Charlie didn"t think she"d said anything out loud, and Trent was still railing on about something.

"I mean, come on. When did anyone come out better after a tax audit?" He gestured wildly with his hands. It made Mr. b.u.t.tons twitch. "Exactly."

Apparently she was shaking her head in commiseration.

When had they subject-hopped from oil and gas to the IRS?

"Yep, no sense. You"re a smart lady." He rested both hands on her desk and leaned forward. "I know that Jesus said to turn the other cheek, but I don"t think he was talking about the IRS."

Charlie nodded again. She needed to let him vent so she could collect on his promise of a campaign donation.

"Well, I"ve bent your ear long enough. I should let you get back to work." His right hand reached into his suit jacket pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper. G.o.d, it had better be a check. She tried to discreetly check the time on the wall clock, but there was no way to do that without breaking eye contact. Since eye contact made people think she was listening, she always kept it for as long as wasn"t awkward. There was a fine line between eye contact and a staring contest.

He slid the piece of paper across the desk. "I really do appreciate you and your father"s continued support."

"And we appreciate yours." A folded check meant that it wasn"t as much as last time. She knew the rules. Never open the folded check or the envelope holding the money until the donor has cleared the room. Not only was it good manners, it was good business.

Trent"s hand went to doff a hat he wasn"t wearing. "Are you sure I can"t talk you into dinner?"

Since she"d almost married one of her father"s campaign donors, now they all felt she was fair game.

"Will your wife be joining us?" There wasn"t a chance in h.e.l.l she was joining him for anything. The closest she would come to touching him was when she used the rubber stamp to endorse the back of his check.

"No, unfortunately, she"s in Shreveport visiting her sister." He looked so hopeful. It was pathetic.

"I"m sorry, I have a save-the-spotted-woodp.e.c.k.e.r fundraiser this evening." She walked him to the door and held it open for him. "Maybe next time you"re in town."

Thank G.o.d for the spotted woodp.e.c.k.e.r. Who even knew whether it existed, but it had sure saved her b.u.t.t a few times.

He walked out, shoulders slumped, face crestfallen.

He had to be old enough to be her grandfather.

She closed the door and sat behind her desk and pulled up her e-mail. Groupon was offering a two-carat wedding-ring set for two thousand dollars. She clicked on the e-mail. Who bought their wedding rings on Groupon? The better question was, what person in their right mind would marry someone who"d bought the most important ring of a lifetime on Groupon? Charlie was all for saving money, but this was going a little too far.

"You can"t go in there." Alicia sounded even snottier than usual.

"Wanna bet?" It was Lucky"s voice.

Charlie grinned as she flew out of her chair and into the reception area. Betts was standing next to Lucky. Without even a glance at Alicia, she walked her friends back into her office, closed the door, and they group hugged.

Betts let go first and stepped back. "We can only stay overnight, but our Charlie radar was going off so we had to come."

"There"s nothing wrong. I"m good." Charlie put on her brightest smile.

"Yep, she"s fine. That"s not a fake smile. Not at all." Lucky rolled her eyes.

"Okay, there might be a small hiccup in my plan to figure out why Wagner Scott is targeting me." It wasn"t her fault. She was all normal; he was the crazy one.

"Good, I think the two of you should go your separate ways." Betts pointed to the garden gnome that had been moved from his home under the satsuma trees and taken up residence by Charlie"s printer. "Jer-gnome looks so good in your office."

"All I got was some c.r.a.ppy phallic pottery and she gets this?" Lucky picked up Jer-gnome. "That"s not fair."

"And having kids who constantly bemoan that life"s not fair hasn"t taught you anything?" Betts took Jer-gnome from Lucky and set him down. With all the gravity of a parent telling their kid the truth about Santa Claus, she put a hand on Lucky"s shoulder. "I need to tell you something that"s very important. Life"s not fair." She nodded, gravely keeping up the charade. "And yours is on back order."

Lucky jumped up and down and clapped her hands. She glanced at Charlie and said with lots of self-satisfaction, "I get a d.i.c.ky d.i.c.kland and a Jer-gnome."

"I"m sooooo jealous." Charlie"s tone suggested otherwise.

"Back to the hiccup between you and," Betts threw up some air quotes, ""the fixer." What are we talking about here?"

"Nothing, he just freaked out. We were having lunch outside of the Duplantis House and then we went in-"

"He took you on a date to a haunted house?" Lucky"s whole face squinted like she"d just chugged an entire bottle of apple cider vinegar. "What"s next? s.e.x on Marie Laveau"s grave?" She shook her head. "The things you kids are into these days."

Charlie stuck out her tongue. "Anyway, we went inside, we heard Angelique walking around, and we were having a great time, and then he freaked. He couldn"t get away from me fast enough."

"Hallelujah. We were just about to vote him off the island anyway." Betts leaned against Charlie"s desk. "You deal with politicians all day. Shouldn"t you be over your limit on slimy?"

"Yes, but Wagner is different." Charlie wasn"t going about this the right way. She had to make them understand that this was just business.

Lucky"s eyes turned so huge that it looked like they might fall out of her head. She pointed at Charlie. "You like him."

"No, it"s just business." But they all knew she was lying. "Okay, maybe a little."

It was okay to like him a little. She liked stray dogs a little too.

Betts put a hand on either side of Charlie"s face and stared into her eyes. "You like him more than a little."

"Let me go. I feel like you"re Bella Lugosi look-into-my-eyes hypnotizing me." Charlie didn"t want to face the fact that she might like Wagner more than just a little.

Betts dropped her hands.

"Now, just hold on. This isn"t the end of the world." Lucky slung an arm around both of her friends. "Does anyone find it odd that I"m the voice of reason?"

"Clearly the world is about to end." Betts"s eyes rolled up like she was looking for G.o.d to send down a couple of bolts of lightning.

"It is pretty frightening." Charlie leaned her head on Lucky"s shoulder. "I do like him. It sucks. I know what he is and I still like him. I"m just like those women on that website who each think they are the one who can change him. I know it, but I can"t help it."

Betts reached around Lucky and patted the top of Charlie"s head. "Still don"t know who hired him?"

"Nope, but I"m sure it wasn"t Jer-gnome or his namesake." Charlie was like ninety percent sure.

"Why are you so sure?" Lucky didn"t believe her, but in all fairness, it was her job not to believe anyone about anything.

"He told me Jerome hadn"t hired him." Charlie cringed at her own words. "Wow, when did I turn into a sap?"

"It"s okay, we love you anyway." Betts was always up for comforting someone, whether they wanted it or not.

"Here"s what we"re going to do." Lucky dropped her hands. "Before I reveal the idea, I"m invoking the Marilyns" One Hundred Percent Partic.i.p.ation Rule."

"Oh c.r.a.p." Betts sighed dramatically. Betts had cornered the market on dramatic sighs. "How bad are we talking? Local lockup, federal prison, or serious hard time?"

"That"s only if we get caught." Lucky thought about it for a couple of beats. "You know, it could qualify for all of the above."

"I can tell I"m not going to like this." Charlie hated getting arrested. Not that she"d ever been arrested, but the whole process seemed time-consuming and possibly unsanitary.

"We"re not really going to kill Wagner, right? Because I just got my nails done." Betts fanned her fingers out so everyone could admire her shiny coral fingernails with little rhinestone hearts.

"No, we"re not going to kill him. We"re going to break into his room and find out what the h.e.l.l is going on." Lucky was all calm, like she"d just suggested they have chai tea instead of coffee.

Charlie thought it was a bad idea to break and enter while wearing a white Marilyn Monroe dress, black heels, and a blonde wig. Come to think of it, breaking and entering in any outfit was a bad idea, but Lucky had invoked the partic.i.p.ation rule, so there was nothing she could do. "In full Marilyn dress?"

"Did you really just ask me that?"

"Right, dumb question." Charlie opened her bottom desk drawer and got out her purse. She had afternoon appointments, but friends took precedence. "Let"s get it over with."

"What if he"s home?" Betts looked at Charlie like she was supposed to stop this.

"Please." Lucky shot her a look. "Like this is our first breaking and entering."

"Good point." Betts did not look pleased. "I"m in, not like I have a vote or anything. I vote we abolish the One Hundred Percent Partic.i.p.ation Rule."

"Me too." Charlie was getting too old for this.

"Whiners." Lucky rolled her eyes. "Let"s get going, we"re burning daylight."

Lucky and Betts walked out of Charlie"s office. Charlie slipped her purse firmly on her shoulder and followed them. Her father would have a fit when he learned she"d left work early, but she didn"t care. She froze and took stock. Yep, she really didn"t care what he thought.

Charlie stopped in front of Alicia, who was typing something-probably a spy report. "I"m taking the rest of the day off. Please cancel my four o"clock."

Alicia didn"t look up from her typing. "Your father isn"t going to like this."

Quick as a snake, Lucky s.n.a.t.c.hed the keyboard out from under her hands. "You need to call Ms. Guidry"s four o"clock before I break your fingers." Lucky smiled sweetly.

Alicia glanced at Charlie. "Is she for real?"

"Do you really want to find out?" Betts matched Lucky"s sticky-sweet smile.

Alicia sat up, picked up the phone, and started dialing.

Charlie pressed the end-call b.u.t.ton, leaned over the desk, and said, "I know you"re sleeping with my father and you think that affords you some leeway, but it doesn"t. You signed a confidentiality clause and you work for me. All things that transpire in this office are confidential, even from my father. If you don"t like it, by all means leave. But if I find that you"ve divulged anything to anyone, I"ll make sure even Waffle House won"t hire you to wait tables." Charlie had a PhD in sticky-sweet smiles.

Alicia"s face turned a very unattractive shade of mashed potato. "Yes, ma"am."

"I love it when she turns all b.i.t.c.hy." This time Betts"s smile was real.

"Can I fire her?" Lucky turned hopeful eyes on Charlie. "Pretty please with sugar on top?" She gave Charlie her best boo-boo face. "I need the practice. Donald asked me to take over on The Apprentice."

"Really?" Betts put a hand over her heart. "I"m so happy for you. Are you going to take it?"

"h.e.l.l no, but it was nice to be asked." Lucky winked at Alicia. "Dodged a bullet today, but there"s always tomorrow."

"I have everything under control. Don"t worry about things here. I"ll tell your four o"clock you"re not feeling well." Alicia dialed the phone again.

"Thank you." Charlie turned her back on Alicia. She had a feeling that from now on her a.s.sistant"s on-the-job performance was going to be much better than it ever had been.

She nodded to Betts and Lucky. "Let"s go to my house and get changed."

Something in Charlie"s life had changed today. She no longer cared what her father thought of her. The weight off of her shoulders was amazing. She felt that she could do anything. Why had it taken her so long to cut the ap.r.o.n strings?

Chapter 12.

Wagner pulled into his parking spot in front of the guesthouse. He glanced up but no light shined from the attic of the Duplantis House. He"d half expected to see Angelique waving from the attic window, but there was nothing there but dark gla.s.s.

Now that he was romancing a woman for real and not business, he had no idea what he was doing or what his next move would be.

He put the car in park, turned off the engine, and noticed movement behind the curtain of the window in the living-room area of his guesthouse. The silhouette of a female form darted past the sheer curtains. Either Angelique had taken him up on his offer to drop by anytime, or a real person was inside. He scanned the car for any type of weapon, but sadly his smartphone was all he had with him.

He grabbed the phone and quietly closed the car door. Whoever was in there must know that he was outside. The guesthouse walls were paper thin.

He felt around his pockets for his key but couldn"t find it, so he tested the k.n.o.b. The door was unlocked. He threw the door open and jumped inside, TV-ninja skills at the ready.

Mama Cherie, blonde hair piled high, looked up from a file she was leafing through. "Wow, that was part James Bond and part Mick Jagger."

She made it sound like he"d disturbed her.

"You"re trespa.s.sing." He glanced around. "At least you"re neat after breaking and entering."