He smiles slightly. “Mr. Lofthouse. It’s a pleasure. Please, call me Charles.”
“And you call me Jacob.”
The men shake hands then Charles looks at me. “I see you’ve been busy.”
I nod a little. “A lot’s happened.”
“And I suspect you haven’t kept me up to date.”
“Let’s sit and talk,” Jacob suggests.
Charles hesitates but sits. “The latte is good,” he says, sipping the drink in front of him. “If you two want to get something?”
Jacob shakes his head. “I don’t think so.”
“I have to say, not many business deals in my line of work happen outside of the office.”
“We felt it was better to come to neutral ground,” I say.
He arches an eyebrow at me. “Interesting you say ‘we’ now. I wonder.”
“Charles, I know about your investigation into my business. I know about your suspicions surrounding my partner.”
“Do you now?” Charles doesn’t look surprised. “I suppose I figured that out already, considering how close you two seem to be.”
I glance at Jacob but he gives away nothing. “I wanted to come and personally assure you that neither I nor my company have had or ever will have anything to do with organized crime.”
“Yes, I suppose you would want to tell me that.” Charles tilts his head. “I heard your partner left the company recently.”
“That’s right,” Jacob says.
“Why is that, I wonder?”
“I forced him out.”
Charles chuckles. He has a deep, resonant laugh and it’s almost infectious. Except there’s nothing funny about this and I’m so scared I could almost cry.
“Why would you do that? As I understand it, you two have been friends a very long time.”
“We were,” Jacob acknowledges. “But certain disagreements about how to run the business forced me to part ways with him.”
“Interesting,” Charles says. “I wonder if these disagreements have anything to do with your little mafia problem.”
Jacob smiles. “Actually, it’s both of our problem. That’s what I’m here to discuss.”
Charles leans back in his seat and looks at me. “How long have you been working with him, Valerie?”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“Clearly, you’re working together. When did he turn you against us?”
“I’m not against you, Charles. Hear him out. It’s a good offer.”
“I don’t know about that.” Charles frowns at the two of us. “I wanted Darin. I wanted the company. But now it seems as though I’ve missed my chance. Or at least the window is rapidly closing. And my only asset has turned against me.” He sighs and shakes his head. “Why would I want to work out a deal?”
“Because you want to walk away from this with a win,” I say.
Charles at me then shrugs. “You’re not wrong.”
“So hear him out.”
“Okay then.” He looks at Jacob. “Let’s hear your pitch.”
“Darin Ficino is beyond your reach. And my company is off limits. What I’m offering you is something that will benefit us both.”
Charles merely nods his head to indicate that he’s listening.
“I have certain documents pertaining to two men. Carmine Caro and Dino Morra.”
“Mobsters,” Charles says.
“That’s what I believe,” Jacob says. “But I don’t know that for sure. At any rate, I have some documents pertaining to their business. I have bank account information they used to route funds into my company and a few other things that may be of use.”
“And you’ll give these to me in exchange for what?”
“In exchange for you arresting them.”
Charles looks genuinely surprised. “Really? That’s what you want?”
“Yes,” Jacob says. “They made threats against me and Valerie. I want them out of my life completely.”
Charles looks thoughtful. “I can see how this might benefit us both.”
“I’ll give you some information to get you on their trail. After that, it’s up to you.”
“I’ll admit, this is interesting.” He leans back in his seat. “What happens if I can’t make the arrest?”
“Then I’ll deal with them some other way. But I want you to try first.”
Charles lets out a laugh. He spreads his hands in front of him. “I am very interested, I’ll admit. My superiors will be much happier with two gangsters instead of some rich, spoiled boy.”
“Part of the deal is you leave me alone, you leave Darin alone, and you leave the company alone.”
“Very well,” Charles says. “Show me the documents.”
“Not yet. I need your word.”
He frowns for a moment. “Why do you think that matters?”
“Because I like to think some people have honor left in this world.”
He sighs and takes a sip of his latte. “What about her?”
I lean back in my seat. “Excuse me?”
“What about her?” he asks again.
Jacob glances at me. “She can speak for herself.”
Charles slowly looks over at me. “You’re a traitor. You turned your back on your job. You broke your word.”
“I didn’t… I mean, you were going after him. And he didn’t do anything wrong.”
“That wasn’t your call to make.” Charles stares at her. “Tell me why I should just let you go?”