Free Chances Are by Erica Spindler

attorney at the time this occurred. He came to me five years later, when Rhodes was a huge success and he was thinking of opening another store. Your father was getting cold feet," the man said simply. "Retailing is a high-profile business, and the business was obviously making a lot of money. He was thinking of expanding and was scared to death that David Goldstein was going to pop up any second and take it all away."
    A muscle jumped in Brandon's jaw. "What did you advise him to do?"
    "To wait," Sebastian said quietly.
    For a moment Brandon sat in stunned silence. "Wait for what, for God's sake? After hearing and seeing the evidence you told him to do nothing? I don't believe this."
    Sebastian tossed down the pencil he'd been toying with. "What could he do? Five years had passed. The man had never again approached your father, indeed he wasn't even in town. To track him down and offer him money would have been an admission to guilt." He held up his hands to stop Brandon's reply. "Yes, your father was guilty. But he could have been prosecuted. He could have lost it all. And for what? The deed couldn't be undone."
    Let sleeping dogs lie, Brandon thought. He stood and walked to the window; Sebastian's wife was cutting flowers. He looked away. "What happened then?"
    "We hired a private detective to find David Goldstein and keep tabs on him. It turned out he'd died the year before in an automobile accident." The attorney idly picked up the newspaper clipping, then as if uncomfortable with the image, set it back down. "He might have eventually approached your father and demanded what was rightfully his... We'll never know."
    "So, my father was off the hook," Brandon murmured. It was too clean. And that made him nervous. "What about a wife... children?"
    Sebastian coughed and looked away. "He never married."
    Brandon's eyes narrowed. The man was being evasive. "What about children, Sebastian?"
    The silence crackled between them. After a moment the older man sighed. "David Goldstein was Jewish and from the wrong side of the tracks. He became involved with a girl from a prominent Catholic family. The disparity in their families' social and financial positions was bad enough, but thirty years ago a marriage between a girl of the Catholic faith and a boy who was Jewish was... well... was out of the question."
    There was a tightness in Brandon's chest. He had a feeling he wasn't going to like what came next. He flexed his fingers as Sebastian started talking again.
    "The girl's family found out about the affair and were furious. To make matters worse, she'd become pregnant. Her father was blind with rage and shame. He totally blamed Goldstein and was determined that his daughter would never see him again." The attorney's voice was suddenly tired. "In his mind no husband was better than a Jewish husband. He elicited your father's help in running Goldstein out of town."
    "It all worked out rather neatly, didn't it." Brandon's voice was brittle. He'd thought his father many things, but a liar and a cheat had never been among them. "My father was a hell of a guy, wasn't he? He cheated his partner out of his half of their business, his girlfriend and unborn child, then ran him out of town. Great."
    Sebastian's expression softened. "I understand how you feel, and believe me, I would rather not have had to tell you. If it makes you feel any better, to this day I'm not sure whether your father had planned to cheat Goldstein out of his part of Rhodes before the girl's father approached him or whether—"
    "Don't bother. It won't make me feel better. It's done now." Brandon took a last look out the window then crossed to the desk. His voice was low as he asked, "How did they do it? How did they run him out of town?"
    Brandon saw the distaste on the other man's face. "They framed him for a crime he didn't commit. The sheriff was a family friend with daughters of his own and—"
    "And he was in on it," Brandon finished. "Paid off?" When Sebastian