The Man I Thought I Trusted - E. L. Todd Page 0,27
journalist like me.” It was a complete coincidence that we were there at the same time, but it would make me look stupid to say that, so I played it cool.
“You’re right. Maybe I underestimated you.”
I shook my head and clicked my tongue. “Big mistake. I take down all the big bad wolves all over town, and it looks like you’re next.”
“Or maybe I should stop underestimating you and eliminate you.”
I’d heard every threat in the book, and I never blinked an eye. Wasn’t about to start now. “You know how many times I’ve heard that?”
“A lot,” he said quietly, his eyes hardly blinking as he stared at me. “But this will be the last time you do.” The guy was creepier than most of the villains I dealt with because he was calm and confident. My back talk got most guys fired up and they lost their cool, but this man kept his composure so easily. He was pragmatic, and logical people were usually smart. “You’ve got a good track record. Be proud of that all you want, but this is territory you don’t want to step into. I’m not a murderer by trade, but if you keep pressing…you’ll leave me no choice.”
“Killing sick people is so important that you would kill another innocent person just to keep making sick people sicker? For money?” It was so disgusting that I could barely get the words out. I’d seen a lot of bad shit, but this was really gross. Bad men went after other bad men. It was nothing personal. But this was different because his company went after people who were weak, in pain, and sick.
He shrugged. “What’s one more corpse to the pile?” He started to walk away, his hands still in his pockets. “You’re young and beautiful. Don’t waste that fighting something you can’t change.” He walked away and disappeared into the crowd.
I didn’t want to admit that he got under my skin, but he did. I headed to the restroom as I planned, but I continued to replay the conversation in my mind.
I’d locked up some of the biggest con men in history, traveled the world, and interacted with international terrorists, but there was something different about this guy.
Something very unusual.
“Why are you calling me?” Charlie asked over the phone.
I stood in the hallway away from the restrooms, speaking freely because there was nobody around. “Guess who I just ran into.”
“I don’t know…Arnold Schwarzenegger? Seriously, why are you calling me right now? Don’t ditch Dax to gossip with me.”
“He’s a grown-ass man who can take care of himself. And no, not fucking Arnold Schwarzenegger, you idiot. Simon Prescott.”
There was a long pause on the line. “Did he say anything to you?”
“Walked right up to me and said he knew I was tailing him.”
“Shit, that’s not good.”
“He’s a creepy guy.”
“Aren’t they all?”
“No. This guy is different… I can’t explain it. He’s really calm, soft-spoken, not the least bit put off by my existence. All the other guys get huffy and puffy and panicked in some way. But not this guy.”
“What are you gonna do?”
“What do you mean? I’m doing the article. I’m never not completing my job.”
“But if you’re scared—”
“I’m not scared.” I kept the phone to my ear and looked down the hallway to make sure nobody was coming. “I just think this guy is a strange breed, is all.”
“Did he follow you tonight to provoke you?”
“No. He thinks I followed him—and crossed the line.”
“Did you tell him it was a coincidence?”
“Absolutely not. That would make me look stupid.”
“But the fact that you really caught him off guard makes you look like a serious threat now.”
“Which is true. I am a serious threat.”
He sighed into the phone. “I admire your grit. No one else has it like you do. Just remember, there’s no article, no story, no praise that is worth losing your life. If this is more you can handle, there’s no shame in handing the article back to Vince.”
I would never live with that kind of shame, default like a coward. I’d had to prove myself to get that spot at the paper, and I wasn’t going to blow it now. “It’s fine. It just means I have to move quicker than I wanted to.”
“How are you going to get anywhere when he knows you’re onto him?”
“It’ll be harder, but that won’t stop me.” I glanced down the hallway and saw Dax heading my way, a look of concern in his eyes because I