“Sorry. It’s just taking me a minute to process what you are saying. How do you know all of this?”
“Once you shared your story with me, I took a further look into all of your problems. I was not sure if you would be able to follow through with my proposal, and I wanted you to have all your questions answered in the event you decided to stay with me.” Was he really that confident in thinking that I would choose him over Luke? Did he really think I could not pull the trigger on the man that ruined my life?
“Well, as you can see, that was a pointless move.” My liquid courage was kicking in, and I suddenly felt that although Charlie had the power to move mountains and shit, he still did not have power over me. It was a much better feeling than seeing him as my friend.
“Now there is the Dallas Knox, shrewd business woman I know. I’m glad to see you haven’t lost your edge. As you know, this one is on me. I have more information that you might be interested in, but of course it comes at a price,” he said, reaching into his pocket to retrieve his phone again. There was only one thing that Charlie could possibly help me with, and even that was not worth being in his debt. I needed to know if Frankie had contacted anyone else about taking my life. The mayor had said that Frankie had money and connections. Charlie was the best connection on offer, and money was something Charlie had plenty of. Frankie had also borrowed money from Charlie and refused to repay it.
“What kind of price?” I asked the question out of pure curiosity. There was no chance that I would take him up on it, but I had to know.
“First, I want to remind you of how thorough I am. I have just received confirmation that Frankie’s connection was working the night you visited Kingston’s. I also have video footage proving that your drink was prepared by an extremely nervous employee who fumbled with the small vial, and spilled some out before pouring the rest into your pink, fruity cocktail. It seems that person was your saving grace that night. If the entire vial had made it safely into your glass, you and I would not be having this conversation.” Charlie was good. He had even told me the kind of drink I was having, so that I would not question him. Now that I knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Stacy was innocent, I should have felt relieved and happy. Hell, I should go visit him. But the need to know what Charlie had to offer surpassed my need to express my happiness at Stacy’s newly discovered innocence.
“The cocktail was quite delicious, even if it was supposed to kill me. ‘Death by bartender’s famous fabulous drink’; not a bad way to go.” Charlie found much more humor than I did in my statement, but I joined him in his laughter, just to appease him. It was forced and he knew it. He was prolonging giving me the information I desired, and wanted the satisfaction of hearing me ask for it once again. “Okay, Charlie, I’ll ask one more time. What is the price of the information that could be useful to me?” He smiled brightly, his eyes full of arrogant satisfaction.
“The ultimate sacrifice.”
I nearly choked at Charlie’s words. He had to be out of his fucking mind. I was not going to kill another human being, even one as sadistic as Frankie.
“Charlie, I’m not a hit man. The only reason I did what I did was because I had no choice,” I said a little too loud.
“You always have a choice, Dallas. You chose the easy way out,” he said, a cigar now dangling from the corner of his mouth.
“Easy? What the hell was easy about that?” He had forced me to kill someone, for crying out loud!
“Yes, I can see that you are having a very difficult time dealing with that.” I shut my gaping mouth and avoided his stare. He was right. I was not struggling with the death of Frankie. It was probably one of the easiest things I had ever done. “I once referred to you as a soldier, Dallas. One who defends herself against her enemies, both foreign and domestic. You have something you want to ask of me. I can see the fear in your eyes. You are afraid that Frankie borrowed money from me to pay someone to take your life and even though he is gone, you are afraid that that person will still follow through on their promise.” He knew. Charlie knew that I wasn’t sure how, but I wasn’t surprised either. He seemed to know everything.