Free Rob Cornell - Ridley Brone 02 - The Hustle by Rob Cornell Page A

went through after I came back. But you never said a word.”
    “I was ashamed. And I didn’t have enough information to help you, anyway. After I brought your parents together with Lincoln, I stepped out of the affair.”
    “How convenient.”
    “It wasn’t my choice to make.”
    “Mine either, thanks to you…” I swung a hand in the direction of the twin graves. “…and them.”
    “If I had it to do over again—”
    “You don’t.” I turned my back to her. “You don’t.”
    I heard the snow squeak as she closed the distance between us. Her hand rested on my shoulder. I shrugged it off.
    “What can I do?” she asked.
    “Go the fuck back to wherever you came from. Disappear. I’m done with you.”
    “I want to help.”
    “You’ll get no redemption from me. You want to atone, do it somewhere else.”
    “Ridley, please.”
    I folded my arms across my chest. All that heat burning inside of me had burned itself out, leaving me twice as vulnerable to the cold. I couldn’t stop shivering. “He’s going to contact you.”
    “I won’t tell him a thing.”
    “How do I know that?”
    “I may have made a grave mistake, an unforgivable one, but I’m not your enemy, Ridley. I have no reason to bring you more harm that I already have.”
    She didn’t see the larger picture. She thought it would be as simple as saying “no.” But Hersch had proved he had a set of sharp grifter’s tools. And Sheila had a number of pieces he could dismantle.
    “He’ll offer to give back the money he took from you,” I said.
    “It doesn’t matter. I won’t help him. Besides, I don’t know anything that can help him.”
    I forced myself to face her again. She looked like an ugly hag to me now. Nothing like the strong-willed protector she had pretended to be for so many years. “Are you sure?”
    “I’m certain.”
    “How long before you betrayed me were you and Rice lovers?”
    Her eye lids fluttered. “Couple of years.”
    “Did you go out? Meet any of his friends?”
    “He treated me very well. Theatre, restaurants, carriage rides.” She shuddered. “I know he turned out a monster, but I never knew a hint of that while we were together. He was a gentle, sweet man.”
    Who had killed his wife and pawned his granddaughter. A regular old Casanova, hey Sheila? “You only answered half my question.”
    A sprig of gray hair blew free from her tight bun and whipped across her face in the wind. “He introduced me to a few fellow doctors. He called them his Club Med. His clever way of saying they were his club of medic—”
    “I get it.” I wanted to reach out and pull that ridiculous lock of hair out of her face. She let it twitch in the wind across the bridge of her nose. It drove me crazy to look at. “You remember names?”
    “You don’t think…”
    “You’re damn right I do. Rice couldn’t have worked his adoption ring alone. Since he used his own status as an obstetrician to pick up unwanted babies from that old free clinic, it stands to reason his colleagues worked the same way.”
    She covered her mouth with both hands. “Oh, dear God.”
    “Names, Sheila.”
    Her head bobbled as if loose at the neck and susceptible to the wind’s push. “I would have to think about it. Their first names shouldn’t be hard to recall. Last names… I would have to think about it.”
    My teeth hurt. I realized I had my jaw clenched. I focused on relaxing the tension, then said, “Go back to your hotel. Think about it. Write me a list. And don’t fucking share it with anyone.”
    “You don’t have to tell me that.”
    “He’s going to come on hard and strong. This guy is good. And right now you’re a damn wreck. Won’t take much to break you open.”
    She narrowed her eyes. “That’s lovely. Thank you.”
    “It’s the truth and you know it.”
    Her gaze fell.
    “Now get the hell out of here while I finish with my parents.”
    “But you drove me here?”
    “You got a chauffeur. Call him.”
    I