail of his pinkie finger like a rat nibbling a piece of cheese.

"Last night. I snuck in through a back entrance. Tull showed me how to get in unnoticed."

Charlie focused intently, "And then what happened?"

Cody started nibbling on the next finger over. "I tried to get into his desk, but I needed to be quiet. There were other people in the house. So I needed to look in the books."

Charlie said, "What do you mean, you needed to look in the books?"

Cody stopped nibbling the fingers on one hand, and switched over to the other. "One day when I was meeting Tull, I got there early and looked in a window to see if he was there. I saw him take a key that fit his desk out of one of the books on the shelves. I figured maybe he'd hidden something in there, so I went back to find it. Maybe a USB key or his laptop."

"And did you find anything?" Charlie asked

"No. I couldn't remember which book it was in. I had a bunch of books pulled down and then I heard a noise. I panicked. So I quickly put them back on the shelf and went out of the front door."

Cody had run out of fingernails to chew on. "Look, I know it was a stupid thing to do, but I couldn't not take the chance."

Charlie nodded. "Cody, you've done the right thing to come to us. I just have one more question. Did anyone ever see you at the house when you came to visit Mr Tull?"

"The housekeeper and a kid that lives there. I'd driven by the property on my motorcycle before. On the day Tull died, I went to the house. The cops were just leaving, and the boy told me Tull was dead. I'm scared. I need to find out if the cops have the files, or the mob or…and if they don't, it would be great if somehow you could find them and make the files disappear."

Cody looked at Charlie with pleading eyes. "Can you help me?"

We already have.

Charlie knew he couldn't say anything until he talked to Declan.

"We will definitely take on your case. Let me talk to Mr Hunt and we'll be in touch shortly with next steps. We've dealt with other cases almost exactly like this, and I think we can help you."

Cody smiled weakly. "I'm counting on you."

He got up, put on his sunglasses, stuffed his well-chewed hands back into his pockets then left the office.

Charlie turned off the recording app on his phone, then texted Declan.

Need to talk as soon as possible. Cody White is involved with Tull

Charlie paused before he typed the next words.

…and Monarch.