Edward soon joined the table where Charlotte sat, talking to a couple of interns who were very interested in a case she had handled a few months ago. Truth be told, that had been the case that had encouraged Charlotte to ask for a promotion just because the odds against her client had seemed insurmountable. Yet, due to Charlotte's intense cross-witness questioning, her client had walked free, and the person responsible ended up confessing.
"And that was it," she said as a final note. "Sometimes litigating in court depends entirely on how you drill a witness and how much you can get them to say, though you should never rely on that. Court is unpredictable."
"Don't sell yourself down. You're great at getting people to talk," Edward said all of a sudden, surprising the guys around her. He hadn't been part of the conversation, yet it was clear he had been clinging to Charlotte's words.
"Thank you?" Charlotte replied shyly. She wasn't used to gettin
Charlotte felt like everyone on the road was looking at her, though she had no way of knowing from behind the tinted car windows. It was just her guilty conscience making her feel overly observed because she shouldn't have accepted Logan's gift. Technically, she hadn't accepted it formally yet. Until she signed the car's papers, she wasn't its legal owner. But driving off with it was still a tacit acceptance.When she got home, thankfully, no one was in the parking lot when she got off. She was looking forward to a calm, relaxing night. It had been ages since she last cooked something off the recipe book she had taken from her mother's house, and there was still some wine left. When she opened the fridge, she realized all there was left were a few scraps of things that she couldn't really combine into something edible. The pantry looked just as bare.She made a mental note to go to the supermarket tomorrow.Just as she pulled out a pot to boil water
Mistress? Charlotte was surprised and felt a little silly for being caught off guard like that. Of course he'd have mistresses. His wife was having an affair. Maybe Mrs. Hamilton started the affair because he was already having one with the maid? Logan had never pretended to be an upstanding puritanical person, so it really shouldn't have been surprising to Charlotte.But murder? That she had a hard time believing, even if Logan seemed to be the kind of person who could punch someone out of the blue. Given what she knew about him, though, this was probably going to be a tough case."Thank you," Charlotte said to Detective Fontaine. "May I speak to my client, please?""This way, Miss Astor," he said, gesturing for her to follow.Charlotte was familiar with the station, but Logan was being held in an area she had never been in. It looked to be more secure than the places where they held other prisoners, but when Detective Fontaine opene
The atmosphere in the car while Charlotte drove was tense, or at least she felt it was that way. Logan didn't speak. After giving Charlotte the directions to get to the apartment he was staying in for the night, he looked out the window most of the time, except to laugh at Charlotte when she cursed at the reporters that they quickly dodged once they left the station.Charlotte thought it'd be better if they talked again tomorrow. It was late and she wasn't sure it was a good idea to go up to his apartment with him. When she pulled up at the building's entrance, a valet opened the door for Logan."Will you come in?" he said. He looked so tired and profoundly sad, that Charlotte didn't have the heart to leave him alone."Yes, of course," she said, stepping out of the car and handing the keys to the valet.The receptionist greeted Logan with a respectful nod and Charlotte and Logan headed to the elevator."I wasn't planni
It was almost 12pm by the time they finished eating the food Logan prepared. Logan had insisted they eat on the rooftop where he had a private pool and an outdoor dining area, and Charlotte certainly enjoyed the cool breeze up there. The food was unexpectedly good too, made even better by the second bottle of wine they opened up. This time they were actually able to drink it instead of mop it from the floor.Now that she had some food in her, the wine didn't make Charlotte dizzy, though it did loosen her tongue a bit."Thank you for dinner," Charlotte said. "But I think it's time we discuss what I came here for.""What is there to discuss? I understand you enjoy my company and want to spend time with me. I do too. With you, that is," Logan said, smirking at Charlotte."Can you stop with the jokes for ten minutes?" Charlotte said, a little annoyed."I wasn't joking.""Mr. Hamilton." Charlotte stood and pull
Charlotte had an inkling as to where Logan was getting to, but she wanted him to say it. "What do you mean?" she asked. "Let's be real. I'm not a member of your elite Atlantian society. As a relative newcomer, they don't hold me in such esteem as they would with you or any of your clique members. The police have a suspect who's providing them with a fairly fast and easy case, which will give them good publicity. I think we need to switch the direction we're taking here." "How so?" "We need to find who did it. I want the bastard who did this to María to pay. But the first person we need to look into is the person who ordered it done. And that happens to be Julie. In a way, I guess, I'm still to blame for this. If María hadn't been working for me, she wouldn't have been used as a pawn in Julie's horrid, twisted game." That had also been in Charlotte's mind. She hadn't mentioned it before because she had to insist on what they c
The news was going to break eventually, but Charlotte had hoped they'd leave her out of the news at least until she got to tell Floyd and her mother about it. And now the two of them must be calling her at her house, and she wasn't even there. She took deep breaths and grabbed a tiny sandwich from a tray a man was passing about. "Miss Astor?" someone said from behind her. It was Stuart, but she barely recognized him. He was dressed in an expensive tailored suit, and his formerly messy hair was combed back. "Stuart," she said. "You look good." "Thank you," he said. He even sounded more confident. "This is the team we've assembled to deal with the press, and there's another team investigating the victim's family. Mr. Hamilton told us you would be leading them." "Yes, of course," Charlotte said, a little taken aback. She technically had said that she'd use the firm's team, but she wouldn't argue. The more the merrier, and the faster t
When she got to the office, Janet greeted her with a smile, which could never mean something good. "The boss wants to see you," she said to Charlotte, loud enough so people passing by could definitely hear. "Thank you, Janet," Charlotte replied ever so politely. Instead of stopping by her office to leave her purse, she headed straight to Floyd's office. The secretary that had been gone on maternity leave for a while was back now. "Charlotte! How are you?" she said in a thick southern accent, her voice about an octave higher than normal. Lisa was her name, Charlotte remembered. She had dark spots under her eyes and her complexion looked like she could use a little exposure to the sun. "Lisa, you're back. Is Floyd in?" Charlotte said. Lisa had always been kind to her but seemed a little afraid of her as well. "He said I should let you go in the second I knew you're here," Lisa said, giving Charlotte a sad smile as
Charlotte called Detective Fontaine from her office, but he wasn't at the station, so she left a message asking for him to call her back. She really didn't have a lot to do until she met with Logan's team, so she decided to finally call her mother. She had been dreading talking to her since the incident at Mary's party, but she knew she'd have to talk to her eventually, so she might as well get it over with. Her mother picked up after the first ring. "Sarah Astor speaking." "Mother." "CHARLOTTE MARIE ASTOR!" Using Charlotte's middle name never meant good news. "How are you doing?" Charlotte said in a nonchalant tone. She wasn't going to acknowledge that anything was wrong. "How do you think I'm doing?! We were all worried sick about you. First, you bring this Hamilton man to the party out of the blue, where he causes a scandal, and now you're working on his murder case? MURDER!? You brought a murderer to our