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The moderator asked Chuck a question he obviously had no response for. He tried to BS his way out of it, but the moderator was having none of it and badgered him for an answer. Finally, red in the face and sweating profusely, Chuck blurted out, “Why don’t you ask the mayor about the money laundering he’s into? Or how he cheats on his wife?”
The atmosphere changed instantly. Chuck’s heavy breathing was the only sound in the room, and once again, Adam regretted not telling Kate about his relationship to Chuck. He silently prayed to any and all gods that Chuck would keep his big mouth shut about Adam’s part in all of this.
“Are you accusing the mayor of money laundering?” the moderator asked. “And cheating on his wife?”
“Do you deny it?” Chuck asked Edward. All eyes swung to the mayor.
“Of course I deny it. Vehemently,” Edward said. “I’ve never laundered moneyorcheated on my wife.” He remained impressively calm, almost dismissive, over the serious accusations. Edward was either innocent and unconcerned about Chuck’s baseless accusations, or was a remarkably cool under-pressure liar. If the Three Amigos had been around to take his bet, Adam would put good money on Edward’s innocence.
“Did you, or did you not, have a phone conversation in which you said someone could pay you and then you would pay someone else? Like ‘money laundering’? Your words, not mine.” Chuck put air quotes around money laundering for emphasis. Thinking he had the upper hand, there was a touch of smugness in his tone. When Edward said nothing, he continued, gaining confidence.
“And did you, or did you not, in that same conversation, say that you would take some woman to a hotel for the weekend?”
“I…” Edward started to deny it and then stopped midsentence, obviously remembering the conversation. He closed his eyes for a moment and after opening them again, stared directly at Adam while replying to Chuck. “I don’t deny the conversation, but it was taken out of context and doesn’t mean what you think it does.”
“So, what does it mean, then? Why else would you take someone to a hotel and lie to your wife about it? Fishing trip, wasn’t it?” Chuck pushed.
Adam looked at Sophie, whose attention was glued to her husband. Oddly, she seemed more curious than anything else.
“It was a private conversation. Had in the privacy of my own home, and I will not explain what it meant except to reiterate that I am not, nor have I ever, laundered money or cheated on my wife.” He made eye contact with Sophie, silently communicating something in a way only married couples could, before returning his glare to Adam.
Something wasn’t adding up, but damned if Adam knew what. If the accusations were false, why didn’t Edward just explain the misunderstanding? If he were innocent, wouldn’t he want to prove it now, while he had the floor? What was he waiting for?
“Those are pretty serious accusations, Mr. Eversole. Care to share your source?” the moderator asked.
“My soon-to-be stepson, Adam.” As if that wasn’t damning enough, he thrust a pudgy finger directly at Adam. “He’s been getting cozy with the mayor’s daughter in order to find the dirty laundry. I’m sure there’s more, it just hasn’t been uncovered yet.”
All the Parker women’s mouths dropped, and they turned in unison to Adam. He glanced at Kate, who appeared to be vacillating between the sting of betrayal and all-out rage. Lizzie looked ready to kick his ass, and he thought he saw tears in Emma’s eyes. Lucy and Sophie looked away in disgust, and Nana simply glared. He had some explaining to do, for sure.
Not satisfied, Chuck called out to the crowd, “I call for an investigation. We don’t want New Bern in the hands of a dirty politician. It’s time to elect a new, honest man to the job.”
The auditorium erupted, but not like Chuck probably assumed it would. Shouts of support for the mayor were mixed with booing at Chuck. He was clearly alone in his quest for justice. Even after Edward admitted to the accusations and didn’t clear himself, no one seemed to believe he was corrupt. Still, it would be in the newspaper the next day, and wouldn’t be good for the campaign. Not to mention the repercussions it would have for Adam.
From the very beginning, Kate had been so sensitive to people using her to get to her father, and he’d just been outed as doing exactly that. He wondered if she’d even let him explain, never mind forgiving him and picking up where they left off.
Adam turned to Kate, but in the melee, she’d gone out the other side of the aisle and was beelining it to the door. He got up to follow her and ran into a wall of Parker women.
“Don’t even think about it,” Lizzie said.
“I’m sorry,” Adam started. “I know this looks bad, but I can explain.”
Lucy raised an eyebrow in a way that made him shut his mouth, and Lizzie made a shooing motion with her hand. Tail between his legs, he left out the opposite side of the row. Talk about a walk of shame.
He waded through the dirty looks and murmured insults to his car and got the hell out of there. Chuck would milk the attention for as long as possible, but Adam planned to confront him. Tonight. No matter how long he had to wait.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Adam pounded on the door until it opened. Chuck was still in his suit, tie loosened and the top button of his shirt open, carrying a scotch glass filled with amber liquid. He held it up in a toast when he saw Adam.
“Hey, Adam. We got ’em on the ropes now, eh?”
“You have got to be shitting me,” Adam said. Did Chuck really think he would be happy about how the debate ended? “You are a lying coward. And you made fools out of both of us. No one in that auditorium believes a word of the garbage you spewed. Including me.”
Chuck’s smile fell, and anger flashed in his eyes. “What? How dare you come to my house and say such things?” he stammered.
“What’s with the attitude, Adam?” his mom said, coming up behind Chuck and putting her arm around his waist. The two shared a look that made Adam want to wipe the smug grin off Chuck’s face.
“You don’t think there’s anything wrong with the way your boyfriend, or fiancé, or whatever he is, here threw me under the bus without a second thought tonight? Not to mention making baseless accusations he has no proof of.”
