Hairless Harassment

Chapter Sixteen

My phone started ringing aggressively while I was mid-shampoo. I shut the water off, grabbed my towel, and jumped out just in time to catch Charles before his call got routed to voicemail for a second time.

“Hello?” I asked, dripping onto the cold tile floor. I pushed open the old window with a creak. At least that would let some warmth in here.

“Angie, it’s me,” Charles said as if he somehow didn’t know that caller ID existed and was standard on all phones these days.

“What’s up?” I asked, hugging my towel tighter around myself. Of course we’d be having this conversation while I was wet and naked. Knowing my luck, I’d slip on one of the many puddles forming below me, hit my head, get knocked unconscious, and then Brock—I mean, Cal—would have to bust through the door to save me. Maybe I’d even wake up with a second secret super power while I was at it.

Okay, now I was wet, naked, and in a panic. I carefully lowered myself to sit on the edge of the tub while Charles explained the reason for his call. At least, if I fell from here, I’d have a shorter way to go before hitting the floor.

“Sorry I didn’t call back yesterday.” I heard the unmistakable sound of a door shutting on his end of the call. He paused before explaining further, “Thompson took a couple days off for bereavement.”

“For the senator?” I asked, not expecting this news about my workaholic boss.

“Yup,” he said, sounding every bit as surprised as I felt. “Apparently the two of them were closer than any of us knew.”

I gasped, almost losing my balance and scrambling not to fall. “Were they having an affair?”

“Oh, c’mon,” Charles ground out. “Thompson and Harlow, really?”

“Well, anything’s possible,” I mumbled defensively.

“That’s not what was going on,” he said with obvious irritation.

That didn’t stop me from continuing my line of questioning. He had information, and I needed to know it sooner rather than later. “Then what was?” I demanded.

“Get this,” Charles said, and I could just picture him smiling as he paced around his office. He so loved revealing shocking twists, the smoking gun. I wondered if that was what we had here now. “Harlow was planning on stepping down. She was grooming Thompson to run for election as her hand-picked successor.”

“Thompson?” I exclaimed. “But he’s awful with people.” Not only did he insist on calling everyone by their last names, but he often openly criticized me and the other people at the firm. I knew it was all to protect our stellar reputation, but still. The thought of him as an elected politician representing my state made my stomach churn.

“Maybe,” Charles said, apparently unwilling to badmouth the senior partner the way I was. “But there’s no denying he’s smart and, believe it or not, he and Harlow share a lot of the same political views, too.”

“Like what?” I cried, still unable to believe what he’d just revealed.

“They’ve been friends for a long time. In fact, they met more than thirty-five years ago when they were both doing grassroots work for the Save the Whales movement. Thompson said those were some of the best years of his life.”

There was that Save the Whales thing again. Could it be important? Important enough to cost the good senator her life? And, if so, did that mean Thompson might be targeted next?

“Charles?” I said, knowing I could trust him with this. “Do you think the senator might have been murdered for something to do with her environmental activism?”

“Then or now?” he countered, and I could tell that big, beautiful brain of his was already thinking hard.

“Either,” I said. “Is there anything you know that could give some insight into why somebody might have wanted her dead?”

He sighed. “You know the police ruled her death an accident.”

“Yeah, but I doubt you buy that, either.”

“It is suspicious.” He thought for a moment before saying more. “How closely do you follow national politics?”

“Not very,” I admitted. “I did some Googling on the senator and any recent pieces mentioning her, but nothing jumped out at me.”

He chuckled. “Well, here’s a quick recap. Last week it was announced that a major oil company had petitioned to put in an access pipeline. It’s a new proposal, but people are worried about it. Most of it would run right through our state, even cutting off the corner of one of our national parks.”

That sounded awful. I loved my home state for its natural beauty and proximity to the ocean just as much as the senator had. Some giant oil operation would take part of that away, and for what?

“I can see why the senator wouldn’t have wanted that, given her deep love for the environment,” I told Charles.

“It’s still got a while before it goes to vote, but Big Oil is lobbying hard to make it a reality. Their argument is that it would create jobs and bring us another much-needed local energy source, thus lessening our dependence on foreign oil.” He explained everything pedantically without a hint of how he felt about the proposal. Seeing as he was a recent transplant from California, I found myself wondering whether Charles sided with Big Oil or the national parks. I knew where I stood.

“But the senator wouldn’t have been okay with the destruction of one of our national parks, I take it.”

“She definitely wouldn’t have been, though it’s only about five-thousand acres and the pipeline proposal includes building a new protected park farther upstate.” Was he playing devil’s advocate for the sake of argument, or did he truly believe the pipeline was anything other than a disaster waiting to happen?

I grew frustrated and let out a massive groan. “What’s the point of protecting it, though, if anyone with enough money can destroy it on a whim?”

“I see what you’re saying, Angie. I do.” Charles sighed and paused for a moment. “But you have to understand, our checks and balances are put in place for a reason, and they work, too. It’s not a whim. If the pipeline is going to get approved, a majority of the senate needs to vote in its favor. And, as you know, Harlow was just one out of a hundred.”

I ran my fingers over the soft edges of the towel. My skin was quickly moving toward dry as this conversation carried on, but my hair was still a shampoo-y mess. “So then why would the murderer single out Harlow?” I asked.

Charles’s voice grew quieter, leading me to believe someone might be passing outside his door and that, for whatever his reasons, he wanted to keep this conversation private. “Let me once again remind you that we don’t know whether there was any foul play involved, but if there was, then there’d be a lot of reasons one might single out Harlow.”

Oh, this was getting good. Maybe Charles had the smoking gun after all. “Such as?” I asked, my curiosity reaching a fever pitch.

“For one, as one of the two senators representing the state where the proposed pipeline would be built, her opinions hold a little more sway,” he started, paused, then raised his voice back to its normal volume. “Add to that the fact she was a mostly conservative politician who could be pretty much guaranteed to vote with the Democrats on any issue that even touches the environment. With a split senate like we have, she could very well end up the deciding vote when the issue goes to vote. Or at least, she could have been.”

A knock sounded on the other end of the line.

“Just a sec!” Charles shouted, then said to me, “I need to go.”

“Thanks, Charles,” I said. “This has been hugely helpful and given me lots to think about.”

“Angie, wait.” He paused. When he spoke again, his voice sounded lower and far more serious than before. “Please be careful. If you’re right and there’s some huge political conspiracy underfoot, then you could find yourself next on the hitman’s list. Let it go. I’m begging you. Let the authorities deal with whatever did or didn’t happen. Okay?”

“Okay,” I said agreeably, crossing my fingers just in case. I didn’t want to worry Charles, but at the same time, I was so close to having this thing solved it just didn’t make sense to back out now. “Thanks for the call. Bye.”

I hung up before he could offer any further argument, finished my shower, got dressed, and went to find Nan.

With any luck, we’d have this case wrapped by nightfall.

And maybe for once, luck might actually be on my side.