Today's Reading
Charlotte Illes held up her hands to indicate apology, slumping down into her seat as the proceedings continued. She hadn't meant to say that out loud. Well, she had, but she hadn't meant for anyone to hear. After saying, "Ew," a little too loudly after Carly Davies described her husband calling her crazy for accusing him of cheating, Charlotte was determined to be on her best behavior. Mainly because she knew Mita wouldn't be very happy if she got kicked out of the courtroom, and she was a little scared of Mita.
The judge adjourned for the day soon after. Charlotte lingered in the hallway, resting against the wall as she watched the prosecuting attorney speak to her client a few yards away. Susmita Ramachandran was wearing a dark blue sheath dress with a matching blazer, a black shoulder bag dangling from one hand as she put a reassuring hand on Carly Davies's arm before waving goodbye to the other woman. Her perfectly sculpted eyebrows raised sternly as her gaze landed on Charlotte.
Uh-oh.
"Sorry," Charlotte said sheepishly, watching Carly Davies leave. "About the 'dick' thing."
Charlotte Illes was once known as Lottie Illes, a precocious child sleuth who was regularly employed by kids and adults alike to solve their mysteries. As she grew older, she felt the need to grow out of detective work to see if she could find other things to be passionate about. Recently, she'd finally come to terms with there not being anything she enjoyed as much as sleuthing, and that maybe she didn't have to fully leave it in her past.
After coming out of retirement from her kid detective days, Charlotte hadn't expected her mother and her brother Landon to immediately reach out to everyone they knew, telling them that Charlotte Illes was back in the detective business. In retrospect, she should have seen it coming, but had no idea how far they'd gone until she received the contact information for about a dozen miscellaneous acquaintances requesting her services.
While she had no interest in taking on "The Case of The Girl I Briefly Made Eye Contact With at the Bar Last Week" or "The Case of What My Son Does In My Basement All Day (Is Charlotte Single?)," she did respond to a request from Mita, Landon's friend from high school, to help with finding proof of infidelity for a divorce case. It had everything to do with getting her mom and brother to pump the brakes on finding her a mystery to solve, and absolutely nothing to do with the tiny little baby crush she'd had on Mita in high school.
Charlotte had spent two full days following Harry Davies around town before taking photos of him at the bus stop. Unfortunately, she was so busy trying to increase the exposure like her friend Gabe had taught her that she completely forgot to get on the bus so she could continue tailing him.
Fortunately, after thoroughly berating herself for a solid five minutes, she thought to check the bus routes. This allowed her to return to Mita with good news, instead of having to change her name and never show her face in Frencham again.
Mita pulled her bag over one shoulder. "It wasn't the most professional behavior," she said as Charlotte walked over to her, her lips pursed in a suppressed smile. "But it's going pretty well for us, thanks to your bus route knowledge, so I'll let this one slide."
"I didn't just know the bus routes off the top of my head," Charlotte said modestly. "I looked them up."
She knew she should've stopped there, but against her will, words continued to leave her mouth. "Not that it'd be weird to memorize the bus routes. I'm sure a lot of people do it if they regularly take the bus, but I did have to do a little research. So, yeah. Don't give me too much credit!"
Mita was staring at her, bemused.
"Just a little...peek into my process," Charlotte finished weakly.
Not exactly sticking the landing, but it'll do.
"Well, however you did it, it was extremely helpful. Thank you." They began walking down the hall. "You didn't have to come in today."
"I know." Charlotte shrugged. "I've always just solved the mysteries and let other people deal with whatever comes after. Thought it'd be good for me to see the 'after' for once."
"Thoughts?"
"I could never be a lawyer."
Mita chuckled. "It's a lot."
...
