Chapter 42

"The last time, Charles, that you called me to meet you up in a bar urgently, about seven years ago, things didn't go well," Edward mentioned, placing the wine glass on the table. Charles sat opposite him.

Charles smirked. "This is different." He reclined in the chair. He gave less attention to the trio of ladies sitting on another plastic-made round table, few yards away from where he and Edward sat.

"What is this 'urgent' meet-up all about?" Edward had had a long day at the hospital; he wanted to go home already. He was weary.

"Vivian," Charles said.

"What is it about Vivian this time? Did she post another threat?" Edward asked. A threat to Charles meant a threat to him, so he was baffled.

"Remember you told me Rachael was considering hiring a private investigator when she met with you, yesterday?"

Edward nodded, raising the glass to his mouth.

"I also took that into consideration," Charles told Edward, waiting for his reaction.

The glass touched his bottom lip, but he didn't drink. Edward slowly brought the glass back down. He stared at Charles for a long while. He kept wondering what was wrong with his friend, Charles.

"You hired a private investigator to monitor Vivian? Why?" He asked Charles. His face was covered with mixed emotions.

"Vivian is playing with me, my life, my family, and everything. I can't sit idly and let her keep blackmailing me. Us. I have to do something." Charles had been ready to go through this with Edward before even calling him. "I need to fight back. The only way to do that is to know who she's working with, and that's what I'm about to find out tonight."

"This is insane Charles. You're starting to play with another fire, a blazing one that could get out of control if you play with it wrongly." Edward was more of reminding Charles than warning him.

"I'll keep playing with fire till there's no more to play with." He placed his elbows on the table. If not for the disco lights, he would have seen Edward eyes clearly. Also, he felt a little tipsy. "This is for the both of us, buddy. I can't let this woman ruin our lives."

"You ruined our lives a long time ago." He felt like going home now. He didn't want to have this conversation. "OK, Charles, let's look at it this way: what if Vivian finds out that you're trying to outsmart her after the strong warning that she gave you about not trying to do anything stupid? What will you do?"

Charles smirked. He didn't like how Edward was acting so scared. This wasn't the Edward that he knew years ago.

"Do you think Vivian is that smart?" He asked Edward, wondering.

"Do you think she's that stupid either?" Edward replied with a question. "You have to stop. You don't know what she's going to do the moment she finds out that you're watching her steps." Edward reminded him about the ruthless woman Vivian could be at times.

"Everything is going to be fine," Charles stated assuredly. He trusted what he was doing.

"The last time you said that, someone died."

Charles looked away.

"Calm down. You're being paranoid," Charles said.

"What do you expect? That I would be in Disney land right now? Or partying? Come on, Bro, you need to put your shit together," Edward stated.

The music that was being played wasn't helping either of them. It wasn't the type of music that they liked. Perhaps they didn't want to listen to music at all.

"I already have them together. Besides, I'm not anticipating paying someone to follow her all around for the rest of her days of bossing this game," Charles told Edward, taking a long drink afterwards.

"So what are you going to do next?" Edward asked him. He believed that wise people had their heads on the future more than the present.

"I don't know yet. But the man I hired to follow her says he has something very important to show me. I don't know what it is, but he wants me to meet him here. And as my close friend, I want you to be with me. You always help me figure out what to do next, don't you?"

As long as Charles wanted to do something, there was no stopping him. His determination was beyond human reach.

Edward had learned to accept that Charles was a stubborn man, very ambitious. And that was what he admired about Charles, even when it landed them into trouble sometimes. It had equally so helped them.

He nodded his head, replying to the question that had been asked.

"So...who is this private investigator?" Edward asked in a much lighter tone.

"He doesn't have a name. He goes with a code. That's smart, right?"

Edward nodded, rubbing his eyes.

"And he's not a private investigator. Not anymore, I guess. From what I gathered, I figure he works for himself. No name, no entity, nothing."

Edward placed his hand on his forehead, frustrated. Charles really did act dumb sometimes.

"That's why he's called a private investigator, asshole. Private. Everything about him is private! Gosh, Charles. You can really be dumb at times."

Both of them were laughing at the joke when a short man, 5'3" stood right next to their table. He was muscled. He looked so militant. He had on a short jeans and plain white shirt that looked twice not his size. He had on a black Jordan one sneaker.

He sat down in the vacant chair.

"Are you..." Charles' eyes travelled from North to South of the guy's body. He had expected, you know, as it is in the movies, black shades and calf length leather coats and shining shoes. The guy was different.

"Yes," he cut Charles off. "Who is he?" He asked, turning his head towards Edward who felt ten times smaller under his gaze.

"Don't worry, he's my friend. He knows everything," Charles replied. "He knows you're —"

"When I work for you, it's only you I want to meet, understand? It's protocol," he said, putting his hand in his pocket. "The more people involved, the more leak there can be. And the more people to be killed." He took two photos that had been folded together from his pocket and placed it on the table. With two fingers, he dragged it over to Charles.

He noticed Edward looking at him in terror. He was a man ready to take down anyone who was a threat to him. He didn't care.

Charles unfolded the pictures. He remained silent for a while.

"I knew it," he said, banging his fist on the table.

Edward took the pictures from him to take a look at what he had seen. He didn't say anything. He wasn't surprised.

"I knew it," Charles repeated. "I don't know why it hadn't occur to me that Steve was the one Vivian was working for. The dude never liked me."

"I'm confused," Edward announced. Charles and the no-name detective looked at him.

"What's there to be confused about? The goddamn pictures say it all." Charles jerked the picture of Vivian and Steve talking in front the Station House. He threw it back on the table.

"If Steve knew, why hadn't he told Rachael right away? Why all the drama?" Edward asked.

"Making a person suffer is the best revenge, Ed. Steve wants me to suffer. That's why he told Vivian to blackmail me. He wants to destroy me slowly." The veins on Charles' neck stood strong when he spoke. He was angry.

The no-name man called a waiter and placed in an order. He didn't seem to care about what they were talking about. He behaved as if he wasn't the one who had brought the photo.

"Steve is not such a person. He would have told Rachael the moment he found out what had actually happened. With facts, which he already had, if he really had them, he would have reported you to the police. That would have destroy you for good." Edward spoke logically, not wanting to accept what Charles had said.

"There's something off about this picture. This is the Station House, right? What are they doing there?" Edward asked, taking a closer look at the picture.

The no-name detective opened his drink and took a sip before speaking. "I had thought about that. Look at this place. Do you think anyone would expect a 'private investigator' to meet up with a client in such an exposed place?"

Charles and Edward shook their heads.

"Look at me," he said. They stared at him. "Do you think a 'private investigator' would be dressed in such clothes?" He waited a blink. "Similarly, do you think your brother-in-law who wants you to go down, down in prison, will ever think about meeting with his accomplice at a station house?"

Edward didn't want to agree, but he had to agree with the man. So that was the reason he was dressed like a high-schooler. Smart.

"Now you reason with me, right, Steve? You understand that Steve is working with Vivian, don't you?" Charles said, proud that the argument had been in his favor.

"But they weren't meeting." Edward was just about to agree with Charles when the detective spoke. "Vivian was taken in. She was arrested at her house. I spent the whole night at her house but she didn't come home. In the morning, a police car with two civilians and cops came. They broke into the house. Hours later, they came outside with Vivian cuffed and took her to the Station house. She stayed very long in there before Steve could come and, what I assume, bail her out. More like bribed the cops to get her out because it is Saturday." He was sure about every word that he spoke. "Don't worry, I'm going to climb over that wall and know exactly what Vivian was doing in there. I'll keep you updated, if possible, or necessary. " He drank the last of his beer and walked out of the bar.

"What are you going to do now?" Edward asked Charles as they walked out of the bar. The night had taken over the day fully.

Charles rested his back on his car. "I'm going to do exactly what he wants to do to me— bring him down— before he can do that to me." Charles looked ahead of himself into the darkness.

"Don't do anything stupid, Charles."