Liar, Liar – Episode 3: New Security, New Spark

Rising to her feet in the opulent living room of her Buckhead home, Nora Pemberton took in the man her housekeeper had just escorted into the room and announced—her new security detail, Charles Grant. He was what she had expected and yet… unexpected.

Unexpectedly handsome, with a certain edge despite the suit.

He was about 6’1 with walnut-colored skin and looked to be in his early fifties, but age had added distinction to his appearance rather than diminished it. Silver threaded through his short curls and had almost completely taken over his neatly trimmed beard, adding texture to his attractive face.

“Thank you for coming,” she said.

Watchful onyx eyes met hers. “Happy to be here.”

They shook hands, and heated awareness rippled through her. Something she hadn’t felt in ages. She drew a careful breath before stepping back from him.

Her sons, Kendrick Junior and Malcolm, also shook hands with Charles and introduced themselves, and then they all sat down. She and Malcolm sat beside each other while Charles and Junior occupied two armchairs. After Charles declined her offer of a drink, her eldest took over.

“I’d like to get right down to business,” Junior said. He was a lot like his father, inside and out. He was ambitious, a leader, and didn’t mind taking risks. He had also inherited his father’s darker complexion and slender build. “Consider this somewhat of an interview. Tell us about yourself. How long have you been a bodyguard?”

“This is my first assignment with the Cordoba Agency, but I’ve spent more than thirty years working in high-risk environments. That includes protection and threat assessment.” His voice was a deep tenor. Smooth and calming.

“Your first assignment with the agency?” Malcolm asked, visibly concerned.

He also looked a lot like his father but had Nora’s complexion and a stockier build than his older brother.

“Yes, but the agency puts us through a rigorous screening process. I assure you, I’m quite capable of protecting your mother.”

Nora let her eyes wander over his frame. Charles was broad-shouldered and clearly physically fit underneath the pinstriped powder blue suit. She didn’t doubt his capabilities.

“Calm down. The Cordoba Agency comes highly recommended,” Junior said to his younger brother. He turned his attention to Charles, who seemed completely unruffled by the exchange. “I’m sure the agency explained why we determined my mother needed a bodyguard, but I think it’s worth repeating so that we’re all clear on the circumstances. A few weeks ago, she received a note on her car, which was parked at our company headquarters. We no longer have the note because we turned it over to the police, but it said, and I quote: Stay in your place. The words were typed, not handwritten. According to the police, the stationery could be found in any local Walmart.”

“Which means there’s no way for them to trace the origin,” Charles surmised.

“Exactly.”

“Have you done anything recently—perhaps made a decision—that someone might consider as stepping outside your usual role?” Charles asked Nora.

She frowned. “I can’t think of anything.”

He thoughtfully stroked his bearded jaw. “That’s a very specific type of warning. It was likely prompted by something.”

“That’s not all. A few days later, her windshield was smashed while she was out to dinner with friends,” Junior interjected. “It was at night, and unbelievably, no one saw anything.”

Nora cleared her throat. “Mr. Grant—”

“Call me Charles,” he interrupted. “We have to get used to being informal with each other if we’re going to convince people that we’re in a relationship.”

He looked directly at her when he spoke, and oddly, her pulse quickened.

“Charles,” Nora amended, feeling almost as if calling him by his first name was inappropriate. Too informal. Too intimate. She preferred the formality of using his last name, but he was right, she had to get used to calling him by his first name if they intended to convince her friends and acquaintances that they were a couple. “I don’t think the two incidents are related.”

“You don’t know that, Mom,” Malcolm said, sounding exasperated.

“There’s no evidence that they are, and why would anyone be targeting me?” Nora looked at both her sons, neither of whom could answer the question. “Mr. Grant—excuse me, Charles— when my husband was alive, we sometimes hired protection, depending on where we were traveling or how much jewelry I was wearing.” She added a laugh, twisting one of the rings on her finger. “For a specific amount of time. Five hours. Six hours. I’ve never had the need for ongoing security. This is highly unusual, which is why I requested an alternative to the typical client relationship. I hope you’re okay with that.”

“I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t,” Charles said, softening the words with a faint smile, which transformed his face and made her pulse jump yet again.

“Great,” Malcolm said, clapping his hands together. “That means the next request should be easy enough. We would like you to move in here with my mother.”

Nora swung her head toward her son. “Excuse me? We did not have this conversation.”

“Junior and I did,” her son explained.

“Oh, really?” Crossing one leg over the other, Nora turned to Charles. “Moving in will not be necessary.”

“Mom…”

“There was one note. For all I know, it could’ve been placed on the wrong car. Yes, my windshield got busted, but that was probably done by vandals. I can’t think of a single reason why anyone would be targeting me.”

“We need to make sure that you’re safe.” Though he was younger, Malcolm was the most protective and had likely been the one to convince his older brother that Charles needed to move in.

“I’ll be fine.”

“Is there a reason you don’t want me in your home?” Charles asked.

Nora was taken aback by the question. “I… it’s just unnecessary. I have a state-of-the-art security system here, and frankly, I’m a very private person. I don’t want to lose my privacy because of overreacting. Don’t you think they’re overreacting?”

“It’s hard to say since I’ve just started.”

“I’m not trying to be difficult, but I would prefer it if you remain off-site as previous security has done, particularly since nothing has happened here at the house. You can follow me when I go to company headquarters, follow me when I run errands or have appointments, and make sure that I arrive home safely each time. Of course, at some point I’ll have to introduce you to my friends.”

“You can do that at the Brockwell media event on Friday,” Junior reminded her.

Charles frowned in confusion, waiting for an explanation.

“I’m good friends with the Brockwells,” Nora explained. “Their media company produced an independent film by actor Ignacio Santana, and it won several Oscars, including Best Picture a few weeks ago. They’re having a party to celebrate on Friday night, and I’ll be attending. My son is right, it would be the perfect event for me to introduce you to friends and business acquaintances as my new… beau.”

“No one says beau, Mom,” Junior said dryly.

“Well, I’m too old for the word ‘boyfriend.’ Would you prefer I use the word ‘lover’?”

Malcolm groaned, and Junior let out an exasperated sigh. She figured that would shut them up.

“Do you have a tux, Charles?” Nora asked.

The corners of his mouth lifted into the faintest smile of amusement. “I can get one,” he replied.

“Then we’re all set, aren’t we?” Nora looked around the room at the three men.

“Not quite.”

They all turned their attention to Charles.

“I’ll need copies of the police reports, any photographs you might have of the damage to your vehicle, and a list of everyone who knew where you were having dinner.”

Nora’s smile faded. “I was having dinner with friends, not a national security meeting.”

“Who made the reservation?” Charles asked.

“One of my friends. Nancy.”

“I’ll need her full name and the names of everyone you met for dinner.”

Nora’s eyebrows lifted. “Surely, you don’t intend to question my friends.”

“It would be good for me to know who attended, in case something like that happens again. There might be a pattern.” He settled back in the armchair. He appeared relaxed, but his mind was obviously sharp. “I’ll also need your schedule for the next few weeks, a list of everyone who has access to this house, your vehicles, and your calendar. Everyone.”

“That’s a little excessive, isn’t it?”

“Maybe, maybe not,” Charles said evenly. “We can’t be too careful, and until I know differently, I’m going to assume the note and the damage to your car are connected.”

“Why?”

“Someone warned you to stay in your place, and then a few days later, your car was vandalized. I don’t believe in coincidences. That sounds like escalation to me.”

His tone remained calm, which was somehow more unsettling than if he’d behaved in an alarmist manner.

He scanned the room. “I’ll also need to inspect the house and your security system. Who has the code?”

“My sons. My daughter, Angelica. She’s away at college in New York. The housekeeper.” Nora was starting to feel overwhelmed. She hadn’t expected having a bodyguard could be so intrusive. She had hoped to keep him on the outskirts of her life.

“Anyone else? An assistant? Former employees?”

“My assistant doesn’t have the code, and the maid service uses a different one.”

Charles nodded. “I’ll be double-checking all of that over the next few days. As for moving in, once I complete my risk assessment, I’ll make a recommendation, but of course, the final decision is yours.”

“What if you recommend moving in, but she doesn’t change her mind?” Malcolm asked.

“Then the agency will have her sign a document stating that she has declined my recommendation.”

In the ensuing silence, Nora’s sons looked at her. Before she could say a word, Charles spoke again.

“One more thing, before Friday night, you and I should establish a phrase that we can both use as a signal. You can use it to let me know when you’re uncomfortable. When I use it, you don’t argue or hesitate. You simply follow me.”

Nora’s eyebrows climbed higher again. “What makes you think I’d argue?”

The faint smile again. “I’m observant.”

Malcolm covered his mouth and coughed.

“Well,” Junior said, amused, “I’m satisfied that you’re the right man for the job. Mom?”

Nora shot a look at Charles. He was no longer smiling, but his watchful eyes remained on her.

“I’m satisfied, and I’ll provide the information you need,” she said reluctantly.

They ironed out a few more details before Charles left. They agreed he would return at eight the following morning to begin the detail and settled on “sugar cookie” as their code word.

Nora’s sons left soon after, and she returned to the living room. She took a seat on the sofa and let her eyes travel to the chair Charles had vacated.

She hadn’t wanted to alarm her sons, but she had been a little concerned about the broken windshield. If both events were connected, as Charles suggested, what was the message someone was trying to send?

Stay in your place.

What did that even mean?

Could Charles have been right, and the warning was prompted by a decision she had made?

Recently, Radex, Inc. had put in an offer to buy their company, and she had put forth a number of questions, forcing the shareholders to postpone the vote.

Is someone telling me to stay out of the affairs of the business?

If that was the case, she couldn’t do that. When Kendrick Senior passed, he had his shares transferred to her. She had a say in the company and its direction.

Oddly enough, when her husband had been alive, she hadn’t been very involved in the company. Her days and nights had been preoccupied with raising their children and managing their home. Once the children were grown, she had turned her energy to charitable events.

Although she had not been visibly involved in the business, behind closed doors, her husband had valued her opinion and bounced ideas off her. There was also something else that most people didn’t know. It was thanks to her that he had been able to start the company in the first place. She had inherited a large sum of money from an uncle who had passed away, and because she had believed in Kendrick and his dreams, she had used those funds to invest in the business.

Pemberton Enterprises was now a multimillion-dollar telecommunications powerhouse, delivering broadband, fiber-optic networks, cell phone infrastructure, and high-speed internet access to residential and business customers.

Stay in your place.

Nora shivered, wrapping her arms around herself.

What would happen if she didn’t?

___

Who do you think is right – Nora that the suspicious acts are unrelated, or Charles that they are related?