Hope Read Online Free PDF Page B

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    “I don’t care what she said. She’s a stupid little girl!”
    “I was only trying to help.”
    Laughter erupted from the hallway beyond.
    Drew craned his head and hollered, “Shut up!”
    “Fucking moron!” a voice hollered back.
    “Take it back, take it back and put it where you found it!” Charlotte screamed.
    “I can’t.”
    “Why not? You picked it up, now go take it back.”
    Drew inched closer to comfort her but was stopped when she kicked him.
    “Leave me alone.”
    “I was only trying to help, nothing more. Hope told me you’d want it.”
    “If you want to help, you’ll take it back and leave it exactly where I left it.”
    A man came to the doorway. “Drew, enough of this good-guy bullshit.”
    Drew stood up and walked over to the man.
    Charlotte couldn’t quite make out the man Drew was talking to, but his voice was familiar. In fact, it sounded like the man her father was talking with just before being shot. She leaned to one side, but still he was obscured by the shadows.
    Both men mumbled and Drew turned to walk back. The other man stood for a moment then walked away as fast as he had appeared.
    Drew approached Charlotte and assumed his crouching position a few feet from her. “Charlotte, do you know why we came to your house that day?”
    “To kill my dad.”
    “No, it wasn’t like that.”
    “Then why?”
    Drew opened his mouth, but no words came out. He deliberately paused and thought just how he’d phrase what he was about to say. “Your father, he was friends with Tony.”
    “Who’s Tony?”
    “Oh, Tony, he’s my boss, the man who was just here.”
    Charlotte leered at him and snapped, “He was the man who killed him.”
    “Yes, yes, he did, but he had good reason.”
    “What did my dad do to deserve being killed?”
    Drew could see the anger rising in Charlotte, so he tried to stem it with something she’d want. “How about we make a deal, huh? How about you tell me something, and I’ll let you see your sister, heck, I’ll even make sure you two live together.”
    The mere mention of Hope brought Charlotte to her knees. “I want to see my sister.”
    “I know you do, so let’s make that happen, but I need you to help me first. You help me, I’ll help you.”
    “What do you want to know?”
    “Your dad and my boss were old friends—”
    Charlotte cut him off and said, “That’s not true. I never saw your boss but once before that day.”
    Drew chuckled and said, “How about you close your mouth so I can speak? There’s a lot about your father you’re not aware of. Maybe he wasn’t the type of friend who came over for Sunday dinners, but I can assure you they both knew each other and had a few drinks now and then together.”
    “But—”
    This time it was Drew who silenced her. “Ssh, let me finish. Your dad was Tony’s CPA; he helped Tony manage his money before all this happened. He did a good job, your dad, hell, Tony really liked him a lot, but then all this stuff happened, and just as fast as the lights went out, Tony’s cache of gold went missing. Now that made Tony a bit angry, as gold became even more valuable.”
    “My dad didn’t take it.”
    “You sure?”
    “No, he wouldn’t do that; my dad didn’t steal. He was a good person,” Charlotte insisted.
    Drew again chuckled and said, “It seems that we always find out who people really were after they die, and I hate to break your heart, but your dad wasn’t the good guy you thought he was.”
    “Don’t talk about him that way. He was a good dad; he was a good person.”
    “Oh, I’m sure he was good to you and your sister, and he was really good at running the books. That’s why Tony hired him.”
    “Shut up, just shut up.”
    “Do you want to see your sister or not?” Drew asked, his temperament taking a turn.
    She nodded.
    “Good, then tell me where your father hid the gold.”
    “I don’t know anything about any gold.”
    “Are you sure?”
    “My dad wouldn’t